Podcast Intellectuals Panel #3: Can Podcasts Save the University?

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Robert Boynton
Panelists: Joy Connolly (American Council of Learned Societies), Barry Lam (UC Riverside), Dr. Lauren Aurora Hutchinson (Johns Hopkins Ideas Lab)
Date: March 14, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode features the third and final panel from the NYU Journalism Institute’s conference "Podcast: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio." The discussion centers on the provocative question: Can Podcasts Save the University? Moderator Robert Boynton guides a lively conversation with Joy Connolly, Barry Lam, and Dr. Lauren Aurora Hutchinson, exploring how podcasting and narrative audio might reshape university systems of hiring, tenure, and scholarly communication, and challenge the insularity and reward structures of academia.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Challenging the Insular University (00:01–06:47)

• Joy Connolly shares the historical and ethical roots of academic insularity, referencing Fichte's question: "To whom do we owe as scholars? … For whom is the knowledge being produced? To what end?" (02:46)

  • The university has become "a world apart," producing knowledge primarily for internal validation rather than public good.
  • “The tragedy, and what's destroying [the academy] now, is the fact that every habit … is happening in that world apart from the world outside.” (03:34, Connolly)

• Reform discussions: Merely rewriting faculty handbooks and reward structures is not enough; deeper existential questions about the purpose and beneficiaries of scholarship must be addressed.

  • “If we just talk about faculty reward structure … we also have much bigger and more fundamental questions to ask ourselves.” (05:40, Connolly)

2. Progress and Resistance in Academic Recognition of Podcasts (06:47–11:48)

• Joy Connolly: There is growing, though piecemeal, acceptance of podcasts and public scholarship in tenure and promotion—especially where young faculty and supportive administrators are proactive.

  • “I've seen it happen. Places like Minnesota, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of California Santa Cruz…” (08:13, Connolly)
  • Professional societies (MLA, AHA) now provide guidelines for evaluating podcasts in scholarship.

• The fragmented nature of academia makes system-wide change slow and difficult.

3. University Models for Podcasting and Academic Evaluation (09:22–16:48)

Lauren Aurora Hutchinson (Johns Hopkins)

• Model for integration: The Ideas Lab at Johns Hopkins was set up “with this mission to figure out how to do creative storytelling around bioethics.”
  • Faculty collaboration is designed to be recognized in career progression, and the lab influences even grant writing to center public impact and storytelling (10:16–11:32).
  • "That power dynamic has to be recognized. The faculty is an expert in their field, but the producer is also an expert." (11:45, Hutchinson)

Barry Lam (UC Riverside)

• Personal experience: Hired on the basis of podcasting; department rewrote guidelines to accommodate non-traditional scholarship.
  • “It was the result of two things: two people within the department who were fans, and an enterprising dean…” (12:00, Lam)
  • UCR used conservative adaptations—letting audio work be categorized as research, teaching, or service—while other universities like Michigan State have adopted radical new categories beyond traditional academia (14:17–15:15).
  • “If you make the case to a dean or provost … you can change things at a local level.” (16:38, Lam)

4. Podcasting as a Metric for Attraction, Retention, and Innovation (17:13–18:07)

• Lauren Hutchinson: Having cutting-edge audio and narrative forms in the curriculum is attracting better students and shaping new kinds of professionals.
  • “[Masters students] mention the ideas lab as why they're picking that place. … Whether they go on to be storytellers or not, they're becoming new kinds of bioethicists.” (17:19, Hutchinson)

5. The Prestige Economy & Structural Incentives (18:10–21:03)

• Barry Lam: Academic currency is not products like monographs, but “letters of recommendation”—i.e., reputation and prestige.
  • "The thing most departments hire and promote for is, like, this increases our reputation … we can't not get this person or tenure this person." (18:14, Lam)
  • Influence and prestige could be shifted if leading scholars and institutions recognize audio as a mark of excellence.

6. Monograph vs. Podcast: The “Gold Standard” Debate (21:03–26:54)

• Joy Connolly: Despite declining relevance, the monograph remains default for tenure; few deans are willing to risk removing it.

  • “We were talking about this as a problem … and I said, okay, so how many of you would champion a tenure file that didn't have a monograph at the core? And two of them raised their hands.” (22:09, Connolly)

• Barry Lam (playfully):

  • "[Students are] not writing that shit anyway." (23:50, Lam)
  • Discussion of generative AI and declining engagement with print.

7. Operational and Infrastructural Challenges (24:30–26:54)

• Archiving & library partnerships are crucial—digital scholarship often vanishes due to lack of maintenance and institutional support.
  • “Working with librarians and university presses … there are many receptive voices in all these sectors.” (24:44, Connolly)
  • Practical examples: NYPL is working on podcast preservation (26:41, Hutchinson).

8. The Role of Podcasting Beyond Output: Process, Collaboration, and Inclusion (31:05–36:34)

• Podcasting as process: The value is not just in the finished product, but in fostering skills (collaboration, testimony, engagement).

  • “Podcasting helps teach collaboration, and collaboration is a skill that the humanities are terrible at.” (32:39, Boynton)
  • "Some people say, I don't want to do a podcast. I don't have a good voice ... their voice doesn't have to be any part of it at all." (31:39, Hutchinson)
  • “The kind of voices and stories ... are not a narcissistic voice … and you get these lesser heard voices.” (31:50, Hutchinson)

• Practice-based research and experimental approaches can challenge the “monographic fundamentalism” and create plurality in the academy (32:56, Audience).

9. Rethinking Audience & Impact (35:07–36:34)

• Podcast success ≠ scale: Even “failure” in podcast numbers is outreach compared to standard academic publishing.

  • “If 200 people listen to me every week, I would make that— that's great. And that's not anywhere near commercially success, but … that's completely doable.” (35:18, Lam)
  • Example: Tailoring podcasts or audio tools for small, specific communities (NICU parents) is just as valuable as reaching thousands (35:47, Hutchinson).

• Plurality & Expansion: Academic culture needs more flexibility about what counts as scholarship.

  • "It's about expanding what counts ... more plural and recognizing ... diversity of the kinds of knowledge people want to produce." (36:34, Connolly)

10. The Mission and Future of the University (38:01–41:07)

• Addressing broader context: The problem is not just academic insularity, but societal hostility toward public institutions and education.
  • “The elephant in the quad is the hostility to public institutions ... we've never been more committed to making that wall more porous.” (38:14, Audience)
  • Connolly underscores the need for universities to defend and articulate their value against political attacks, while not ignoring internal inertia: “We do great things and we need to do better. … we have some work to do.” (39:57, Connolly)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Joy Connolly: “The academy … functions in an alternative economy. … Every professional habit of idea cultivation … is happening in that world apart from the world outside.” (03:34)
• Barry Lam: "The currency of academia is letters of recommendation. … What gets us up there, we’re all having a top something.” (18:10)
• Lauren Aurora Hutchinson: “If they're going to take their time to collaborate, it needs to be recognized.” (10:42)
• Barry Lam: “My own case was a bit of an outlier … You can change things at a local level.” (16:38)
• Boynton: “Podcasting helps teach collaboration, and collaboration is a skill that the humanities are terrible at.” (32:39)
• Barry Lam: “Counts as a commercial failure is a huge success in numbers compared to the people who read your peer reviewed article.” (35:07)
• Joy Connolly: "It's expanding what counts. It's becoming more plural ..." (36:34)
• Audience Member: “Maybe the university is actually doing better than you're saying. … We might think instead that we're doing a lot of really inventive things … in a period of intense contradiction in our mission.” (38:14)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------|------------| | Introduction & Framing the Panel | 00:01-02:12| | Joy Connolly on Academic Insularity | 02:12-06:33| | Panelists on Breaking the Walls | 06:33-11:48| | Models of Change (JHU, UCR, MSU) | 09:22-16:48| | New Metrics for Progress and Prestige | 18:10-21:03| | Monograph vs. Podcast Debate | 21:03-26:54| | Archiving, Infrastructure Issues | 24:30-26:54| | What Does Podcasting “Save” the University From? | 26:56-30:49| | Podcasting as Process, Not Just Output | 31:05-36:34| | Audience, Numbers & Plurality | 35:07-38:01| | Reassessing Academia’s Value & Mission | 38:01-41:07|

Conclusion

The panel delivers a nuanced discussion about the possibilities and limitations of podcasting in transforming academia. Rather than positioning podcasts merely as a replacement for traditional scholarship, the conversation urges listeners to see them as a means of expanding the modes, audiences, and evaluative criteria of academic work. While structural change is slow and often piecemeal, there are promising examples—and significant obstacles—on the road to a more inclusive, plural, and publicly engaged academy.