James Shulman serves as vice president and chief operating officer of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). His latest book, The Synthetic University; How Higher Education Can Benefit from Shared Solutions and Save Itself was published by Princeton University Press in October 2023. Previously, he collaborated with William G. Bowen and Derek Bok on The Shape of the River: Long-term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions and wrote (with William G. Bowen), The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values. His first book was The Pale Cast of Thought: Hesitation and Decision in the Renaissance Epic.
Before coming to ACLS, he was a Senior Fellow at The Mellon Foundation (2016-2018). In the 1990s, he worked in the foundation’s research, program, and finance offices. From its founding in 2001 to 2016 he was president of Artstor. Working with his colleagues, he developed and implemented plans for an organization that now serves over 2,000 colleges, universities, schools, and museums around the world. He received his BA and PhD from Yale in Renaissance Studies.