Davis Schneiderman
Executive Director of the Krebs Center for the Humanities and Professor of English
Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
English
- 8477355282
- dschneid@lakeforest.edu
CURRENT FOCUS
As Executive Director of the Krebs Center for the Humanities, Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Professor of English at Lake Forest College, I lead interdisciplinary initiatives that bridge the humanities, technology, and innovation to foster creative problem-solving in an era of rapid technological change.
My work, supported by a $1.2M Mellon Foundation grant, positions the College at the forefront of AI and humanities research, integrating ethical inquiry with innovation. I have designed and delivered courses such as The Humanist Ethics of AI and Literature/Culture in the Age of AI.
Whether facilitating faculty workshops on AI ethics, curating cross-disciplinary research initiatives, or consulting with colleges, universities, businesses, and cultural institutions on responsible technology integration, I am committed to equipping students and faculty with the tools to navigate—and shape—the evolving innovation landscape.
Current Teaching and Research Interests
Artificial Intelligence and the Humanities: Digital Humanities, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Remix/Mash-Up Culture, Uncreative/Creative Writing, William S. Burroughs, Postmodernism, Innovative and Avant Literature, the Grateful Dead and American Culture
Education
Ph.D. Binghamton University
MA Binghamton University
BA The Pennsylvania State University
Edited Collections
William S. Burroughs in Context, Eds. Oliver Harris, Davis Schneiderman, and Alex Wermer-Colan. Cambridge U Press. Forthcoming.
The Third Mind, by William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin. Eds. Davis Schneiderman and Marcus Boon. U. of Minnesota Press. Forthcoming.
The Book of Methods, by William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin. Eds. Davis Schneiderman and Marcus Boon. U. of Minnesota Press. Forthcoming.
The Exquisite Corpse: Chance and Collaboration in Surrealism’s Parlor Game. Eds. Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren, Davis Schneiderman, and Tom Denlinger. U. of Nebraska Press, 2009.
Retaking the Universe: William S. Burroughs in the Age of Globalization. Eds. Davis Schneiderman and Philip Walsh. Pluto Press, 2004. Reality Studio, 2014.
Novels
Ink. Seattle: Jaded Ibis Press
[SIC]. Seattle: Jaded Ibis Press
Blank: a novel. Jaded Ibis Press
Drain. Northwestern University Press
Abecedarium. (with Carlos Hernandez). Portland: Chiasmus Press
Federman, Raymond. SHHH: a novel. Introduction. Editor. Starcherone Books
Selected Scholarly Articles
“The Electronic Revolutionary.” William S. Burroughs in Context, edited by Oliver Harris, Davis Schneiderman, and Alex Wermer-Colan, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2026.
“Neither Beat nor Binary: Artificial Intelligence and William S. Burroughs,” proceedings from Center for Digital Narrative AI Seminar. Forthcoming.
“The Miraculous and Mucilaginous Paste Pot: Extra-illustration and Plagiary in the William S. Burroughs Legacy.” The Journal of Beat Studies. Vol. 2 (2013): 53-80
“Raymond Federman and the Pla(y)giarism of Re-Writing.” Federman at 80: From Surfiction to Critifiction. Ed. Jeffrey Di Leo. (SUNY Press, 2011)
“Gentlemen, I will slop a pearl: The (Non)Meaning of Naked Lunch.” Naked Lunch@50: Anniversary Essays. Eds. Harris, Oliver, and Ian MacFadyen. (Southern Illinois University Press, 2009)
“Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Lawsuit: William S. Burroughs, DJ
Danger Mouse, and the Politics of ‘Grey Tuesday.’” Plagiary: Cross-disciplinary Studies in Plagiarism, Fabrication, and Falsification. (online). 1.13 (2006): 1-18. Plagiary 2006 (print). 1 (2006): 191-206. Also, in Cutting Across Media: Interventionist Collage and the Politics of Appropriation. Eds. McLeod, Kembrew and Rudolph Kuenzli. (Duke University Press, 2011)
Creative and Journalistic Writing
Published over 150 works across literary, cultural, and journalistic platforms, including Notre Dame Review, The Iowa Review, Fiction International, Western Humanities Review, Huffington Post, Grateful Dead Studies, Chicago Tribune, Harpers.org, The Writer’s Chronicle, The National Book Review, and The Rumpus.
Media & Interviews
Featured in major media outlets including CNN, The Guardian, The Economist, Forbes, and Chicago Tonight, discussing topics ranging from literature and AI ethics to cultural history and higher education. Engaged in public discussions with John Waters, Zeynep Tufekci, Ruth Ozeki, Jeffrey Selingo, Temple Grandin, Regina Taylor, Tom Constanten (Grateful Dead), and Danielle Allen (forthcoming). Frequent guest on higher education, literature, and culture-focused podcasts.
Selected Digital Humanities/Documentation/Exhibition
“Drone Space Modulator.” Online supplement to chap 5. of Conceptualisms: The Anthology of Prose, Poetry, Visual, Found, E-, and Hybrid Writing as Contemporary Art, edited by Steve Tomasula. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama.
The Museum of Alternative History (lead writer for group exhibition). RNG gallery, Omaha, 2013;
KANEKO gallery, Omaha, 2018; &NOW Festival at the University of Washington, Bothell, 2019. Omaha Arts and Entertainment Awards and Best Group Show in the group's 8th- and 13th-annual awards.
“The Whole World is Watching: 1968 Chicago, Tomorrow.” Wounded Galaxies. Indiana
University Press. Forthcoming. (Performance documentation from Chicago Humanities Festival).
Virtual Burnham Initiative. Centennial of the Plan of Chicago, 2009. NEH Office of Digital Humanities-
sponsored. Chicago History Museum digital collection, 2018.
“Modern Business Machines.” Collaboration with Regina Taylor for Goodman Theater’s Stop, Reset, 2015.
Grants
Principal Investigator, HUMAN: Humanities Understanding of the Machine-Assisted Nexus (2023– 2027), $1,207,000.
Principal Investigator, Humanities 2020, Mellon Foundation (2019-2023), $1,100,000
Principal Investigator, Digital Chicago, Mellon Foundation (2014-18), $800,000
Principal Investigator, Digital Collaboration planning grant, Mellon Foundation (2014-16), $100,000
Principal Investigator Digital Collaboration planning grant, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2014-16), $100,000
Digital Humanities Start-Up Award, National Endowment for the Humanities (2008-9), 25,000
Six-college collaboration, Midwest Instructional Technology Center (2004-2007), $60,000
Selected Awards and Honors
Charlotte Simmons Prize, awarded to service to the external community, Lake Forest College
Academic Leadership Academy, Center for the Study of Higher Education, Pennsylvania State University
The Bird Award for Intellectual Contributions to the Campus Community, Lake Forest College
Visiting Scholar, University of London-Institute of Paris
Visiting Artist, University of Central Arkansas
William L. Dunn Award for Outstanding Teaching and Scholarly Promise, Lake Forest College
Performance and Readings (75+)
Appeared at literary festivals, cultural institutions, and diplomatic venues, including the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, DC, the Alliance Française de Chicago, and the Chicago Humanities Festival. Domestic performances include the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Central Florida, California Institute of the Arts, University of Notre Dame, University of California San Diego, University of Maine, Binghamton University, and the University of Washington Bothell. International performances include events in Belgium, France (Sorbonne University and the University of London Institute in Paris), Germany, and Morocco.