In this period of rapid transformation, the value of a liberal arts education is as important as ever. This past year as Dean of the 海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences has shown me countless examples of that fact.聽

The stories featured in our Spring 2026 digital magazine offer lessons in resilience, hope and optimism for the future. They deliver advice and solutions.聽

In March, we announced that students will be able to enroll in a nine-credit undergraduate certificate in artificial intelligence starting this fall. As part of the program, students will learn about the underlying technology, as well as how to ethically and responsibly engage with it. 

Our community is guided by the Jesuit values of cura personalis 鈥� care for the whole person 鈥� and being people for others. This is exemplified by the students in the , who spent time this February visiting businesses in the DC area and learning from local industry and social impact leaders, and by , a Ph.D. candidate in history who is spending a year immersed in Japanese language, history and culture through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. It鈥檚 also embodied by our First Fellows Program supporting first-generation students and by courses like Defining Ourselves: Failure as Opportunity and Confronting Perfection. These programs and courses, taught by our faculty members and advising deans, help normalize both great success and heartbreaking failure as part of the learning process for students. 

Our remarkable, award-winning faculty members reinforce the qualities that make the 海角论坛 distinct. In her expert advice column, Nicoletta Pireddu, director of the Georgetown Humanities Initiative, provides a portable, future-proof toolkit on how the humanities prepare people to enter any space with cultural awareness, insight and creativity. The Pre-Health Advising Office has a new home on campus, where our advisors can expand on the work they do serving hundreds of students and alumni. Dagomar Degroot, an environmental historian, teaches us how the value of history lies in the ability to inform what comes next and help us find potential solutions.

We also talk to two extraordinary alumni of the 海角论坛 鈥� Monica McNutt (C鈥�11) and K鈥檚ean Henderson (C鈥�12, L鈥�18) 鈥� who demonstrate that success comes from resilience and advocating for others. 

Our students and alumni, faculty members and staff exemplify our Jesuit values of discernment and people in service to others. I am proud of the work we do as we prepare for what鈥檚 ahead.

Hoya Saxa,

-David

David M. Edelstein, Ph.D.
Dean, 海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences
Professor of International Affairs & Government
Georgetown University

(Top photo by Rafael Suanes for Georgetown University)

Illustration by Chiara Vercesi

The 海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences announced in March that students will be able to enroll in a nine-credit undergraduate certificate in artificial intelligence starting this fall. 

As part of the program, students are required to complete one course each from three domains: The Problem of AI, which examines ethical, social and political dimensions of AI; The Science of AI, which focuses on understanding how systems work and their capabilities and limitations; and The Application of AI, which explores the practical use of AI tools in disciplinary and professional contexts. 

, the dean of the 海角论坛, explained in a panel in late March, that Problem of AI is a 鈥渃heeky nod鈥� to one of Georgetown鈥檚 signature courses, The , where undergraduate students critically examine religious dimensions of human nature and reflect on their own experience with religion.

鈥淚n the same way in which the word 鈥榩roblem鈥� has about eight different meanings as it鈥檚 used in Problem of God, the same applies in many ways for artificial intelligence,鈥� Edelstein said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a problem, and it鈥檚 a challenge. We need to think about the impact it鈥檚 having.鈥�

Edelstein moderated the Problem of AI panel that featured , the director of the Center for Digital Ethics; , an assistant professor in the Department of Government; , a professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science; and , a professor in the Department of English. Each faculty member brought their own perspective and expertise to the conversation on how the 海角论坛 is approaching the questions AI raises and how it is developing curriculum to prepare students to engage with AI thoughtfully and deliberately. 

鈥淲hat is incumbent upon us as a community is a sustained critical engagement with this technology, to understand the way that the technology is affecting our society and everything we do,鈥� Edelstein said. 

The Joy of Inquiry 

One of the goals of liberal arts is to cultivate the joy of inquiry. The introduction of AI can be seen as a threat to that, as Edelstein posed to the panelists. 

鈥淲hen we have tools around us that make our lives super easy, we tend to use them,鈥� Singh said. 

The question reminded her of a moment from teaching 15 years ago, where she realized that Google had revolutionized how her students memorized and learned information.

鈥淭his is the moment where we have to reinvent that joy of inquiry in different ways, and we can,鈥� Singh said. 鈥淎I doesn’t have to rob us of that. It just means that we have to think more deeply about new pathways to capturing that type of inquiry we care most about.鈥�

Fisher, the founding director for , believes that there are approaches to education where AI is not a threat and that students are invested in developing certain cognitive tools. He hopes that students can think of their pedagogical experience as development of certain capacities or the cultivation of curiosity. 

“When they are curious, there is genuine motivation to learn,鈥� said Fisher, whose research focuses on the history and future of democratic thought. 鈥淏ut if students are really only encouraged to think about the grade or the outcomes or they鈥檙e really anxious about balancing many different priorities, I think AI is an obvious solution to that.鈥� 

Hensley warned that usage of AI can lead to cognitive offloading and deskilling and noted that the continual expansion of AI will ultimately make studying the humanities .

鈥淚 can testify that many of us see this as a paradoxical moment of revitalization: a chance to reinvest in the core functions of the liberal arts enterprise,鈥� he said.

DeNardis, the inaugural endowed chair in who is teaching the flagship Problem of AI course as part of the 海角论坛鈥檚 certificate program, cautioned the audience against thinking of AI purely as large language models. AI, she added, is already in everything from cybersecurity to drug discovery, and can aid in the pursuit of knowledge. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the world that students are entering, and we have to prepare them for that,鈥� DeNardis said.

The Future of AI 

Edelstein asked the panelists to look into the future as AI continues to proliferate and evolve.

Will AI be seen as a moment that fell short of its promises? Will it spread even further and have a revolutionary effect on society? Or will it be somewhere in between?

DeNardis believes that AI will only continue to grow and be transformational in our lives. She hopes that as it progresses, reasonable governance frameworks will be developed to address some of the safety challenges that arise during these moments of transformation.

鈥淚 think AI is going to get astronomically large as it moves into the solar-system internet and space networks,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd I think it’s going to get infinitesimally small as it moves into nanotechnologies and medical devices.鈥�

Fisher can imagine one of two scenarios. 

The first, he said, is one where an acceptance of AI leads to passivity, where people begin to see AI as a way of offloading or outsourcing desires by having them met without much effort. 鈥淚 think that opens up to a really dangerous world, not only which bridges various forms of authoritarianism, but also just extreme forms of human disenchantment,鈥� Fisher said.

The second scenario is one where people figure out how to recenter humans and think about AI as something that can add to their abilities. In that case, AI would be something that is viewed as a tool where humans are still responsible agents, Fisher said. 

For Singh, this generation of AI has already transformed society in the core ways that it will. It is the next generation of AI that will bring new types of transformations. But even before that next generation, large tech companies, she said, will continue getting new technologies out as fast as they can.

鈥淚f governance frameworks and entities like universities don鈥檛 ensure ethical use of AI, then we could see it used in ways we may not want it to be used,鈥� Singh said. 

Hensley envisions a world where the proliferation of AI will need to confront the limits in the physical world that requires large data centers to power AI. Through it all, he said, the importance of human connection will remain. 

鈥淚 think these residual areas in which people can find each other and be real with each other in physical spaces will be more and more important,鈥� Hensley said. 

Inspiration comes from many sources. 

In my as a part of the 海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences community, including as Dean since July, I鈥檝e seen firsthand the inspiring work being done in our community.

I鈥檝e attended fascinating lectures and panels featuring our terrific faculty and students, sat in on a First-Year Seminar class and met Hoyas from all around the world who take pride in our scholars and our commitments to the values of a liberal arts education. I鈥檓 grateful for the energy of our 海角论坛 community and am constantly reminded of the impact we have. 

The Hoyas featured in our Fall 2025 Digital Magazine exemplify some of the best in the 海角论坛 and at Georgetown.  

In a new Ignatius Seminar for first-year students, How to Make a Decision, Fr. Peter Folan, S.J. teaches students to make decisions with greater awareness and purpose. Students in the Social Responsibility Network visited Shepherdstown, West Virginia this fall to learn about the social impact work happening there.聽

The journeys of two of our newest faculty members 鈥� Richard Desinord in the Department of Performing Arts and Liza Offreda in the disability studies program 鈥� serve as a reminder of the importance of teachers and the power of storytelling.

We also found inspiration from Maddi Niebanck (C鈥�17). Less than two weeks after graduating from Georgetown, Niebanck had a stroke. Since then, she has written two books and built a platform to advocate for other stroke survivors.聽

Our Hoyas are true representatives of our Jesuit values, and I hope you find them as inspirational as I do.

Hoya Saxa,

David M. Edelstein, Ph.D.
Dean, 海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences
Professor of International Affairs & Government
Georgetown University

Their professor, , has provided them with a meeting time and location but has otherwise kept details vague. Today is the first out-of-the-classroom 鈥淒ecision Lab鈥� assignment as part of Folan鈥檚 first-year Ignatius Seminar, How to Make a Decision.

At 9:02 a.m., the students鈥� phones buzz with a GroupMe notification from Folan. 

You didn鈥檛 think I would be meeting you in person, did you? 

But I did tell you that I would see you at 9 am. Help me make that statement true by taking a selfie of the whole group and sending it to me.

I鈥檓 here with the students, both as a participant and observer, to learn what goes into the decision-making process. My first and only decision of the day comes as every student except one has made it to the starting point. I have to choose a photographer.聽

I pick Sophie Erlinger (C鈥�29), who has already started to round up her classmates. But as she attempts to get everyone in the shot, another student, Sam Baghdadchi (C鈥�29), suggests that Randy Fu (C鈥�29) take the photo instead. 鈥淩andy has longer arms,鈥� Baghdadchi says.

I鈥檝e wasted no time, it seems, in making the wrong decision.

After the selfie is sent, Folan divides the class into three groups. Thirteen of 16 students in the cohort are here for the assignment. I鈥檓 sorted with Lily Carroll (C鈥�29), Yulian Dlaboha (C鈥�29), Manavi Gupta (C鈥�29) and Brandon Hsu (C鈥�29).

Our team鈥檚 first task is to walk to Tatte Bakery & Caf茅 in Georgetown. Gupta has been directed by Folan to lead the way, and at one point, Carroll wonders out loud: 鈥淚s this supposed to be a race?鈥� 

We don鈥檛 know the answer, but we pick up our speed just in case.

Our group arrives at Tatte, and Carroll asks the barista for an envelope marked 鈥淕eorgetown Decision Lab 鈥� Group 2.鈥� It鈥檚 starting to feel like we鈥檙e in Folan鈥檚 version of the reality competition show, Amazing Race. Inside the envelope are five SmartTrip Metro cards. 

Folan, meanwhile, is in an undisclosed location with his colleague, , a professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, and co-conspirator in today鈥檚 assignment. We select our next destination: the headquarters of the Association of Jesuit 海角论坛s and Universities in Dupont Circle, and start heading toward the door.

Not so fast, Folan responds. 鈥淚鈥檝e asked twice now for a group name鈥nd none has come!鈥� 

There will be a small penalty, he tells us, as we each slump back down in our seats. Carroll offers to buy Folan a croissant, but he declines. If this is a race, we鈥檙e not off to a good start. 

Time to make better decisions.

Reflective Decision Makers

One of Folan鈥檚 inspirations for the course is , founder of the Jesuits.

鈥淥bviously, I don鈥檛 know Ignatius personally, but it is the Jesuit tradition of being very serious about discernment and decision making that is part of the deep bass background music of what I’m doing in class,鈥� Folan tells me between sips from a cup of espresso. 

It鈥檚 a few days before the 鈥淒ecision Lab,鈥� and we鈥檙e sitting in Folan’s office in the New North building on campus. He has just finished teaching his seminar course for the week and is curious how the class will react to the lab assignment. Students must attend at least one of the three out-of-the-classroom labs during the semester.

First-Year Seminars like the one Folan is teaching are small, unique courses designed exclusively for first-year students in the 海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences, and this is the first time his Ignatius Seminar is being offered.

鈥淚 hope they don鈥檛 just give it a whole shoulder shrug,鈥� Folan says of the lab. 鈥淚 figure, worst-case scenario, the 海角论坛 is treating them to lunch at the end of the day.鈥�

Folan radiates coffee-fueled energy and his eyes widen behind his dark-rimmed glasses as he鈥檚 explaining his inspiration for the class.

鈥淚 want them to be able to do more than simply choose from a field of options,鈥� Folan says. 鈥淚 want them to be reflective about the decisions they make and to know why they are making those decisions.鈥�

The idea for the seminar developed over time as Folan reflected on his own significant life decisions and conversations he鈥檚 had with alumni of the , where he serves on the Board of Trustees.

He hopes that instead of being 鈥渄ecision-making machines,鈥� the undergraduates he teaches become people who feel comfortable with decision making. 鈥淚 want them to feel,鈥� Folan says, moving his hands for emphasis, 鈥渢hat when the record skips in their lives, they can still move to the music, and hopefully I鈥檓 giving them some tools to do that.鈥�

Folan grew up in Massapequa Park on Long Island, as the oldest of three siblings. All four of his grandparents are immigrants from Ireland, and Folan describes his family as a 鈥減retty typical middle-class home.鈥� Neither of his parents had a college degree; his father worked for the Federal Aviation Administration, and his mother was a secretary at a law firm. They went to Mass every Sunday. 

鈥淚 was always close to God,鈥� Folan says. 鈥淐hurch, God, things like that were always important to me, as were playing baseball and soccer, doing well in school and being a Cub Scout. But for me, even as a child, the priest was a very interesting figure.鈥�

He applied and was accepted to Chaminade High School, a private Catholic school on Long Island. Attending that school is a decision Folan calls one of the top three most important he鈥檚 made in his life. Seeing the schools that graduates of Chaminade attended 鈥� University of Notre Dame, Boston 海角论坛, the University of Chicago, Stanford University, Georgetown University 鈥� opened his eyes to what was possible.

Folan would go on to Notre Dame and faced another major decision after graduating: follow his friends and a familiar path to Notre Dame鈥檚 Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) or take a leap into the unknown and accept a job offer with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in DC. 

鈥淭here was just a sense of adventure of going to Washington, DC,鈥� Folan says.

Afterward, he taught at Bishop McNamara High School in Maryland for two years before applying to become a Jesuit priest 鈥� another major life decision.

鈥淧robably the best piece of discernment data I could have ever gotten was that I was in love with teaching at that high school, and still, I wanted to apply to become a Jesuit,鈥� Folan says.

Folan became a priest in 2013 and spent his first year after ordination at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, right outside the gates of Georgetown University. He earned a Ph.D. in theology from Boston 海角论坛 in 2019. Later that fall, Folan joined Georgetown as a faculty member in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. He thought it would be the best fit.

鈥淚 talk a lot in class about options,鈥� Folan says. 鈥淲hat are the options before you when you have to make a decision? Are there options you do not see? Are there options that you can create? Luckily for me, when it came to Georgetown, my best option was right in front of my eyes.鈥�

Time, Value and Options

In his Ignatius Seminar, Folan has three overarching goals for students:

• To get under the hood of decision making.
• To identify their strengths and their yet-to-be strengths in decision making, honoring the former and developing the latter.
• To build a foundation in theology and religious studies for further learning.

Students are taught that in order to make a decision, one should identify the conditions, carry out the act of that decision and embrace the results or re-think the decision. 

The conditions surrounding a decision include time, values and options, Folan says. Making decisions often means choosing between options; the Latin roots of the word decision mean to cut off, Folan explains. 

An evaluation process follows.

鈥淎fter making the decision, one has to live into the decision and hopefully confirm that it was a good decision,鈥� Folan says. 鈥淢aybe it wasn鈥檛 a perfect outcome, but it might have been a good decision.鈥�

In class, students learn from religious texts like Abraham Joshua Heschel鈥檚 The Sabbath. In the book originally published in 1951, Heschel, a Polish-American rabbi, describes the Sabbath as a sanctuary of time and emphasizes the value of choosing time over space.

鈥淚t is not a thing that lends significance to a moment; it is the moment that lends significance to things,鈥� Heschel writes.

鈥淥ftentimes, when we think about time, especially in decision making, it’s kind of like an hourglass 鈥� how much of it do I have left?鈥� Folan says. 鈥淚 hope The Sabbath can give us a different perspective on time: how I measure it, what it is, how it can form me, how it can be a gift.鈥�

Working Together

Our team 鈥� which finally has a name, Aesthetic Instagram 鈥� is lost.

We race through the hallways of the sixth floor of , the new interdisciplinary hub on Georgetown鈥檚 Capitol Campus, and homestretch of the 鈥淒ecision Lab,鈥� but can鈥檛 find the right room.

鈥淎re we sure it鈥檚 on this floor?鈥� Gupta asks. 鈥淪hould we split up and message each other?鈥�

We make an unspoken decision to stick together and round another funhouse mirror corridor. Finally, at 11:48 a.m., nearly three hours after we started our journey, we spot Folan and Cline sitting inside a conference room, with wide grins on their faces.

鈥淲elcome!鈥� Folan shouts, as we push open the doors. 鈥淒id we have fun? Did we learn something?鈥�

Aesthetic Instagram is the first team to arrive. Nine minutes later, another group 鈥� HTMADness (a pun on the course name) 鈥� makes its way through the doors, and seven minutes after that, the third group 鈥� Deciding Factors 鈥� arrives. 

On the digital board, Folan and Cline have been taking notes of the teams. In addition to finishing first, we learn that we are the only group to have walked to the first three locations. My watch has recorded more than 14,000 steps. We receive points for our decisiveness, creativity and negotiation skills. (Folan declined Carroll鈥檚 croissant offer earlier because he had already gone to Tatte.)

But the race isn鈥檛 the point of the exercise. 鈥淧unctuality is a value, but there are other values too,鈥� Folan says.

Throughout the lab, Folan has included prompts in his instructions to help group members learn about each other. After a rocky start, our team now resembles one that worked together each step of the way. Even our team name, Aesthetic Instagram, comes from a shared joke of the quintessential fall morning in Georgetown. 

We learn that Carroll is in an improv group on campus and had never ridden the DC Metro before today. Dlaboha plays club volleyball and is thinking of becoming a Georgetown basketball manager. Gupta鈥檚 goal is to visit every cafe on M Street before graduating. Hsu wants to join an investment club.

The purpose of the lab, Folan tells the group gathered around the table, was more than just to test our navigation skills and attention to detail. It was an opportunity for students to spend time together and have meaningful conversations to get to know each other better, all while exploring the city and Georgetown鈥檚 newest campus. In a sense, Folan wanted us to slow down time.

As we leave the building and walk toward The Dubliner for lunch, the students continue chatting and sharing laughs. Folan looks on and smiles. No one is in a rush to leave.

Looking for the answers to the Spring 2025 crossword puzzle?

See the answers below. How did you do?