--- title: Nicholas Dirks | TIME description: Dirks is the president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences and author of the new book CITY OF INTELLECT: The Uses and Abuses of the University. He is the former chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley. canonical: https://time.com/author/nicholas-dirks/ og:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:url: https://time.com/author/nicholas-dirks/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 300 og:image:height: 300 og:image:alt: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:type: profile twitter:card: summary twitter:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates twitter:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Nicholas Dirks ## Nicholas Dirks Dirks is the president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences and author of the new book [_CITY OF INTELLECT: The Uses and Abuses of the University_](https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/education/education-policy-strategy-and-reform/city-intellect-uses-and-abuses-university?format=HB&isbn=9781009394468). He is the former chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley. ## Nicholas Dirks *  Oct 16, 2025 ### [Colleges Need to Change. Trump’s Plan Would Make Them Worse](https://time.com/7326036/colleges-trumps-plan-make-them-worse/) Trump's higher education compact "would irrevocably damage universities, the future of science, and ... [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Jan 11, 2024 ### [Higher Education's Donor Problem](https://time.com/6554359/university-donor-problem-essay/) "Recent attacks on universities beg the question whether we want to live in a world where only money... [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) Meta: null ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","@id":"https://time.com/","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/author/nicholas-dirks/","name":"Nicholas Dirks"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Person","@id":"https://time.com/author/nicholas-dirks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/author/nicholas-dirks/"},"name":"Nicholas Dirks","jobTitle":null,"description":"Dirks is the president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences and author of the new book CITY OF INTELLECT: The Uses and Abuses of the University. He is the former chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley.","url":"https://time.com/author/nicholas-dirks/","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/"}}] ```