S06E03: Ron Daniels on the Role of Uni­ver­si­ties in Strength­en­ing Democracy 

This episode explores the role uni­ver­si­ties play in uphold­ing and deep­en­ing democ­ra­cy. How does uni­ver­si­ty edu­ca­tion fos­ter civic engage­ment and a demo­c­ra­t­ic spir­it? How do uni­ver­si­ties cul­ti­vate inter­ac­tive diver­si­ty? And what pos­i­tive con­tri­bu­tions can insti­tu­tions of high­er edu­ca­tion make in order to strength­en democ­ra­cy today? Lis­ten to the illu­mi­nat­ing dis­cus­sion regard­ing the rela­tion­ship between uni­ver­si­ties and democracy.

Guests fea­tured in this episode:

Ronald Daniels, the Pres­i­dent of Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­si­ty, as well as a board mem­ber of the Cen­tral Euro­pean Uni­ver­si­ty. His numer­ous accom­plish­ments include the Order of Cana­da award­ed to him in 2016 and his elec­tion as a fel­low of the Amer­i­can Acad­e­my of Arts and Sci­ences. Dur­ing his tenure as Pres­i­dent, Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­si­ty has con­sis­tent­ly ranked at the top for its inter­dis­ci­pli­nary research and inno­va­tion, enhanced stu­dent access, as well as com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment. It thus serves as a true mod­el for a research uni­ver­si­ty in the 21st century.

Last year, Ron Daniels pub­lished an agen­da-set­ting book, “What Uni­ver­si­ties Owe Democ­ra­cy.” It makes a com­pelling and a pas­sion­ate case for uni­ver­si­ties to be engaged in pre­serv­ing and strength­en­ing demo­c­ra­t­ic achieve­ments that are under threat, both in the U.S. and elsewhere.