Davis Schneiderman
Davis Schneiderman (born 1974) is an American educator, writer, and administrator who works at the crossroads of artificial intelligence, ethics, and the humanities. He is the Executive Director of the Krebs Center for the Humanities at Lake Forest College, where he leads national projects on the cultural and ethical implications of AI, including the Mellon Foundation–funded HUMAN Initiative (Humanities Understanding and Managing AI Nexus).
Schneiderman previously served as Provost and Dean of the Faculty at Lake Forest College. He is a co-leader of the college’s interdisciplinary Artificial Intelligence Program and speaks frequently about AI ethics, education, and the cultural impact of new technologies. On January 15, 2026, he was named president of Ringling College and will take office on June 1, 2026.
Education and career
Schneiderman earned a B.A. from Penn State in 1996, and an M.A. (1998) and Ph.D. (2001) from Binghamton University, SUNY. He joined Lake Forest College in 2001 and has since led the English Department, served as Associate Dean of the Faculty, and was Provost and Dean of the Faculty from 2018 to 2023. Since 2023, he has been the Executive Director of the Krebs Center for the Humanities, guiding major public programs about AI’s cultural and ethical dimensions.
Key initiatives and partnerships
Under Schneiderman’s leadership, the Krebs Center runs the HUMAN Initiative, which supports interdisciplinary curricula, student research, and experimental AI projects such as Cosimo (an AI art docent) and ChiBot (a civic-humanities model created with the Chicago History Museum). He helped launch the HUMAN Residency at Ragdale Foundation, bringing artists, poets, and technologists together on campus. He has expanded partnerships with institutions like the University of Bergen’s Center for Digital Narrative and has hosted public programs with figures such as Zeynep Tufekci and Kevin Roose.
Schneiderman’s scholarly work focuses on cybernetics, machine authorship, and media theory, including the influence of William S. Burroughs on generative systems. His essay “The Electronic Revolutionary: Artificial Intelligence and Fake News” is slated for publication in Cambridge University Press (2026) as part of a volume on Burroughs. In 2025, he received an Illinois Arts Council Creative Catalyst Grant to develop an AI-themed performance with his spouse, actor and writer Kelly Haramis.
Writing, editing, and creative work
Schneiderman is the author or editor of about 10 books. His novels include works in the DEAD/BOOKS trilogy—BLANK, [SIC], and INK.—as well as the sci‑fi thriller Drain. He has edited and contributed to numerous journals and magazines, and his writing has appeared in Fiction International, Harpers.org, The Chicago Tribune, The Iowa Review, TriQuarterly, Exquisite Corpse, and The Huffington Post. Critics have noted the distinctive, thought-provoking nature of his fiction and its engagement with contemporary ideas.
In addition to his writing, Schneiderman has been active as a multimedia artist with The Muttering Sickness collective, producing performances, visual works, and collaborations with theaters and festivals. He has led digital humanities projects and served as Director of Lake Forest College Press, publishing works on urban planning, transportation, and architecture. His work with Digital Chicago and the Virtual Burnham Initiative has helped place Chicago history in new digital forms, and his efforts have received support from the Mellon Foundation and NEH.
Media and public presence
Schneiderman has appeared in documentaries and on television and radio, including the 2019 ARTE documentary The World According to Radiohead. He has given interviews and talks for Chicago Tonight, podcasts like Collegiate Empowerment, and various national media outlets, discussing higher education, AI, and culture.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 08:06 (CET).