Professor Kevin Thompson, master of the University of Macau’s Moon Chun Memorial College, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as an international honorary member for his “outstanding achievements in the field of performing arts”.
His election, according to the university, puts him alongside the academy’s notable late members such as Benjamin Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The academy was founded in 1780 and “honours excellence and convenes leaders in the fields of science, humanities, business administration, political science, and arts” to assess new ideas and address important world issues. International members have included Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Akira Kurosawa and Nelson Mandela.
The university said that current members represent “today’s innovative thinkers in every field and profession”, including over 250 Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners.
Professor Thompson has received multiple awards for cultural leadership, such as Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to Arts and to UK and Hong Kong cultural exchanges and two French knighthoods, namely Légion d’honneur and Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, on the nomination of French President Macron and Minister of Culture and Communication Frédéric Mitterrand”.
Closer to home, Professor Thompson has served as president of the Macau European Chamber of Commerce, vice chairman of Britcham Macao, board director of the French Association Culturelle Le French May and board director of the French Macau Chamber of Commerce.
Professor Thompson is also recognised internationally as among the “most pre-eminent presidents of academies of music and arts”, the university said, and has held joint events in Macao with various well-known musicians and music groups.
