Transistor (https://transistor.fm) https://feeds.transistor.fm/faculty-on-the-edge Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme and Andre C. Willis are three "Faculty on the Edge"! In the midst of multi-sided crises in university life, they give up the pretense that everything is under control. Inexpertly edited and with little production, their free-ranging and candid takes on university politics, governance, and the state of higher education are released here as a podcast that refuses to stay in its lane. Expect sharp analysis, occasional irreverence, and candid conversations about the broader cultural and political forces shaping academic life, as well as revelations about the personal toll it can take. Serious, but not self-serious: this is what it sounds like when warm friendship, sharp minds, and a sense of humor collide! @facultyontheedge 6c0e1d44-4e09-5964-813e-f0d7a97e0eae no en Mon, 05 Oct 2026 22:07:53 -0400 Mon, 05 Oct 2026 22:25:10 -0400 https://img.transistorcdn.com/kZDTcL3bO6_GRLGjZ7hTg-Ek3lfVhLqdTUnml_018bE/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS80ZGQz/MTc0MzI1MjMwYTdh/ZDhhODIxMjI2OGY3/MWM0Zi5qcGc.jpg episodic Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme, Andre C. Willis Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme and Andre C. Willis are three "Faculty on the Edge"! In the midst of multi-sided crises in university life, they give up the pretense that everything is under control. Inexpertly edited and with little production, their free-ranging and candid takes on university politics, governance, and the state of higher education are released here as a podcast that refuses to stay in its lane. Expect sharp analysis, occasional irreverence, and candid conversations about the broader cultural and political forces shaping academic life, as well as revelations about the personal toll it can take. Serious, but not self-serious: this is what it sounds like when warm friendship, sharp minds, and a sense of humor collide! Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme and Andre C. university, academia, education, culture Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme and Andre C. Willis faccultyontheedge@gmail.com No No 6 6 Faculty on the Edge 6: The Academic Calendar full 5d6b7e6c-03b5-40d4-b53a-d147e55ff4ee https://facultyontheedge.transistor.fm/6 The start of the academic year used to bring butterflies. This fall Nadje and Paul return with dread as well, while Andre says the classroom is still the freest place he knows. The three talk about coming back to Brown when universities are under government pressure and AI is unsettling how they teach and assess, and disagree about whether this is a watershed or a sharper version of old problems. They end on purpose: what each of them is in the classroom for, and whether better conditions make for better people.

]]> The start of the academic year used to bring butterflies. This fall Nadje and Paul return with dread as well, while Andre says the classroom is still the freest place he knows. The three talk about coming back to Brown when universities are under government pressure and AI is unsettling how they teach and assess, and disagree about whether this is a watershed or a sharper version of old problems. They end on purpose: what each of them is in the classroom for, and whether better conditions make for better people.

]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:37:32 -0400 Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme, Andre C. Willis Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme, Andre C. Willis 3103 The start of the academic year used to bring butterflies. This fall Nadje and Paul return with dread as well, while Andre says the classroom is still the freest place he knows. The three talk about coming back to Brown when universities are under government pressure and AI is unsettling how they teach and assess, and disagree about whether this is a watershed or a sharper version of old problems. They end on purpose: what each of them is in the classroom for, and whether better conditions make for better people.

]]> university, academia, education, culture No 5 5 Faculty on the Edge 5: Mental Health full c68d03ea-9e2d-415e-987a-37933af3ec7d https://facultyontheedge.transistor.fm/5 Everyone at a university worries about students' mental health. Hardly anyone asks how faculty and staff are doing, so in this episode Andre, Nadje and Paul ask each other. They talk about therapy and the families they grew up in, and about why academics can be so clever and so bad at feelings. Phones and legal cannabis come up, and so does alcohol, from three very different personal histories. What keeps them going? Nadje makes the case for the German way of guarding free time. Paul goes up mountains. Andre doesn't believe in balance, but exercises and meditates every day anyway.

]]> Everyone at a university worries about students' mental health. Hardly anyone asks how faculty and staff are doing, so in this episode Andre, Nadje and Paul ask each other. They talk about therapy and the families they grew up in, and about why academics can be so clever and so bad at feelings. Phones and legal cannabis come up, and so does alcohol, from three very different personal histories. What keeps them going? Nadje makes the case for the German way of guarding free time. Paul goes up mountains. Andre doesn't believe in balance, but exercises and meditates every day anyway.

]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:16:23 -0400 Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme, Andre C. Willis Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme, Andre C. Willis 2886 Everyone at a university worries about students' mental health. Hardly anyone asks how faculty and staff are doing, so in this episode Andre, Nadje and Paul ask each other. They talk about therapy and the families they grew up in, and about why academics can be so clever and so bad at feelings. Phones and legal cannabis come up, and so does alcohol, from three very different personal histories. What keeps them going? Nadje makes the case for the German way of guarding free time. Paul goes up mountains. Andre doesn't believe in balance, but exercises and meditates every day anyway.

]]> university, academia, education, culture No 4 4 Faculty on the Edge 4: The World in a Blender full 23cd665f-aa17-4f82-b421-edc5716c16dc https://facultyontheedge.transistor.fm/4 What does a university owe its community after violence: more guards, or more conversation? Andre, Nadje and Paul talk about security, faculty polarization and the purpose of the humanities. Then, as tends to happen on this podcast, they end up arguing about tenure. Andre and Paul would trade it for five-year renewable contracts; Nadje, outnumbered, is not persuaded that insecurity makes anyone braver.

]]> What does a university owe its community after violence: more guards, or more conversation? Andre, Nadje and Paul talk about security, faculty polarization and the purpose of the humanities. Then, as tends to happen on this podcast, they end up arguing about tenure. Andre and Paul would trade it for five-year renewable contracts; Nadje, outnumbered, is not persuaded that insecurity makes anyone braver.

]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2026 11:40:52 -0400 Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme, Andre C. Willis Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme, Andre C. Willis 2934 What does a university owe its community after violence: more guards, or more conversation? Andre, Nadje and Paul talk about security, faculty polarization and the purpose of the humanities. Then, as tends to happen on this podcast, they end up arguing about tenure. Andre and Paul would trade it for five-year renewable contracts; Nadje, outnumbered, is not persuaded that insecurity makes anyone braver.

]]> university, academia, education, culture No 3 3 Faculty on the Edge 3 : (Dis)Agreement full f8ca97fc-24b0-4228-b1fa-ad218cf31564 https://facultyontheedge.transistor.fm/3 Starting with our reactions to “the agreement” and the strange experience of feeling infantilized, we find ourselves discussing disagreement, criticism, and what it means to engage seriously with one another inside and outside the classroom. Along the way, we ask some uncomfortable questions: What would an ideal learning community look like? How much of ourselves should we bring into academic spaces? And if we were redesigning the university from scratch, would tenure survive?

]]> Starting with our reactions to “the agreement” and the strange experience of feeling infantilized, we find ourselves discussing disagreement, criticism, and what it means to engage seriously with one another inside and outside the classroom. Along the way, we ask some uncomfortable questions: What would an ideal learning community look like? How much of ourselves should we bring into academic spaces? And if we were redesigning the university from scratch, would tenure survive?

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:33:12 -0400 Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme, Andre C. Willis Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme, Andre C. Willis 3509 Starting with our reactions to “the agreement” and the strange experience of feeling infantilized, we find ourselves discussing disagreement, criticism, and what it means to engage seriously with one another inside and outside the classroom. Along the way, we ask some uncomfortable questions: What would an ideal learning community look like? How much of ourselves should we bring into academic spaces? And if we were redesigning the university from scratch, would tenure survive?

]]> university, academia, education, culture No 2 2 Faculty on the Edge 2: Vulnerability full b0b6a173-5a0a-41c1-9b09-5c0dfc6d96f2 https://facultyontheedge.transistor.fm/2 In this episode, we explore the limits of identity politics, different forms of vulnerability in the classroom, and the academic personas we cultivate. We reflect on the significance of gender, the structural vulnerabilities intensified by the current political moment, and whether academia has long operated under assumptions of invulnerability, particularly when it comes to academic freedom. We also take up the increasingly contentious question of viewpoint diversity and what it might mean in practice.

]]> In this episode, we explore the limits of identity politics, different forms of vulnerability in the classroom, and the academic personas we cultivate. We reflect on the significance of gender, the structural vulnerabilities intensified by the current political moment, and whether academia has long operated under assumptions of invulnerability, particularly when it comes to academic freedom. We also take up the increasingly contentious question of viewpoint diversity and what it might mean in practice.

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:32:21 -0400 Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme, Andre C. Willis (Music by Butter) Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme, Andre C. Willis (Music by Butter) 3006 In this episode, we explore the limits of identity politics, different forms of vulnerability in the classroom, and the academic personas we cultivate. We reflect on the significance of gender, the structural vulnerabilities intensified by the current political moment, and whether academia has long operated under assumptions of invulnerability, particularly when it comes to academic freedom. We also take up the increasingly contentious question of viewpoint diversity and what it might mean in practice.

]]> university, academia, education, culture No 1 1 Faculty on the Edge 1: Tradition full 993bf611-6aee-4769-a175-56f41c7fde36 https://facultyontheedge.transistor.fm/1 Episode 1 begins with a quiet doubt: is speaking off the cuff really a good idea for people trained to weigh every word? That hesitation quickly becomes a conversation about our habits as thinkers - our traditions, our attachments, and our blind spots - before things drift, inevitably, into the personal. Thoughtful, candid, and only slightly unguarded.

]]> Episode 1 begins with a quiet doubt: is speaking off the cuff really a good idea for people trained to weigh every word? That hesitation quickly becomes a conversation about our habits as thinkers - our traditions, our attachments, and our blind spots - before things drift, inevitably, into the personal. Thoughtful, candid, and only slightly unguarded.

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:28:53 -0400 Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme & Andre C Willis (Music by Butter) Nadje Al-Ali, Paul Nahme & Andre C Willis (Music by Butter) 2849 Episode 1 begins with a quiet doubt: is speaking off the cuff really a good idea for people trained to weigh every word? That hesitation quickly becomes a conversation about our habits as thinkers - our traditions, our attachments, and our blind spots - before things drift, inevitably, into the personal. Thoughtful, candid, and only slightly unguarded.

]]> university, academia, culture, tradition No