Seven Northwestern faculty will join the ranks of Benjamin Franklin and Stephen Hawking.

Profs. Robert Falls, Morris Fine, Sherrill Milnes, Julio Ottino, Benjamin Page, Patricia Spear and Andrew Wachtel were selected to join the 4,200 fellows and foreign honorary members in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Alan Cubbage, NU’s vice president for university relations, said the range of professors elected to the academy represents NU’s quality across the board.

“What this shows,” Cubbage said, “is not only do we have an unusually broad range of academic opportunities, but they’re all very strong.”

The selections bring the total number of NU faculty in the academy to 53. The university ranks fifth nationally for the number of fellows elected this year.

Although the awards were announced last week, the induction ceremony will not take place until October in Cambridge, Mass., where the academy is based.

Wachtel, chairman of the Slavic languages and literatures department, said the appointment is meaningful because it signifies recognition outside of a small group of professionals.

“It shows how your colleagues recognize and appreciate your work outside of your tiny little field ‘box,'” he said. “It’s a validation of what you do.”

Falls, a theatre professor and the artistic director of Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, produced the 1999 four-time Tony Award-winning production of “Death of a Salesman.”

Spear, a professor of microbiology who has researched how the herpes virus enters and infects cells, is president-elect of the American Society for Virology and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Milnes, a music professor and world-famous opera singer, said it was nice to receive “applause” for his scholarly research.

“If you write something and get it published, you get a satisfaction. But it’s a lonely satisfaction,” Milnes said. “(Election to the academy) is very thrilling, and I guess it helps confirm one’s philosophy in life and how one’s energies are focused.”