Nerd from the Future is back for a second season! We’ve got nine brand-new episodes and an all-star cast of geniuses to help you makes sense of this wild, weird, wondrous universe we’re living in. Since our first encounter last Fall, the world of higher education has gone into a tailspin: the destruction of DEI, the federal slashing of budgets, the elimination of entireprograms in Middle East studies and ethnic, women’s, and disability studies, and the firing of professors for unfashionable political beliefs. Name any outrageous political attack you can imagine, and it’s probably shaking the foundations of your local college campus. But none of this has ever stopped people’s burning desire to learn about their shared history, culture, political values, fantasies, hopes, and aspirations for the future.

In season 1, we made a passionate case for the value of humanities education to enlighten, transform, and heal people from a toxic culture. This season, I’m joined by some of the world’s most dazzling, generous, brilliant, and insightful film scholars, political scientists, medical humanists, anthropologists, literary theorists, and media studies experts; this time, we take for granted the value of the humanities and show you first hand the positive effects higher education has on students, faculty members, and entire communities beyond the walls of the university. In this season’s episodes, we help you get a handle on what’s happening with AI in the college classroom; we outline the responsibility scholars carry to be political activists for democratic freedom; we consider what it means to be a humanities professor in today’s political climate; we identify why it matters to study the art and culture ofsocial outcasts and misfits; we explore how humanities scholars thoughtfully question the authority of science; and we find out what former undergraduates are doing with their heard-earned education. Our guests include professors just starting their professional journeys; recent graduates pursuing careers in thelaw, medicine, creative writing, and the non-profit sector; internationally renowned performance artists; and faculty members of all ages and institutions who’ve changed state policy, drafted human rights appeals in congress, changedthe values of university donors, and founded digital media companies that support the television and film of marginalized artists. Through it all, we work toward a future where the university is truly for everybody.

So, join us on September 14, when we bring the university back to you. See you in the future!