More than 100 staff members work in the Division of the Humanities. We’ll introduce you to our staff in this continuing series.

Margot Browning
Associate Director, Franke Institute for the Humanities
Lecturer, Humanities Collegiate Division

What do you like most about your job?

I like the diversity of it. First of all, it is the many departments in the Humanities Division, and the widely ranging specializations in each department, like a continuously moving kaleidoscope of ideas and activities. And second, I enjoy the diversity of projects at the Franke Institute—from the Franke Fellows and Grants to Every Wednesday to the Bulletin to the website. At the core of these projects is providing arenas—in person or online—where people and ideas mix.

What was the last good book you read?

The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values by Brian Christian, who's a computer scientist as well as a poet and philosopher. Christian interviewed dozens of current AI researchers who have developed new AI capabilities—and then find themselves trying to solve unanticipated problems that emerge. For example, it turns out that the datasets that are used to train AIs are biased, so the AI outputs are biased too—reflecting the racism and sexism of our human world. How can we define and communicate human values, so that machine learners are aligned in their problem-solving to novel outcomes that are truly beneficial?

You might work with me if...

Your department has a faculty member or graduate student awarded a Franke Fellowship, or they're developing a proposal for a Franke grant, or they've received a Franke grant. Or about a course in the Big Problems capstone curriculum (a collaboration between the Franke Institute and the College), we might exchange information for the Registrar or the College catalog.

What topic could you give an hour-long presentation on with little to no preparation?

I'm trained to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), with mindfulness as a flexible, moment-to-moment, non-judging awareness. The breath is the beginning point, focusing our mental attention on our breathing. Yet breath is embodied and outside our conscious control. MBSR is an embodied practice of awareness through 'body scans' or simple yoga stretches—or everyday life—which sometimes is an ongoing experience (especially online media) of 'stress-based mindfulness reduction' instead.