The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies, has selected three University of Wisconsin-Madison scholars for induction into the 2012 class.

As in the past, the academy has chosen leaders from the realms of arts, academics, business, philanthropy and public service for its latest group....

• Steve J. Stern, the Alberto Flores Galindo and Hilldale Professor of history, is a prize-winning historian of Latin America. His recent research focuses on human rights and cultural memory after the "dirty wars" of the 20th century, notably Chile after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and Peru after the Shining Path war. His books and articles have spanned five centuries and many countries, and have demonstrated the inventiveness of Latin American responses to unequal structures of power, with sometimes surprising impacts on world history....