The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad Dr. Caroline Levander - How to Reform Our Universities (The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad_934)
Dec 10, 2025
Dr. Caroline Levander is a Professor of English and Vice President for Global Strategy at Rice University, focusing on higher-education reform. She discusses the importance of fostering creativity in students and argues that creativity can be taught as a valuable skill. Levander explores the tension between specialists and generalists in academia, advocating for interdisciplinary approaches. She shares innovative examples from Rice, including new pedagogical practices that promote growth mindsets, along with insights on reading habits and global strategies for education.
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Samuel Morse: Artist Turned Inventor
- Samuel Morse moved between art and invention, mocking up the telegraph on his easel in his studio.
- Levander uses his career to illustrate how cross-disciplinary movement sparks discovery.
Specialization's Unintended Narrowing
- Disciplinary specialization grew as knowledge expanded, producing unintended narrowness.
- Levander notes early leaders like Vannevar Bush warned universities could make scientists too narrow.
Leverage Existing Campus Resources
- Use existing campus resources to give students real-world, design-driven problems without huge new spending.
- Levander highlights programs like Rice's Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen as models.
