I don't really usually push an agenda, and I don't feel that my main job is to persuade people of something. My main job is to help them think about something.

Obviously input is helpful to faculty in trying to come up with a curriculum, but ultimately it's the faculty's job to know what students need to know. Make a decision about it and present it.

The way universities operate is the decision about what students need for the degree are... is the decision made by the faculty.

One of the good things about the profession of being a professor, is that you also have time to do what interests you and what you care about or what you're good at.

I'm not one of the people who has a kind of scholarly hat and writes in a certain way for an academic audience and then puts on a public intellectual hat and writes a different way for a different kind of readership. I generally write the way I write, no matter what and it seems to have worked for me.

Cognitive science is a rapidly developing area, so it could be that there are some surprises around the corner. That does seem to be kind of where the trend line is leading.

I think in general there's no point in going into a field like English literature if you're not going to have fun with it.