The Academy at Johns Hopkins, a new institute for advanced study for retired Krieger School professors, has announced its first class. Pictured above, left to right, Joseph Cooper (political science), Richard Conn Henry (physics and astronomy) as chair, Sara Berry (history), Melvin Kohn (sociology), Ludwig Brand (biology), and Paul Feldman (physics and astronomy).

Dean Katherine S. Newman formed the Academy last year to establish a venue for retired faculty members. In the Academy, retired professors will pursue research opportunities, conduct and attend academic seminars, and explore other opportunities for continued scholarship.

“I’m so pleased to see the Academy moving forward with this inaugural class of members,” says Newman. “Our retired colleagues are actively engaged in their scholarly work and remain a vital element of the university’s intellectual community. For academics, the Academy is everything retirement should be.”

The first academic project of the new Academy members is to sponsor a seminar in November on social, political, and historical dimensions of the current crisis in the Sahel. Stretching across Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, the Sahel includes some of the poorest countries in a region subject to periodic droughts, famine, and civil conflict. The workshop will bring together a multidisciplinary group of specialists on the region.

“We see this as being a great first project for the Academy, because it crosses disciplines and brings scholarly perspectives to bear on an important contemporary issue,” says Sara Berry, Academy professor in history. “In fact, that is really the point of the Academy—to engage with the Hopkins community and maintain a diverse portfolio of research.”