Walter Isaacson, the Leonard Lauder Professor of American History and Values and co-chair of the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane, was awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Joe Biden. The medal recognizes individuals and organizations whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of and engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy and other humanities subjects.

The A. B. Freeman School of Business will begin a new full-time MBA curriculum in fall 2023. The curriculum is built on three key pillars: data-driven decision making, cross-functional experiential learning, and broad-based preparation for the business world of the future. In addition to Finance and Business Analytics, the curriculum offers new concentrations in Sustainability and Strategy & Marketing.

Anita Raj is the new executive director of the Newcomb Institute. Prior to joining Tulane, Raj was at the University of California–San Diego, where she was the inaugural Tata Chancellor Professor of Society and Health, founding director of the Center on Gender, Equity and Health, and holder of faculty appointments in the schools of Medicine and Social Sciences.

Marcia Walker-McWilliams will lead the Tulane History Project and its effort to develop a detailed history of Tulane with respect to its racial history and founding, including the impacts from slavery and segregation. Walker-McWilliams previously served as executive director of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium at the University of Chicago, taught American history and African American studies courses at several universities, and served as associate director in the Center for Civic Leadership at Rice University.

“If ChatGPT eliminates rote work, freeing academic minds to pursue new possibilities and apply their time and energy to solve novel problems, it could multiply academic potential and lead to more breakthroughs more quickly. In fields such as biomedical research, the result could be lifesaving.”