HASTAC

What does academic freedom really mean—and why does it matter more than ever?Join us for Episode #2 of the Futures Initiative podcast as Faculty Chair Shelly... FI Podcast Ep. 1:2 - “What Does Academic Freedom Really Mean?”

🎙✨ Episode #2 is live!
What does academic freedom really mean, and why now? 
Deep convo w/ Moustafa Bayoumi & Michelle Fine, hosted by Shelly Eversley 🔥💬
👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba842N-OJCI&list=PLs4s4YzyzpmGp8pMRWPxR9H4rds1715Cm\
🎧 Please subscribe! 🔔
#AcademicFreedom #HigherEd #CUNY ✊🏽🗽

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Join a New Generation of Innovative Scholars – Apply for the 2026-2027 HASTAC Scholars Program! Scan the QR code or click the link in bio to apply!

#education #highereducation #stem #stemeducation #science #technology #humanities #fellowship #scholarship #academia #collaboration

👏 👏 👏FI is proud to share once again that Dr. @Cathy N. Davidson’s #McGraw Prize in Education was celebrated with a full-page ad in #TheNewYorkTimes. 

👏👏👏 A well-deserved recognition of her incredible impact on higher education. 
#HigherEducation #EducationLeadership #innovation #equity #cuny

🚨 Event Reminder — Next Tuesday! 🚨
Join us for Learning Without Borders: Immigrants Transforming Higher Education, part of The University Worth Fighting For series by the Futures Initiative 💪🎓
☕ Light refreshments will be served!

#FutureInitiative #CUNY #LearningWithoutBorders

💪✨We’re thrilled to announce our incredible speakers for Learning Without Borders: Immigrants Transforming Higher Education
🤩 Join us for an inspiring conversation about courage and the impact of immigrant scholars who are reshaping higher education.
❤️RSVP below to secure your seats!❤️

HASTAC Scholars 2026-2027 Application Join a New Generation of Innovative Scholars - Apply for the 2026-2027 HASTAC Scholars Program! HASTAC Scholars brings together dynamic graduate and undergraduate students pushing boundaries in the ar...

Join a New Generation of Innovative Scholars – Apply for the 2026-2027 HASTAC Scholars Program!

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Since #JOY is an act of #resistance I thought I’d share some while I remind you that the @futuresed podcast launches next Tuesday, October 21! I’ll be talking with FI’s Founder @cathyndavidson You’ll find it everywhere and in YouTube💥

🎉 Welcome our new Futures Initiative Fellow: Vallerie Matos! 🎉

👏👏👏 Vallerie is an English PhD Candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center, researching Sound Studies, Glossolalia, and Afro-diasporic literature. We’re excited to have her in our community! 

#Welcome #FuturesInitiative #CUNY

🎉 🎉 🎉 Welcome our new Futures Initiative Fellow: Oliver Silverman! 🎉🎉 🎉
👏 👏 👏Oliver is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at The Graduate Center, CUNY, researching the history of utopia and the connections between classical political ideas and revolutionary thought. 
#FuturesInitiative

The CUNY Peer Leaders Program Spring ’26 | Applications Open Apply now! Deadline: Tuesday, September 30, 2025 Are you, or do you know, a motivated, collaborative undergraduate scholar at any of CUNY's 2 or 4 year campuses? Then consider applying for [...]

📢 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!

Hugging Face – The AI community building the future. We’re on a journey to advance and democratize artificial intelligence through open source and open science.

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.