In episode 1, hosts Karen Majeski and JT Torres start exploring the themes of this season's book, What We Value: Public Health, Social Justice, and Educating for Democracy. This book examines issues in medical ethics and public health surrounding free speech and inclusion on college campuses and the value of liberal education. They are joined by the book’s author Lynn Pasquerella and Quinnipiac University faculty Michael Ben-Avie.

Lynn Pasquerella has been the president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities since 2016. Dr. Pasquerella is a philosopher whose work combines teaching and scholarship with local and global engagement. She has written extensively on medical ethics, metaphysics, public policy, and the philosophy of law. 

Our second guest Dr. Michael Ben-Avie is the Senior Director of Learning Assessment and Research at Quinnipiac University and a past AAC&U senior fellow. Dr. Ben-Avie conducts longitudinal cohort studies of students’ learning and development to discern the impact of higher education, and develops predictive models to inform the design of initiatives to promote students' persistence, academic achievement, and graduation.