The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has tapped 10 Stanford scholars for membership in the honorary learned society, including two professors from the Graduate School of Education.

Professor Kenji Hakuta, an expert in language development and bilingualism, and Professor Emerita Milbrey McLaughlin, an expert in education policy, school-community collaboration and youth outcomes, join some of the world's most accomplished leaders in academia, arts, public affairs, science and humanities.

The AAAS is one of the nation’s most prestigious and oldest honorary societies. A leading center for independent policy research, members contribute to AAAS publications and studies of science and technology policy, global security and international affairs, social policy and American institutions, and the humanities, arts, and education.

“We are honored to elect a new class of extraordinary women and men to join our distinguished membership,” said Don Randel, chair of the AAAS Board of Directors. “Each new member is a leader in his or her field and has made a distinct contribution to the nation and the world."

Hakuta is the Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education. He has been at Stanford since 1989, except for three years when he left to help start the University of California at Merced. There, he served as Founding Dean of the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts.

Hakuta received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Harvard, and began his career as a developmental psycholinguist at Yale University. He is the author of many research papers and books on language, bilingualism and education, including Mirror of Language: The Debate on Bilingualism. Active in education policy, Hakuta has testified to Congress and courts on language policy, the education of language minority students, affirmative action in higher education, and improvement of quality in educational research.

Hakuta is the co-chair of the GSE's Understanding Language initiative and a leading expert in the implementation of the Common Core State Standards with English Language learners. The group's online courses have attracted thousands of teachers and helped to prepare them to teach under Common Core.

McLaughlin is the David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy, Emerita, and the founding director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Communities. She also is co‑director of the Center for Research on the Context of Teaching, an interdisciplinary research center engaged in analyses of how teaching and learning are shaped by teachers’ organizational, institutional, and social‑cultural contexts.

McLaughlin has focused throughout her career on the various institutional contexts and policies that shape youth outcomes - schools and community-based institutions most particularly. She is the author or co‑author of many books, articles, and chapters on education policy issues, contexts for teaching and learning, productive environments for youth, and community‑based organizations. McLaughlin holds an Ed.M and Ed.D in education policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in philosophy from Connecticut College.