ProfPods: Yale Faculty Voices, Recorded



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While not all faculty-hosted podcasts are as spontaneous as Shapiro’s, they are among the clearest windows in the minds of academic experts at Yale. In the professors’ podcasts, their professional personalities are peeled to reveal raw, exposed conversation about their college careers, everyday lives, personal quirks, and what they really are. think about when the office door is closed.

The News spoke to eight faculty members – all but two currently in their first foray into podcasting – about what makes the medium so interesting and how the recording studio and the classroom intersect.

Sometimes it turns out not. English teacher and journalist Mark Oppenheimer ’96 GRD ’03 finds little overlap between his journalism and the episodes of his “Unorthodox” series. Instead, the podcast brings out part of his personal identity, “debunking” what it means to be Jewish. Oppenheimer taught an undergraduate course called “Advanced Podcasting” in 2015 and said he appreciates the instant nature of podcasting.

“You can start a conversation on paper, and it can work, but there’s something special about hearing people talking to each other,” Oppenheimer said.

Podcasting can also be a chance to diversify and bring out new academic voices. “The Common Room at Yale,” hosted by English teachers Derek Green and Stephanie Newell alongside a panel of guest hosts, was created by the department’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee of English, and often features younger voices or recent faculty additions to the department. With a wide variety of current events, the two professors find themselves immersed in the daily life of their guests and wonder about the work of art or the favorite music of each.

“We wanted it not to be academic, but a little nosy,” Newell said.

Law School appears to be a particularly active hotbed for faculty podcasts, with at least five non-Shapiro faculty members currently hosting series. Akhil Amar ’80 LAW ’84, Sterling, a professor of law and political science, recently launched “Amarica’s Constitution,” which covers constitutional law events like the Texas abortion ban and the January 6 riots in the capital. He and his renowned guest list, many of whom are Yale affiliates such as Bob Woodward ’65 and Neal Katyal LAW ’95, draw around 5,000 listeners per week.

“I can’t tell you how many young people, current students, Yale candidates come to me or email me and say ‘Hey, I really like the podcast! “” said Amar. “I really don’t consume a lot of other podcasts, but apparently it’s a very important way of getting information out, I think, especially for the younger generations.”

Viveca Morris ’15, MEM ’18, MBA ’19 and Jennifer Skene LAW ’14, who met as colleagues in law school, currently co-host “When We Talk About Animals”. Over 43 episodes, the podcast has brought together expert guests to talk about everything from bioluminescence to seashells.

“It’s one thing to read about the social structure of a bee colony, but quite another to hear someone who has dedicated their entire life to studying these animals actually talk about it.” Morris said.

“This is just a diagram that was worked out for us to talk to some really incredibly interesting people,” Skene joked.

Outside of law school, Yale School of Art critic Neil Goldberg shared this sentiment, describing his series “She’s a Talker” as a great excuse to talk to people in the creative spaces of her home in downtown Manhattan – from SNL’s Bowen Yang to choreographer Michael Gutierrez. Podcasting, he added, makes professional work more accessible in areas that can often seem exclusive.

Indeed, the eight faculty members at the University that News spoke with made their podcasts available for free.

“Who goes to museums and art galleries? Goldberg said. “Who feels that they have access to these spaces? A podcast is like sending a message in a bottle; you’re not directly in front of the audience, you just send it.

Some professors, including Morris and Skene, have chosen to work with the Yale Broadcast Studio, the university’s video and audio production department. Producer Ryan McEvoy encouraged more teachers, including those with no podcasting experience, to launch their own series with the technical support provided by the studio.

“There aren’t a lot of professors doing this – we’d love to see more professors creating their own podcasts,” McEvoy told The News. “We’re trying to expand it and make it more appealing to faculty. “

Regardless of the quality of the production, many professors have described podcasting as an innovative new form of scholarly communication.

“The big block for people listening to my ideas was that they had to get into Yale Law School first,” Shapiro said. “Now they just need a phone.”

Podcasts were invented in 2004.



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