below is an assortment of some of my recent writing AND ARTICLES:
2024
“The end of disenchantment and the future of the humanities” in The Chronical of Higher Education, March 12, 2024.
“Ambivalence Over AI: We Are All Prometheus Now” in Undark, February 22, 2024.
“Don’t let geopolitics get in the way of scientific cooperation with China” in The Hill, January 31, 2024.
“A roller-coaster ride from start to finish” interview in Inside Higher Ed, January 30, 2024.
“Higher Education’s Donor Problem” in TIME, January 11, 2024.
2023
“Campus leaders shouldn’t be judged on their political pronouncements” in Times Higher Education, December 21, 2023.
“AI Could Make Humans Even Less Exceptional,” Techonomy interview. November 21, 2023
“One judge’s ruling threatens American scientific research,” in The Hill, October 5, 2023.
“Humanists and social scientists must help shape the future of AI,” in Times Higher Education, July 2, 2023.
"Rebuilding Trust in Science," in Project Syndicate, February 9, 2023.
2022
"Why “Following the Science” Is Easier Said Than Done," in Project Syndicate, August 25, 2022.
Review Essay: So you want to be an historian? in History and Theory 0, no. 0, 1–13, July 2022
American Knowledge of the World (Chapter 4) in The Cambridge History of America and the World, February 2022
"The Arts and Sciences: The Two Cultures and the Public Face of Science," in Ana Mari Cauce; Yves Fluckiger; Bert van der Zwaan (eds)., Universities as Fifth Power? Opportunities, Risks, and Strategies, published by the Association Glion Colloquium, Geneva, Switzerland, 2022, pp. 27-37.
2021
Meet the International Science Reserve, the IBM-led project to prepare the world for future catastrophes, interviewed by Fortune, September 2021
The Ethics of Sending Humans to Mars in Scientific American, August 2021
The ‘two cultures’ must finally be reconciled in Times Higher Education, August 2021
Reflecting On My First Year at the New York Academy of Sciences in the The New York Academy of Sciences, June 2021
Science-Score Declines Have Impact Well Beyond the Classroom in Education Week’s Letter to the Editor, June 2021
An Education History of the Future in International Journal of Chinese Education, Volume 10, Issue 2, May 2021
Nicholas Dirks: The Enormous Differences of Human Experience The Reading List interview by Phil Treagus, April 2021
We Need Social Science, Not Just Medical Science, to Beat the Pandemic in Scientific American, March 2021
2020
Our Mission: Science for the Public Good (Video) in The New York Academy of Sciences, June 2020
“Letter to the Community from Nicholas Dirks” in The New York Academy of Sciences, June 2020
Nicholas Dirks: Building Bridges in the Humanities and Sciences in The New York Academy of Sciences by Roger Torda, May 2020
“Don't stop public funding of higher education. It's critical” in the Munk Debates, March 2020
2019
“Why Speaking Only English Is Not Enough” in U.S. News & World Report, June 2019
“The SAT’s ‘Adversity Score’ Is Both Necessary and an Admission of Failure” in Barron’s, May 2019
2018
“How Colleges Make Themselves Easy Targets” in The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 2018
"Nicholas Dirks on reimagining the university" in Times Higher Education Review, July 2018
2017
"The real issue in the campus speech debate: The university is under assault" in The Washington Post, August 2017
"Making a difference in four years" in The Daily Californian, May 2017
"Berkeley is under attack from both sides" in The New York Times, Apr. 2017
"Top Universities must enroll more low-income students" in The San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 2017
2016
"Flagships must create new models to preserve the public good" in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jul. 2016
"Challenges create stronger campus and community" in The Daily Californian, May 2016.
"New emphasis on data science valuable to students in all fields" in The Daily Californian, Feb. 2016.
2015
"Berkeley's new approach to global engagement: Early and current efforts to become more international" in the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education's Research & Occasional Paper Series, Dec. 2015.
"Campus staff professionals deserve infinite gratitude" in The Daily Californian, Dec. 2015.
"Exposure to arts central to undergraduate experience" in The Daily Californian, Nov. 2015.
"Our student-athletes can excel on two fronts" in The Daily Californian, Oct. 2015
"Dubois' ideology still relevant today" in The Daily Californian, Sep. 2015
"The Liberal Arts and The University: Tracing the Origins and Structure of Undergraduate Education In the US and at the University Of California" in the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education's Research & Occasional Paper Series, Jun. 2015.
"Intercollegiate athletics crucial to academic values" in The Daily Californian, Jun. 2015.
"Rebirth of the research university" in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr. 2015.
"Discourse on free speech, civility gives us lessons to take forward"in The Daily Californian, Apr. 2015.
"How we are improving the undergraduate experience" in The Daily Californian, Mar. 2015.
"Traditions of excellence worth maintaining" in The Daily Californian, Feb. 2015.
"My passage to India" on The Berkeley Blog, Feb. 2015.
"Why I miss the culture wars" in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 2015.
"How are universities adapting to globalization?" on the World Economic Forum blog, Jan. 2015.
"Leading a global transformation of the American research university" in The Huffington Post, Jan. 2015.
2014
"Our global university: What might this mean for Berkeley students?" in The Daily Californian, Nov. 2014.
"Lead your generation with a vote," in The Daily Californian, Oct. 2014.
"Reaffirming roles of intercollegiate student-athletes, coaches, staff," in The Daily Californian, Sep. 2014.
"Berkeley’s forecast: sunshine after the storm," in The Times (UK) Higher Education Supplement, Oct. 2014.
"Reflecting on the legacy of the Free Speech Movement," in The Daily Californian, Oct. 2014.
"Reimagining the future, not just for ourselves, but for all," in The Daily Californian, Aug. 2014.
"What Ivory Tower gets wrong," in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jul. 2014.
"Together, our school can continue to lead," in The Daily Californian, Feb. 2014
“Utopian pasts and futures,” in The Huffington Post, January 2014.
2013
“A brighter outlook for higher education in California,” in the Los Angeles Times, July 2013.
Recent News
“Nicholas Dirks: life on the fault line” in the Times Higher Education, November, 2017.