📢 Call for Applicants: CUNY Peer Leaders Program 💡 Are you a motivated and collaborative undergraduate at one of CUNY’s 2- or 4-year campuses? The CUNY Peer Leaders program is now accepting applications! 📅 Apply by Tuesday, September 30, 2025: futuresinitiative.org/2025/09/12/t...

👏 👏 👏 Congratulations to Cathy N. Davidson, founding director of the Futures Initiative and senior advisor on transformation to the CUNY chancellor, who has been awarded the 2025 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education! mcgrawprize.com/news-events/... #HigherEducation #Equity #CUNY #McGrawPrize

We close by celebrating @cathyndavidson.bsky.social for her bold leadership and unwavering commitment to higher education—and for 10 transformative years of the Futures Initiative. Here’s to a legacy of innovation, justice, and public good.

Another blind spot in higher ed: failing to grasp the deep value of diversity. We define excellence narrowly and ask diversity to prove its worth—while taking homogeneity as the norm. It’s time to question who defines excellence and why.

@cathyndavidson.bsky.social speaks about college debt and that most have $40K in debt but for profit college debt is three times that plus higher dropout rates. It exacerbates the problem but we're seeing a push for privatization and that's precisely what we don't want. @futuresed.bsky.social

Higher education has as its mission to serve the public good—but rarely stops to ask how the public defines it. One of our biggest blind spots is assuming our definition is shared. To rebuild trust, we have to listen—especially across difference.

"If funding is going to be tied to politics, we need to be tied to each other. Transform competitive spaces into collaborative ones." - Nancy Cantor, President of CUNY's Hunter College.

Challenging times can open space for imagination. In moments of crisis, resistance, endurance, and imagination become essential—not just to survive, but to transform. These moments can be the catalyst for long-overdue change in our institutions. #FutureOfHigherEd #TransformHigherEd

Hunter College President Nancy Cantor calls for creating shared spaces—not controlled by universities or communities alone, but co-created together.

To shape the future of higher ed, we must co-create with communities - not drop in grant by grant, but commit for the long haul. It’s about shared spaces, visibility, and building together. That can be revolutionary!

Shelly Lowe, Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, highlights our responsibility to communicate the value of our work: "Higher ed is facing cuts, discrediting, and public distrust—but the public doesn’t know what’s being lost. That’s on us!"

Hunter College President Nancy Cantor reminds us of the importance of doing research embedded with communities: “We need a two-way street—a community of experts with and without formal credentials—who really co-produce solutions.” #FutureOfHigherEd

"Storytelling is as important as science". @shellyeversley.bsky.social about the importance of liberal arts and humanities in Higher Education.

We start our event with a powerful question: What does it mean to defend higher education and cultural institutions for the public good—not just for today, but for generations to come? #FutureOfHigherEd

We are LIVE: The Future of Higher Education!

In today's "AI and the Future of Higher Education," @cathyndavidson.bsky.social mentions former FI Fellow Chris McGuinness and what she has learned about Hugging Face, a "GitHub for AI": huggingface.co @hf.co @futuresed.bsky.social @hastac.bsky.social

We just finished the amazing conversation with @alondra.bsky.social and @cathyndavidson.bsky.social, and @hastac.bsky.social area directors Dr. Jade E. Davis and Dr. Kevin Healey. We will be sharing the recap of the conversation on our website soon.

@alondra.bsky.social reminds us that expertise is often weaponized to exclude. So, we must reject the notion that only technical experts should shape AI policy. When it comes to its usage in schools, educators, parents, students, and citizens must have a voice.

As we explore AI’s possibilities, @cathyndavidson.bsky.social also worries about what we’re not learning when we outsource too much to ChatGPT. Like using our critical thinking, developing writing skills, and being aware of how we learn.

Thanks @cathyndavidson.bsky.social for sharing some encouraging initiatives like @huggingface.bsky.social, an open-source community that helps open the AI blackbox. Initiatives like this put tools in the hands of policymakers like @alondra.bsky.social, to design better policies.

“The risks and possibilities of AI aren’t the same in K–12 and college classrooms. And we shouldn’t assume AI is an educational advance—it must be proven, demonstrated, and researched.” @alondra.bsky.social in conversation with @cathyndavidson.bsky.social in our webinar.

“My assumption is it’s not new.” — @cathyndavidson.bsky.social on AI as just the latest chapter in a long history of technological evolution.

We are starting now! Join us!

We are starting in 30 minutes!

Check out this new post on the role of the arts in addressing a political crisis, by HASTAC Area CoDirector Kevin Healey! social-political-issues.hastac.hcommons.org/2025/05/05/w...

Join us for a special webinar conversation about AI and the future of higher education with @alondra.bsky.social, FI Founder @cathyndavidson.bsky.social, and HASTAC Area Directors Drs. Jade Davis and Kevin Healey! www.eventbrite.com/e/alondra-ne...