Public Speaking Topics
From Transaction to Transformation: Reclaiming the Promise of Higher Education
Higher education has always promised more than credentials and employment—but what does it really mean for education to transform a life? This talk examines the roots of that promise and asks how faculty and leaders can create learning experiences that change how students understand themselves, their communities, and the world.
The AI Proposition: Re-Centering the Humanities in Higher Education
Artificial intelligence is forcing colleges and universities to reconsider what learning is for and which distinctly human capacities matter most. This talk explores how AI creates an opportunity to place interpretation, ethical reasoning, judgment, creativity, and meaning-making—the work of the humanities—at the center of higher education’s future.
Hemingway in Our Time
Why does Hemingway continue to compel, trouble, and divide readers more than six decades after his death? Drawing on my experience as a Hemingway scholar and editor of The Hemingway Review, I offer customizable talks that use his writing and cultural legacy to explore questions of identity, gender, trauma, war, the environment, celebrity, and the writer’s craft.Write your text here...
Workshop Topics
Starting Well as a Department Chair
New chairs must learn unfamiliar systems, manage competing expectations, and lead colleagues—often without much preparation for the role. This workshop helps participants clarify their responsibilities, establish productive relationships, set priorities, and approach the work with greater confidence.
Difficult Conversations: Clarity, Candor, and Care
The conversations we most want to avoid are often the ones leadership requires us to have. Participants learn how to prepare thoughtfully, communicate expectations clearly, listen for what matters, and move difficult situations toward constructive action.
Fundraising for Academic Leaders: Lessons from the Learning Curve
Most academic leaders were not trained to raise money, yet they are increasingly expected to cultivate relationships and secure support for their priorities. In this candid, peer-to-peer workshop, I share what I have learned about making a compelling case, listening to potential supporters, and connecting institutional needs with donor interests.
Building a Healthy Academic Culture
Academic culture is created through everyday interactions: how decisions are made, how disagreement is handled, whose voices are heard, and whether commitments are honored. Participants examine the practices that build trust, collaboration, candor, and shared purpose—and identify practical ways to strengthen the cultures within their own departments and institutions.
Building a Culture of Accountability
Accountability need not be punitive, but it does require clear expectations, honest feedback, and consistent follow-through. This workshop helps leaders create conditions in which people understand their responsibilities, commitments carry meaning, and accountability strengthens rather than undermines trust.
Managing Energy, Not Just Time
The problem is not always that we have too little time; it is that the demands of academic work consume different kinds of energy. Participants identify what sustains and depletes them and develop more intentional ways to focus their attention, establish boundaries, and remain effective without treating exhaustion as a measure of commitment.