World Academy of Art and Science

The idea of founding the Academy and a set of world scientific and youth scientist and science journalist associations was proposed in an article in Time magazine on 1/10/1938 by philosopher a Etienne Gilson in the 1940s.

The idea was echoed in the 1950s by leading scientists who were concerned about the potential for misuse of scientific discoveriesc. The Academy was organized in December 1960 with the aim of creating an informal world association of the highest scientific and ethical norms and standards.[3]

Originally established in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1960,[4] in 2011 WAAS incorporated as a non-profit organization in the State of California, USA. The Academy maintains offices in Napa, California; Zagreb, Croatia; Bucharest, Romania; and Pondicherry, India. It has a special division for South Eastern Europe.

At present the Academy's membership consists of 730 Fellows, Associate Fellows and Junior Fellows from all parts of the world. Fellows are nominated by existing members and directly elected by the members.

Current programs of the Academy include initiatives focusing on:

• Abolition of Nuclear Weapons—formulation of legal, public policy and social strategies for complete elimination of nuclear weapons.
• Global Employment Challenge—strategies to achieve full employment and to evolve a theory and global model for employment.
• New Economic Theory—formulation of a human-centered theory of economics
• Global Higher Education–conceptualization and design of a truly global, world-class system of higher education accessible and affordable to people everywhere.
• Evolution of Individuality—the role of formed individuals in guiding the development of creative intellectual and social processes as evidenced by creative artists, original thinkers, business and social entrepreneurs, discoverers, inventors and political leaders.
• Revolution in Human Affairs—inquiry into the relationship between rising expectations and rising levels of social unrest, violence, fundamentalism and terrorism.
• Limits to Rationality—analysis of limitations in the application of rationality to solve human problems and in the inherent limitations commonly associated with mind's quest for knowledge.
• Ways of Knowing—analysis of the inherent limitations and blindspots implicit in the prevailing fragmentary, rationalist, materialistic, mechanistic approach to understanding and solving human problems, including an exploration of new ways of knowing generated by the emerging sciences of systems theory, complexity, autopoiesis and recent discoveries in the physical, biological and social sciences.

The Academy’s founders intended that WAAS should function as "an informal World University at the highest scientific and ethical level,." Although some modest beginnings were made to establish a few regional centers of excellence, political conditions at the height of the Cold War, as well as limitations in transport and global communication, posed insurmountable obstacles. Advances in telecommunications and educational technology over the past decade created a new opportunity cs.

The World University Consortium in 2013 is a major initiative of the Academy to design a global system of higher education attuned to emerging opportunities and challenges.

Following an international conference on Global Higher Education organized by the Academy at the University of California at Berkeley in October 2013, the World University Consortium was incorporated in California as a non-governmental organization to promote accessible, affordable, quality education at the global level founded on universal human values, relevant to the emerging needs of the 21st century, oriented to promote full employment, and capable of developing the full potential of each individual student for personal accomplishment and contribution to the collective progress of humanity.

WUC is intended to become a global network and umbrella group facilitating educational partnerships with those with shared goals, to explore creative solutions to enhance the reach, quality and relevance of higher education globally, to provide a platform for new ideas, trans-disciplinary perspectives and integrated courseware, and to develop ways to draw upon the extensive knowledge and experience acquired by organizations outside the traditional field of academia.

• Cadmus Journal: a twice yearly print and electronic journal focusing on issues related to economy, security and global governance.[5]
• Eruditio Journal: a twice yearly electronic journal for examination of ideas and perspectives that fall beyond the purview of traditional academic publications.[6]
• WAAS Papers: Articles, papers and presentations by Fellows of the Academy.[7]
• World Academy Books.[8]

The Academy is managed by a 18-member board of trustees and a nine-member Executive Committee. The principal officers are Garry Jacobs, President & Chief Executive Officer , Alberto Zucconi, Chairman of the Board

• The World Academy of Art and Science: History and Manifesto.- J. "CADMUS", Vol. I, Issue 2, 2011, pp. 151–152.

• World Academy of Art & Science
• Cadmus Journal
• Eruditio Journal