The Chronicle Interviews

Want a complete education? Look to the Bard.

They are sometimes dismissed as too sensitive or censorious. That’s unfair, according to the author of a new book.

Neal Lester thinks that’s a cliché. The real question is, How do we communicate the value of the humanities without getting bogged down by defining it?

Peter Ubel has written a book about the economics of health care — and he thinks there may be a few lessons for higher ed in there as well.

Roberto Gonzales studies the lives of undocumented young people. The policies of the current administration have led to tension and challenges.

Doug Bauder, who just retired from Indiana University at Bloomington, talks about a changed climate in the campus’s home state. “Stop thinking Mike Pence, and start thinking Pete Buttigieg.”

After years of limbo and loss, Larycia Hawkins found a position at a university that, she says, has embraced her.

Elisabeth Bik quit her day job as a microbiologist to search for research misconduct.

Robert Quinn started Scholars at Risk two decades ago. The project matters now more than ever.

In a new book the epidemiologist David Michaels outlines recent cases of the subversion of science by corporate interests.

Angelina Godoy is a sociologist who has studied human rights in Latin America. Under the current administration, her research focus has turned toward issues of immigration right in her own backyard.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian digs into the racist past of his own university.

A former Yale administrator takes a high-profile job in China at a time of geopolitical tension.

Are colleges finally taking teaching seriously? Jesse Stommel isn’t so sure.

Ashutosh Desai, the founder of Make School, wants to create a college more like the high school he attended.

After Brock Turner sexually assaulted her, in 2015, Miller wrote a searing victim-impact statement as “Emily Doe” that went viral. In her new memoir, in which she speaks publicly for the first time, she has harsh words for the university.

Fewer than a fifth of college presidents are people of color. Ajay Nair, president of Arcadia University, explains why that’s unacceptable, and how he’s diversifying the leadership ranks at his own institution.

Caitlin Zaloom argues that the financial, interpersonal, and moral repercussions of student loans are redefining familial relationships and socioeconomic boundaries.

The project neatly integrates her personal path and professional interests.

Emi Nakamura, who comes from a family of economists, won this year’s John Bates Clark Medal for the best American in her field under age 40. The Chronicle talked with her about gender imbalance in the discipline despite positive changes over time.

Paul Tough set out to explore how higher ed’s ideals can both inspire and discourage students.

The author of The Blood of Emmett Till says Americans on both the right and the left lack the political will to confront the country’s racial predicament.

About a year ago, Sen. Chris Murphy trained his eye on the college-sports industrial complex. He didn’t like what he saw.

Barbara K. Mistick has some hard-earned wisdom for the presidents of small colleges and their trustees.

In her new book, Anne Gardiner Perkins tells the stories of the first women admitted to Yale.

Phyllis Gardner thought the next big idea in blood-testing wouldn’t work. Turns out, she was right.

Marc Howard became a law professor to help free his friend. Now they’re teaching a class together.

Teach less, teach better, and get your head out of your discipline, urges a seasoned public-policy professor.

Jeffrey A. Sachs, a lecturer in politics at Canada’s Acadia University, believes that an overblown fear is gripping administrators and commentators.

A professor says the protesters who commandeered his book talk demonstrated the corrosive power of racial resentment.

Based in California, Manly represents hundreds of women who say they were sexually abused or mistreated by doctors at Michigan State University and the University of Southern California. He blames “vile” university leaders for failing to act.

It might be difficult to understand her work in partial differential equations, but her contributions as a mentor in her field are clear.

Calling for more ideological balance among administrators and the programming they offer to students, the Sarah Lawrence College professor of politics ran into bitter criticism on his campus.

Lynn Novick, a longtime collaborator of the documentarian Ken Burns, profiled the Bard Prison Initiative in College Behind Bars, a four-part series that will air on PBS this year.

Jerome Karabel, author of a lengthy history of Ivy League admissions, thinks the recent headlines can shed light on more deep-seated problems.

He talks to The Chronicle about the successes and controversies of his presidency, and why the university is a “sacred space.”

Jelani M. Favors argues that historically black colleges and universities have a second curriculum that promotes activism and social change. That’s why it’s more important now than ever for those institutions to thrive.

A philosophy course at Notre Dame that asks questions like “how do you decide what you believe?” has become so popular that its creator is working to bring it to other colleges.

The best-selling author Alexandra Robbins’s new book explores the world of fraternities. In some, good boys go bad, she writes, but in most, good boys become even better men.

Jorge Cham, creator of the comic strip Piled Higher and Deeper — PHD Comics for short — reflects on his 20 years of work.

The Boston College professor argues that civil-rights officials have used the gender-equity law to propagate a particular view of sexual harassment and gender identity.

Dan-el Padilla Peralta was told at a conference that he had been hired because he’s black. He reflects on the whiteness of classics and why incremental change is not enough.

Grace Lavery talks about her body, free speech, and finding transcendence in a hot tub in Sedona, Ariz.

José Bou thinks there’s a lot to be learned from those who haven’t “gone through the education system the traditional way.”

A serial entrepreneur and computer-science professor is helping scientists sift through an overload of information in the hope that they will achieve breakthrough discoveries.

Noble Jones, an academic researcher, got to peek inside the admissions process of one selective liberal-arts college. What he found sheds light on the “garbage can” model of decision making.

Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University, relies on her religious faith, as well as her work, to hope that climate change will be acknowledged and dealt with.

Fired by the University of Louisville after many wins but repeated scandals, he talks about his dismissal, the influence of sneaker companies, and whether college athletes should be paid.

A Princeton-trained scholar examines how Latin and Greek texts are being weaponized by men who want a scholarly gloss for their misogynistic posts.

Tracy Mitrano, a cybersecurity scholar, lost her bid to become a U.S. representative. But she gained a new awareness of the challenges facing academics who enter the fray.

After years of debate, a state supreme court’s ruling gave “great weight” to Katherine Beckett’s analysis of race in criminal justice.

The physician and literary scholar Rita Charon, a pioneer in narrative medicine, explains how to train students to listen like readers, the theme of this year’s Jefferson Lecture.

Five years ago, Mariela Shaker left Syria for rural Illinois. Here’s what she has been able to do since.

Julie Schumacher, whose new novel is The Shakespeare Requirement, has earned acclaim as an academic satirist. But she won’t be pigeonholed.

Universities don’t really care about communicating with the public, says the world-famous astrophysicist.

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley Law, thinks the arguments about free speech at colleges could use a few more reasonable people.

Hierarchies die hard, but prestige should be based less on exclusivity and more on serving all students, says Elaine Maimon of Governors State University.

Deva Woodly, an associate professor of politics at the New School, lobbied administrators to let her bring an activist, Shanelle Matthews, into her world. The two talk about the new position and how it benefits both groups.

Underserved students have stories to tell, Tim Whitaker knows. His nonprofit group helps them get the words right.

Suzanna Danuta Walters says that while she does not “hate men in some generic way,” it makes sense for women to have “legitimate rage” against a group that has “systematically abused them.”

Educators must be vocal and clear about how they turn taxpayer dollars into effective results, says F. Ann Millner, a Utah state senator and former college president.

In more than 100 interviews with students, Nolan L. Cabrera has heard strong beliefs they don’t feel they can share publicly.

Making them regurgitate facts and study subjects like calculus, which colleges want to see, doesn’t prepare them for the world, says the education reformer Ted Dintersmith.

Zeynep Tufekci describes how she tries to fit teaching, tweeting, op-eds, and TED Talks into a 24-hour day.

Nell Painter wrote serious books and led scholarly associations before going to art school, a transformation she examines — including the perniciousness of M.F.A. education — in a new memoir.

Bruce Gilley, a professor at Portland State University, caused an uproar with an article in Third World Quarterly. In an interview he blames “totalitarian ideologues” for distorting his message.

Frustrated at the lack of reasoned discussion, the son of two philosophers created his own platform. Now some professors are using it to show students how to weigh the merits of arguments.

Bill Miller explains why he gave $75 million to the philosophy department at the Johns Hopkins University.

Christian Picciolini spent eight years as a skinhead, then he did an about-face. Now he has ideas for colleges confronting racist speakers and extremist recruiters on their campuses.

“Dreamers” must stay in school, and lawmakers must provide a path forward, says Jorge Reyes Salinas, a student trustee for the California State University system.

Erin Bartram reflects on her overnight transformation from spurned scholar to prophet of the academic jobless.

As an undergraduate, Sy Stokes shared his insights in spoken word. Now he sees “different avenues for disrupting the system.”

“There is an abundance of talent in every community in every ZIP code in this country,” says Daniel Porterfield, president of Franklin & Marshall College. If you can’t find it, try harder.

They are set up to help privileged students, and that’s not who comes, or needs them, argues Temple University’s Lori Salem, a maverick writing-center director.

School and college, boring as they are, do little to make us smarter or more prepared for work, says Bryan Caplan, who proposes a profound change.

Daniel Jackson, a computer scientist, photographed and interviewed people at MIT to share how they have coped with competitive academics, personal loss, and suicidal feelings.

Bandy X. Lee says that America is in “a very poor state of public health” but that there are opportunities to “turn this around.”

David Felsenthal says predictive analytics reveal where to spend time and money to graduate as many students as possible.

And what is creativity? A neuroscientist and a composer explored that question together.

A new documentary film charts the rise of for-profit colleges and questions higher education’s financial-aid model.

Valerie Ashby suffered from impostor syndrome until she identified the phenomenon and spent a year practicing 10 steps to overcome it.

Joseph Aoun, president of Northeastern University, says colleges must change how they educate for a work force dominated by automation.

Older generations aren’t trying to gripe about today’s college students, but to understand them, says the generational researcher Jean Twenge.

The connection between recreation and re-creation is a more effective, permanent way of learning new things, says Mitchel Resnick, of the MIT Media Lab.

You should know the details, captured on video, of how Timothy Piazza died at Penn State, says Caitlin Flanagan. Then maybe colleges would reconsider their relationship with fraternities.

For students, stepping out of comfort zones and interacting across racial and ethnic lines is key to their education, says Beverly Daniel Tatum.

Bushra Dabbagh hoped to escape Syria to study biotechnology and entrepreneurship at Northeastern University. But President Trump’s travel ban may stop her from reaching her goal.

When college coaches need someone to talk to their athletes about the importance of respecting women, they call Alexis Jones.

Grounded in facts and reason, scientists could solve the nation’s policy problems, says Shaughnessy Naughton. Her advocacy group 314 Action is trying to get them in the game.

The corporate outsider as college president has become a faculty boogeyman, but Scott Beardsley, dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, can defend him (yes, usually him).

Moises Serrano tells the story of his unlikely journey to college in a new documentary film, “Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America.”

Before Daniel Weiss ran the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he was a college president. What does he know now that he wished he knew then?

Newly retired as Purdue University’s enrollment chief, Pamela Horne reflects on the importance of explaining all that data — and the value of college.

In a new book, the astrophysicist Mario Livio explores the nature of curiosity and its “irresistible appeal.”

After befriending a janitor at Georgetown University, Febin Bellamy engaged the help of his classmates to recognize and humanize the “Unsung Heroes” who keep colleges running.

A sociologist at the University of Louisville describes what colleges need to do to graduate more black males.

In the wake of yet another hazing death, a woman whose son died nine years ago in a similar ordeal reflects on what has and has not changed since she became an activist.

Nancy Zimpher, who steps down in June as chancellor of the State University of New York, says that rather than focusing on the lack of state funding, public-college officials should be talking about how higher education can do a better job.

An academic who wrote a book on single mothers in college describes the struggles such women face and recalls her own experience getting a Ph.D. as an unmarried mom.

A co-founder of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy warns artificial-intelligence luminaries that if technological-unemployment trends continue, “the people will rise up before the machines do.”

Zachary Wood wants to ensure that conservative voices are heard along with progressive ones at Williams College. His classmates don’t always agree.

A $250,000 prize highlights how positive disobedience encourages creativity and change.

Hungary’s bid to shut down the institution is part of a larger battle that pits the cosmopolitan values of liberal democracy against an ascendant wave of nationalist authoritarianism in Europe and elsewhere.

The first woman to lead one of the nation’s elite military institutions says the way to improve campus climate is to “be open to being uncomfortable.”

Eugenia Cheng, an accomplished pianist, mathematician, and YouTube personality, proposes that learning advanced math has value beyond calculating your mortgage.

A higher-education researcher knows that determination is just one of the ingredients low-income students need to have a shot at succeeding in college.

The author of a recent book on transgender college students worries about Trump’s rollback of Obama-era protections and advocates moving beyond “best practices” for inclusion.

The author of a new book on for-profit higher education says the industry takes advantage of the slack in the labor market.

Ana Mari Cauce, president of the University of Washington, faced criticism after declining to block Milo Yiannopoulos from her campus. She talks to The Chronicle about free speech, tolerance, and student safety.

When the 130-year-old Virginia Intermont College had to shut its doors, an executive business consultant stepped in to settle its affairs.

Michael Mann has been fighting climate-change deniers since the late 1990s. Now he’s telling his fellow scientists to warm up for a new round of attacks.

Would the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee consider trading his teaching gigs for one more political run? Not a chance.

A campus activist reflects on how sexual-assault survivors organized to change the discussion under the Obama administration and how they plan to meet the challenges under President Trump.

George Ciccariello-Maher, the Drexel University professor who caused a furor by tweeting “All I Want for Christmas is White Genocide,” says academe must brace for the fight of its life.

After going a few rounds in the political arena, Penn’s Zeke Emanuel wants to turn academics loose on crucial international issues.

Rage over racial, gender, and sexual identity has no sense of proportion and creates a damaging spectacle, says Mark Lilla, a professor of humanities at Columbia University.

The cultural challenges of first-generation students, says M. Sonja Ardoin, aren’t easily resolved — even years later, when as faculty members they’re asked, “What wine will you have?”

The white supremacist Richard Spencer sees college campuses as an important recruiting ground and hopes to visit “all the major ones.”

Charles C. Camosy, an associate professor of theology at Fordham University, talks about why academics are out of touch and what they should do about it.

Anna Deavere Smith, master of documentary theater, talks about personal narrative, empathy, and colleges’ potential to reach vulnerable students and to disrupt cliques.

A University of California professor who just wrote a book about public higher education in shambles talks about restoring support, kludging administrators, and California noir.

Marvin Krislov, president of Oberlin College, reflects on student demands, inauthentic bánh mì, and the tumultuous final years of his decade-long term.