Provost Robert Groves has released a podcast series featuring interviews with Georgetown University faculty members to offer listeners a glimpse into their research, careers and stories before and during their time at the university.

The series of short interviews includes a diverse group of faculty from various academic departments and focuses on sharing the unique journeys that led the faculty to the university. Eight episodes have been published since June 3, 2019, and the most recent of the semimonthly episodes was released Oct. 1. 

 Groves aims to appeal to multiple audiences with the podcast and interviewee selections, specifically students and younger faculty, he said.

“I greatly enjoy the discussions, and they supplement my admiration for the great work of our faculty at Georgetown,” Groves wrote in an email to The Hoya. “Every podcast is different, and the topics end up being heavily shaped by the guest faculty member.”

Groves hopes that listening to the podcast will deepen Georgetown students’ perception of faculty by providing these selected stories. Otherwise, students are unable to learn the valuable lessons that faculty might not discuss in a classroom setting, according to Groves. The podcast is also designed to offer students confidence in their own future work in the fields of scholarship and research.

Groves intends the podcast to inspire younger members of Georgetown faculty by offering a glimpse into the demands and opportunities of their profession. The diversity of the experiences of those selected for the podcast speaks to the intellectual diversity present at Georgetown, Groves wrote.

“We seek to represent faculty from across the different fields in the university,” Groves wrote. “We want to give the audience a sense of how variable are the careers of faculty.”

 In the second episode of the podcast, ethics professor Nancy Sherman spoke about her college experience, her discovery of philosophy and her time working with the United States Naval Academy following a cheating scandal. The podcast format offers a great opportunity to share stories in a nonclassroom setting, according to Sherman.

“The conversation was wonderful. Bob [Groves] understood the broad nature of my work and my academic and research trajectory,” Sherman wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I think podcasts are a great way to learn about what our fellow colleagues and students are doing. They are good, informal ways of learning.”

 In his interview, the most recent in the series, sociology professor Brian McCabe recounted his time at Georgetown, as well as his research on socioeconomic justice in the housing sector. The opportunity to be featured on the podcast was liberating and removed the constrictions that being a professor can sometimes create, according to McCabe.

 “Often, students only see us as educators when, in fact, most of our time is spent researching and writing,” McCabe wrote in an email to The Hoya. “To me, the purpose is really to unmask the work that we’re doing, and to share the research that excites us—in my case, work on housing and urban inequality—and to give listeners a window into that world.”

 The Office of the Provost has other programs designed with similar goals of shedding light on Georgetown’s faculty, such as their blog, but Groves greatly enjoyed the podcast format and has plans of continuing the podcast.

 Groves hosts featured distinguished faculty members like McCourt School of Public Policy professor George Akerlof, who was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001. 

Groves also authors a blog published on the provost’s website, discussing the world of academia and key issues facing faculty, students and higher education.

“For most students, seeing faculty teach in classrooms robs them of a window into the deep devotion that faculty have to their own scholarship,” Groves wrote. “We want students to get an idea of why a faculty member would devote their entire life to a set of research issues.”