Robert D. Putnam, Malkin professor of public policy at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), was among the 16 corresponding fellows appointed by the British Academy during its annual meeting earlier this month.

The appointment, which came as a “pleasant surprise” to Putnam, recognizes his “high international standing” as a foreign scholar in the humanities and social sciences.

The Academy, established in 1902, is the United Kingdom’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences.

“I’m deeply gratified by this international recognition of the scholarly quality of the work that my colleagues and I are doing to diagnose the key challenges facing contemporary democracies,” Putnam said in a press release.

Putnam, a former KSG dean, is founder and director of the Saguaro Seminar civil engagement project at KSG, which is dedicated to the development of broad-scale actions to fortify the nation’s civil involvement.

The paperback version of his landmark work, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, was published this summer.