A series of book conversations held on Zoom
Academic Innovation for the Public Good
Thinking about the future of higher education
Stanford Digital Education and Trinity College organize a virtual author conversation series on how higher education can enhance the public good. Authors are interviewed by expert moderators via Zoom, with the discussions focused on new ways that academic innovations and partnerships can strengthen the impact of higher education. Audience members have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the discussion. The series is co-sponsored by more than 20 colleges and universities.
From the launch of Academic Innovation for the Public Good in 2022 through December 2024, we have hosted 22 conversations. Videos are available of all the events on our website, with transcripts for the more recent ones as well.
2024 events
In 2024, our winter and spring book conversations explored how universities can lead and adapt, with two describing potential partnerships and new institutions — and one, a memoir, examining a surprising personal path to university leadership. Our fall event explored how digital education can support the resilience and vibrancy of our democracy.
January 24
The Synthetic University: How Higher Education Can Benefit from Shared Solutions and Save Itself
A conversation with author James Shulman
View the January 24 recording and transcript
How can the spiraling cost of college tuition be contained? In his book The Synthetic University, James Shulman, vice president and chief operating officer at the American Council of Learned Societies, argues that colleges and universities can address it by partnering with mission-driven, market-supported organizations.
Shulman was interviewed by Mitchell Stevens, professor at Stanford Graduate School of Education.
March 20
Up Home: One Girl's Journey
A conversation with author Ruth Simmons
View the March 20 recording and transcript
Ruth J. Simmons received her master’s and doctorate in Romance languages and literature from Harvard University and went on to serve as president of Smith College, Brown University, and Prairie View A&M University. Her memoir, Up Home: One Girl’s Journey, is an intimate, unsparing work of memory that conveys the transformative power of education.
The book begins with Simmons’ girlhood under Jim Crow in rural east Texas, as the twelfth child of sharecroppers. It continues in segregated Houston in the all-Black Fifth Ward, where her family moved before she started second grade. It ends with her experiences as a scholarship student at Dillard University and at Wellesley College, where she spent her junior year.
Simmons was interviewed by James Campbell, professor of history at Stanford, who was on the faculty at Brown when Simmons was president. During that time, Simmons appointed Campbell to lead the committee that produced a groundbreaking report on the university’s historical ties to the slave trade and slavery. It was the first instance of a major university taking such a step to come to terms with its past.
May 15
The New Global Universities: Reinventing Education in the 21st Century
A conversation with authors Bryan Penprase and Noah Pickus
View the May 15 recording and transcript
In their book The New Global Universities, Bryan Penprase and Noah Pickus explore how eight new universities across the globe were planned, funded, and launched, offering lessons both for future founders and for existing universities seeking to create new opportunities. Penprase is a visiting scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and vice president for sponsored research and external academic relations, as well as professor of physics and astronomy, at Soka University. Pickus is associate provost at Duke University, with responsibilities in academic strategy, global initiatives, educational innovation, and policy engagement.
Penprase and Pickus were interviewed by Minu Ipe, managing director and vice chair of the University Design Institute at Arizona State University.
October 9
How to Think Straight, Get Duped Less, and Make Better Decisions about What to Believe Online
A conversation with author Sam Wineburg
View the October 9 recording and transcript
Sam Wineburg and Mike Caulfield, co-authors of VERIFIED: How to Think Straight, Get Duped Less, and Make Wise Decisions about What to Believe Online, have developed strategies to ascertain the reliability of the latest stories circulating over the internet. In their book, they lay out practical, accessible steps everyone should take to assess the reliability of online information before they engage with it or amplify it. Digital literacy, they say, is essential for the civic health of a public that is increasingly online — not just to bank, shop, and find entertainment, but to socialize, discuss, become informed, and vote.
Wineburg is the Margaret Jacks Professor of Education, Emeritus, at Stanford University, and the founder of the nonprofit Digital Inquiry Group (previously known as Stanford History Education Group). He was interviewed by Stanford Vice Provost for Digital Education Matthew Rascoff.
What we talked about in 2023
Part 1 of our 2023 series focused on strengthening and extending the sense of belonging in higher education, with books by Geoff Cohen; Julia Freeland Fisher and Matthew Jackson; James Koch and Omari Swinton; and Natasha Warikoo. Part 2 examined how universities facilitate and distribute the sharing of knowledge, with books by Peter Kaufman; Tamson Pietsch; Justin Reich; and Olatunde Sobomehin and sam seidel.
Thank you to our program partners
Badavas Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning (Bentley University)
Brown University School of Professional Studies
Dartmouth College
Mount Holyoke College
Notre Dame Learning
University of Pennsylvania Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Innovation
University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation
Thank you to our co-sponsors
Carnegie Mellon University
Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business
Cornell University
Duke Learning Innovation
Georgetown University Center for Design in Learning and Scholarship
Harvard Online
Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Davidson
Johns Hopkins University
Minerva Project
McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University
MIT
North Dakota State University
Northwestern University Women's Center
Stanford Pathways Lab
University of Wyoming
Vanderbilt
If your institution is not represented on this list, and you would like to become a program partner or co-sponsor, please e-mail jennyjrobinson@stanford.edu. Program partners contribute financial support. There is no cost to co-sponsor; you simply post the events on your local events calendars and newsletters and we will include your institution on the list.
Banner photo (top): The interiors of the Lathrop Library and East Asia Library. Photo credit: Linda A. Cicero.