At the request of a bipartisan group of U.S. legislators, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced on February 18, 2011, that it has created a new Commission on Humanities and Social Sciences funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Chaired by Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead and Excelon Corporation Chairman (and CEO) John W. Rowe, the Commission will include 41 participants from a spectrum of academic, artistic, governmental, and private enterprise sectors. It will meet during the next year and a half to create ten specific recommendations/plans for boosting research and teaching in the humanities and sciences by academic institutions (from primary to higher education) in combination with governments and funding agencies. The Commission was created at the suggestion of U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) and Mark Warner (D-Virginia) together with Representatives Tom Petri (R-Wisconsin) and David Price (D-North Carolina). See fuller coverage in PRNewswire and Inside Higher Ed.