Linda Kerber, professor in the liberal arts, professor of history emerita, and lecturer in law, was elected to the Council of American Philosophical Society, where she will serve a three-year term.

The American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States, was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.”

Membership is composed of top scholars from a wide variety of academic disciplines. Kerber, elected in 2006, was the third person from the University of Iowa to join the society, behind renowned physicist James Van Allen in 1961 and former UI President James Freedman in 2002.