Cathy N. Davidson
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Cathy N. Davidson (born 1949) is an American scholar and university professor. Beginning July 1, 2014, she is a professor at the
Graduate Center of the City University of New York The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the ...
. She was a professor of English at
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
in 2006. She has authored or edited 18 books. Her work focuses on technology, collaboration, cognition, learning, and the digital age.


Early life and education

Davidson was born in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, received a B.A. from Elmhurst College, an M.A. and Ph.D. from the
Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...
, and did postdoctoral studies at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. She has received honorary doctorates from Elmhurst College and
Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...
.


Career

Davidson was a professor of English at
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
. She served as vice provost for Interdisciplinary Studies at
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
from 1998 to 2006, with administrative responsibility for over 60 research programs in Duke's nine academic and professional schools. She was responsible for designing technologies for research, teaching, and learning, and in 1999 helped create ISIS, the program in Information Science + Information Studies at Duke. In 2002, Davidson co-founded with David Theo Goldberg the virtual organization Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory HASTAC, an international organization dedicated to rethinking the future of learning for the information age. In 2003, Davidson initiated a program at Duke, in conjunction with
Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
, to give free
iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...
s to each member of the incoming class with no other requirements. This sparked harsh criticism and ridicule from the academic community and news media. The program was viewed as a success by Duke since it led to new applications for the iPod in an educational environment and inspired a new initiative among Duke students to innovate and collaborate. During the
2006 Duke University lacrosse case The Duke lacrosse case was a widely reported 2006 criminal case in Durham, North Carolina, United States in which three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. The three students were David Evans, Collin ...
, Davidson and 87 other Duke faculty members, sometimes referred to as the "
Group of 88 The Group of 88 is the term for those professors at Duke University in North Carolina who in April 2006 were signatories to a controversial advertisement in ''The Chronicle'', the university's student newspaper. The advertisement addressed the Duke ...
", published an open letter viewed as prejudicial to the three defendants. The letter gained additional prominence when the defense attorney for the lacrosse players requested a change of venue while citing the advertisement as evidence of Duke faculty bias against the players. In response to criticism of the ad, Davidson published a piece in the '' Raleigh News & Observer'' in January 2007. She stated that the ad was a response "to the anguish of students who felt demeaned by racist and sexist remarks swirling around in the media and on the campus quad in the aftermath of what happened on March 13 in the lacrosse house."Cathy Davidson, "In the Aftermath of a Social Disaster", '' Raleigh News & Observer'', Jan 5, 2007, p. A18.
Quoted in the book Institutional Failures.
In 2010, President Obama nominated her to a six-year term on the
National Council on the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserva ...
, a position confirmed by the Senate in July 2011. She serves on the Board of Advisors to the
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...
"Digital Media and Learning" book series. A former president of the American Studies Association, she is also a former editor of the journal ''
American Literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also inc ...
''. In 2012, Davidson and Goldberg received Educators of the Year awards from the
World Technology Network In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
in recognition of "doing the innovative work of 'the greatest likely long-term significance' in their field" of education through their work as co-founders of HASTAC/MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competition. She was named the first educator on the six-person Board of Directors of Mozilla. In 2016, the
New American Colleges and Universities New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
(NAC&U) awarded Davidson the Ernest L. Boyer Award for significant contributions to American higher education.


Works

Davidson is the author or editor of 18 books. ''Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory'' (a collaboration with documentary photographer Bill Bamberger) was a recipient of the
Mayflower Cup Award for Non-Fiction ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
. The photographs from ''Closing'' traveled to museums around the U.S. for four years, including the
Smithsonian Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...
. She served as General Editor of the
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
''Early American Women Writers Series'' and, with Ada Norris, edited ''American Indian Stories, Legends and Other Writings by Zitkala-Sa'', the first Penguin Classic devoted to a Native American author. Her book, ''Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn'' was named by ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' "one of the top ten science books" of the Fall 2011 season". One reviewer from ''The Washington Independent Review of Books'' opined that Davidson "makes the case, through numerous examples and lucid argument, that we can do much better in aligning our schools, our workplaces and our lives, and that this will make us not only more successful as a society but more fulfilled as individuals."


Books

* ''The New College Classroom'' with Christina Katopodis (2022) * ''The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World in Flux'' (2017) * ''Field Notes for 21st Century Literacies: A Guide to New Theories, Methods, and Practices for Open Peer Teaching and Learning'' (2013) * '' Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn'' (2011) * "The Future of Thinking: Learning Institutions in a Digital Age" with David Theo Goldberg (2010) * ''Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory'', with Bill Bamberger (1998) * ''The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States'' with Linda Wagner-Martin (1995) * ''The Oxford Book of Women's Writing in the United States'', with Linda Wagner-Martin (1995) * ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji: On Finding Myself in Japan'' (1993; expanded edition, 2004) * ''The Book of Love: Writers and Their Love Letters'' (1992) * ''Reading in America: Literature and Social History'' (1989) * ''Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America'' (1986; expanded edition 2004) * ''The Experimental Fictions of
Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book ''The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by t ...
: Structuring the Ineffable'' (1984) * ''Critical Essays on
Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book ''The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by t ...
'' (1982)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Cathy 1949 births Living people Elmhurst College alumni Binghamton University alumni University of Chicago alumni Michigan State University faculty Duke University faculty Writers from Chicago City University of New York faculty American women academics 21st-century American women