Dr. Jacob J. Erickson, Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics, has been elected to the Program Committee of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), the world's largest scholarly organization dedicated to the academic study of religion. Elected at the AAR's Annual Meeting in Boston this past November, Erickson will serve a four-year term beginning January 2026. https://aarweb.org/
The ten-member Program Committee is elected from members who have significant program experience in AAR and oversees the Annual Meetings Program, which brings thousands of scholars together for its Annual Conference each year. Over the past ten years, Erickson has chaired both the Sacred Texts, Theory, and Theological Construction Unit (2014-20) and the Martin Luther and Global Lutheran Traditions Unit (2021-present), leading both through successful academic reviews. He has also served on the International Connections Committee, which oversees AAR's Collaborative International Grants competition, awarding thousands of dollars each year to innovative projects connecting researchers around the globe.
In addition to setting policy, the Program Committee engages in designing and reviewing the overall program structure; establishing types, categories, and regulations governing program research units; approving the formation and renewal of program research units; and advising the Executive Director of AAR and the Director of Programs and Meetings on important programmatic aspects of the meeting.
The American Academy of Religion's mission is to promote such reflection through excellence in scholarship and teaching in the field of religion. As a learned society and professional association of teachers and research scholars, the AAR has some 9,000 members who teach in some 900 colleges, universities, seminaries, and schools in North America and around the world.