Liberal Arts In The News - February 2026
Workplace trends 2026: AI recruitment, boomerang hiring, more
“So, a lot of liberal arts degrees now are being combined with AI. We are seeing schools like USC, Purdue, Savannah College of Arts and Design starting to combine AI with traditional liberal arts degrees like philosophy, business, design.”
What’s ahead in 2026 for the arts and humanities in corporate America
More than a few schools are rethinking how the humanities can serve our current needs as a society and economy. From Purdue to Brandeis to Georgia Tech, universities are positioning a study in the liberal arts as essential for thriving in a world saturated by AI.
Do parents have favorite children? Of course they do
The New York Times, PEOPLE, +20 Placements
When Distinguished Professor of Sociology J. Jill Suitor first set out to recruit mothers to what would become the largest longitudinal study on the effect of parental favoritism, she remembered her family’s skepticism.
The year in neanderthal discoveries
The New York Times, New Atlas, +30 Placements
Melanie Beasley, assistant professor of anthropology, proposed that maggots, which convert lean protein into fat, offered a nutrition-rich, abundant, easily procurable food source when times were tough. She likened munching on fly larvae to eating candy corn (and advised against dwelling on the comparison).
The AI history that explains fears of a bubble
Concerns among some investors are mounting that the AI sector, which has singlehandedly prevented the economy from sliding into recession, has become an unsustainable bubble. Written by David Peterson, assistant professor of sociology, who studies how AI is transforming science.
New College of Liberal Arts dean speaks on future of Purdue Liberal Arts
On a campus as STEM-focused as Purdue's, liberal arts often fall to the wayside. However, in early December of last year, Purdue appointed Christopher Yeomans, a veteran philosophy professor and head of the philosophy department, as the new College of Liberal Arts dean.
How AI defined the political chaos of 2025
Daniel Schiff, co-director of Purdue University’s Governance and Responsible AI Lab, has worked with a team of researchers to catalogue a variety of different ways AI deepfakes are being used in political persuasion, from “fanfakes,” unrealistic positive AI tributes to political figures, to darkfakes, highly realistic and negative portrayals. An analysis from the 2024 election showed that fanfakes were, in fact, the most popular kind.
Purdue professor recognized for pioneering sign language studies
Ronnie Wilbur, a linguistics professor, has been named a fellow of the Linguistic Society of America for her more than five decades of service to sign and spoken language communities.
BGSU to co-lead new study on aging
A partnership between Purdue University, Ohio State University, and Bowling Green State University is being funded under a six-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to launch a new multi-institutional research center dedicated to advancing innovative scholarship on aging families. Cathy Liu, sociology professor and director of the Center of Aging and the Life Course, will co-direct this new center to generate cutting-edge research on shifting demographics as more baby boomers reach retirement age, changes in traditional family systems, and the health impacts of these trends.
Professor promoted to intern head of political science department
James McCann, a political science professor, was promoted to interim head of the Department of Political Science, according to the college’s website.
More Americans concerned about AI, even as it drives economy
Big tech has a pretty big trust deficit with Americans after the social media era, said Daniel Schiff, an assistant professor of technology policy at Purdue University. “Your perceptions of Meta, your perceptions of X, you know, these are going to be very much tied in with how you might start to think about these chat bots,” he said.