In this episode of Not Alone: Leaders in conversation, we trace how university leadership split between internal stewardship and external politics, and what that means for mission, trust, and culture. Robert A. Brown lays out why research finance is fragile, how immigration and AI shape the future, and where focus and courage will be required.

Topics include:

• Growth of constituencies and the provost–president divide
• Declining public confidence driven by cost, access and politics
• Research economics, indirects and the risk to Endless Frontier
• Subcritical departments and the culture of merit
• Teacher‑scholar model under pressure and reputational incentives
• Immigration as talent strategy and soft power
• Demographics, consolidation and institutional resilience
• AI shifting teaching from facts to judgment and identity
• Focused research priorities and harder leadership choices

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In this episode of Not Alone: Leaders in Conversation, host Rafael Bras speaks with Tony Chan about building a Western-style research university inside a rapidly changing Saudi Arabia, the rising political pressure on US academia, and what AI can and cannot do. The through line is leadership that protects the university’s soul while adapting to new realities.

Topics include:

• Why KAUST adopted US-style research culture and governance
• Vision 2030 expectations and national impact pressures
• Fitting KAUST into the local academic ecosystem
• Recruiting global faculty and top Saudi students
• Mobility risks amid US–China tensions for scholars
• Political pressure on US universities and funding threats
• How top institutions might evolve by 2040
• AI hype versus evidence, and the risk of another AI winter
• Practical regulation that protects innovation and society
• Access, inequality, and the power of big tech in AI

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In this episode of Not Alone: Leaders in Conversation, Prof. Ana Mari Cauce reflects on her decade-long presidency at the University of Washington, exploring how authenticity, values, and a commitment to both diversity and free speech guided her leadership through turbulent times.

Topics include:

• The journey from "reluctant administrator" to transformative university president
• Why diversity is not the enemy of excellence and the importance of remaining authentic in leadership roles
• Navigating free speech controversies on campus, including the painful personal connection to her brother's death in the Greensboro Massacre
• How today's campus protests differ from previous eras in their coordination and destructiveness
• The broken compact between government and academia that threatens research progress
• Rebuilding public trust in higher education by creating space for debate and addressing affordability
• The importance of place and staying at one institution to build something meaningful
• Future plans for writing about higher education and fostering greater cooperation among universities

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