Posts

Leading Together: Creating Community Guidelines To Promote Institutional Change

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Runners preparing for a marathon in Brooklyn. Spring 2026. Photo credit: Cathy Davidson

Several years ago, when I was a relatively new Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University (our first VPIS there–and maybe anywhere), I helped faculty and administrators at the Fuqua School of Business create Duke Corporate Ed, a leadership and management program that combines research and practical experience. One of the Duke Board members, … Leading Together: Creating Community Guidelines To Promote Institutional Change

The Mamdani Method

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The Mamdani Method: 8 Steps to Constructive Change

People say academe will never change. But if NYC government can, so can we. Here are 8 tactics Mayor Mamdani uses–and that we academics can learn from. *** In Faculties: A Dialogue on Inciting Constructive Change in Destructive Times (forthcoming, Duke UP, Fall 2026), Jody Greene and I discuss the best strategies we’ve used ourselves … The Mamdani Method

Pre-Order “Faculties” Today–with 30% Discount Code

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Ad for Faculties w 30% off discount code for pre-orders

Duke University Press has made “Faculties: A Dialogue on Inciting Constructive Change in Destructive Times” available for pre-orders–and with a 30% off discount if you use the code: E26FCLTS. The book won’t be available until November but if you order now, the paperback is only $18.17. Here’s the link: dukeupress.edu/faculties (NB: 50% of all royalties … Pre-Order “Faculties” Today–with 30% Discount Code

Ambient Intelligence

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Photo: Selfie at "Clinamen" an installation by Celest Boursier-Mougenot at Park Avenue Armory, NY, July 8, 2026

One day last week, after an intense and sometimes emotional time sorting through files and papers and deciding what to keep, what to shred, and what to send to my archived papers, I decided to take a while and visit an art installation at the Park Avenue Armory. “Clinamen,” by French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot. I … Ambient Intelligence

Active Learning in the Age of AI

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Photo Credit: Snapshot by HASTAC staff and courtesy of HASTAC. Annual Conference, Arizona State University. Pictured, HASTAC Graduate Center Team: Kalle Westerling, Cathy Davidson, Lauren Melendez, Danica Savonick

It’s Not Just For the Birds What are those chirpy zebra finches saying to one another? Now we know. Thanks to the diligent and creative research by Dr. Julie Elie, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies interspecies communication, we humans can understand what other zebra finches have always known: that those … Active Learning in the Age of AI

Democracy in 3-D Glasses

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Selfie: Cat in 3-D Glasses, in front of Goshka Macuga mural at the Prada Foundation, Milan, Italy, June 10, 2026

In the stunning mural by Polish multidisciplinary artist Goshka Macuga, “Make Tofu Not War” (2018), exhibited currently at the Prada Foundation in Milan, one sees one set of images if one looks with the naked eye and something else if one looks with 3-D glasses. I took this selfie in 3-D glasses. Wearing these ironic … Democracy in 3-D Glasses

AI Is Not Neutral

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Pictured, Stanford Computer Scientist Yejin Choi who advocates “Small Language Models.”

Cover Reveal!

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Faculties: A Dialogue on Inciting Constructive Change in Destructive Times One of the most exciting moments in the life of a book is the cover reveal! Here it is, the spunky, feisty, powerful cover for Faculties: A Dialogue on Inciting Constructive Change in Destructive Times (Duke University Press, November 2026). Jody Greene and I began … Cover Reveal!