Trinity College has partnered with Stanford Digital Education to launch a new book talk series, Academic Innovation for the Public Good, which will foster discussion about how to make higher education’s future more equitable and accessible.
Each hour-long Zoom interview features an author of a recently published book exploring the role of colleges and universities in addressing society’s most pressing problems and the potential for innovation to address those challenges. An expert in the author’s field will conduct the interview, followed by questions from the audience. The conversations will begin at 7 p.m. Eastern time from January through October on the fourth Wednesday of every month, except for the June event, which will be a week earlier. The complete list of authors and event dates is below.
The series will begin on January 26 with Trinity’s own Davarian Baldwin, Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies, discussing his recent book, In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities. Baldwin will be interviewed by Michael Kahan, co-director of Stanford University’s Program on Urban Studies.
Trinity Vice President for Library and Information Technology Services Kristen Eshleman said that the LITS team at Trinity is excited to co-create this interview series with Stanford. “Academics have done the deepest research on higher education and the public good, and we all benefit from more exposure to their work,” Eshleman said. “With this web-based model of book talks, we aim to support academic authors and help turn what would be small-scale local conversations into more impactful national ones.” To learn more about the motivation for this series, go to Inside Higher Ed for a Q&A with Eshleman and Stanford’s Matthew Rascoff.
Trinity and Stanford Digital Education are co-sponsoring the series in collaboration with Stanford Humanities Center’s Recovering the University as a Public Good initiative and the Stanford Pathways Lab. Trinity instructional technologist David Tatem is the producer for the live events.
The book conversations are free, and all are welcome. Those wishing to attend one or more of the events should register in advance here.
The Elizabeth Elting Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will be built on Vernon Street. Construction is scheduled to begin in late spring 2026, with an anticipated opening in fall 2027.
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Trinity College has named the students with outstanding academic achievement who have earned Faculty Honors for the fall 2025 semester.
In recognition of its strong institutional commitment to community engagement, Trinity College has received the prestigious 2026 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement.
