Creative Conversations, Academy Members 2025
Below is our series of conversations with Academy members invested in 2025 on the joys and challenges of contemporary academic life.
Academy Member Randy Evan Barnett
Prof. Barnett discusses the danger of echo chambers, the obstacles to cultivating real viewpoint diversity, and why society needs the university’s truth-seeking mission.
Transcript coming soon.
Academy Member Michael Birrer
Dr. Birrer discusses how government funding distorts scientific research, why this is the best time in living memory for advances in cancer treatment, and why democracy depends on the mission of the university.
Transcript coming soon.
Academy Member E. Wesley Ely
Dr. Ely discusses why the practice of medicine brings together science and the humanities, how innovative approaches are providing better care for the whole person, and why being proven wrong is a reason to celebrate.
Transcript coming soon.
Academy Member Bryan Garsten
Dr. Garsten discusses how argument and persuasion are deeply rooted in human nature, how the university expresses something important about the society in which it lives, and why the social dynamic within a university can change much faster than we might think.
Transcript coming soon.
Academy Member Gene Andrew Jarrett
Dr. Jarrett discusses how African-American literature shapes the language and sources of meaning we use today, why the university has to tell its own story well, and the delightful discovery that seemingly obscure literary figures are sometimes much better known than we think.
Transcript coming soon.
Academy Member Philip Tetlock
Dr. Tetlock discusses why viewpoint diversity is necessary to maintain high intellectual standards, how the implicit deal between society and the university has become harder to maintain, and why public opinion about the university is more complex than we might think.
Transcript coming soon.
Academy Member Karl Albert van Bibber
Dr. van Bibber discusses why we want to discover things even if we don’t know how we’d use them, the courage of people who investigate theories that aren’t backed by funding and jobs, and how the growth and success of a field creates unique challenges.
Transcript coming soon.