2 CSWAC Faculty Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
UCLA Newsroom | April 23, 2026
Two faculty on our faculty advisory committee (CSWAC) are among four UCLA professors elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies.
University of California, Los Angeles faculty members Eva Baker, Elizabeth Ligon Bjork, Ursula Heise, and Angela R. Riley are among 252 leaders across academia, the arts, science, journalism, philanthropy, policy, and research elected this year to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock, and other early American intellectual leaders, the Academy serves as an independent research center that convenes experts across disciplines to produce nonpartisan studies aimed at advancing the public good and informing policy.
This year’s class continues a long tradition of distinguished membership that includes figures such as George Washington, Albert Einstein, UCLA Nobel laureate Andrea Ghez, Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond, and UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk.
Congratulations to:
Angela R. Riley: Professor of law and American Indian studies UCLA School of Law and UCLA College
Riley, an advisor to the UCLA chancellor on Native American and Indigenous Affairs and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, focuses her research on Indigenous peoples’ rights and studies the ways in which the legal system can advance tribal sovereignty and self-determination. She has played an influential role in shaping debates over Native American mascots and cultural and intellectual property. Since 2010, she has served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and is an appellate judge on the courts of appeal for both the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. Riley also served as co-chair of the United Nations Indigenous Peoples’ Partnership Policy Board, whose mission is to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. At UCLA Law, where she holds the Carole Goldberg Chair in Native American Law, she directs the and the joint degree program in She is a member of the American Law Institute and the American Philosophical Society.
Ursula Heise: Distinguished professor of English UCLA College and UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
Heise, a pioneer in the field of environmental humanities, examines important ecological topics like extinction, species endangerment and wildlife conservation through the lens of culture and media. As co-founder and director of UCLA’s Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies, she focuses on cross-disciplinary research that explores how storytelling — through literature, films, journalism, video games and other platforms — can influence not just what we know about the environment but how we act on it. Importantly, Heise puts those ideas into practice, collaborating with students and scholars to tell the story of our planet through inventive projects like “Urban Ark Los Angeles,” a documentary exploring the world of endangered red-crowned parrots in a city setting, and “Grand Theft Eco,” a series of animated films that turned a well-known video game into a vehicle for environmental awareness.
Read the full feature in UCLA Newsroom.
