Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and Director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, has been named the winner of the 2020 John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity.

The Kluge Prize is awarded by the Library of Congress to recognize and celebrate “work of the highest quality and greatest impact that advances understanding of the human experience.”

Professor Allen is known for her wide-ranging work in political theory. You can learn more about her research here.

A press release from the Library of Congress States:

Allen will collaborate with the Library on an initiative she has designed, titled “Our Common Purpose—A Campaign for Civic Strength at the Library of Congress.” It will include programs to engage schools, universities, political leaders, and the American public in efforts to promote civic engagement. As Allen has said, “Civic education is our common purpose.”

“We are proud to honor Danielle Allen, a leading expert on justice, citizenship and democracy, with the Kluge Prize as she helps to lead a timely national conversation on how we find our common purpose,” Hayden said. “Now is an important moment to discuss ways we can all promote civic strength and engagement, which is at the core of our national culture.”

The Kluge Prize includes $500,000. (It used to be $1 million, but, according to The New York Times, 18 months ago “the financial award was scaled back to $500,000, both to make sure it could be given every two years, and to allow the library to devote more resources to public programming around the prize.”) Previous winners include Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and Paul Ricoeur.