2024 Open Inquiry
Award Winners

For the person who has most effectively championed the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement in the academy and beyond.

Mary Kate Cary is an Instructor in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia and the founding Director of Think Again at UVA. She is also a professional speaker and panelist on the American presidency, political rhetoric, and current politics. 

Cary is receiving the 2024 Leadership award from Heterodox Academy for her tireless efforts to promote open inquiry, free speech, and viewpoint diversity on the grounds of UVA and beyond. Among her numerous efforts, she was instrumental in the effort to draft UVA’s Statement on Free Expression and Free Inquiry that was adopted in 2022, and tirelessly promotes it to students on campus. She is the founding director of Think Again at UVA which helps students thrive through such events as Disagree with a Professor, Free Speech Fridays, Braver Angels Debates, and the annual UVA Student Oratory Contest, to name only a few. And, finally, she is the co-chair for the Heterodox Academy Campus Community at UVA – one of the largest in the country.

Her colleagues note, “She has a vision for an academy where all ideas can compete freely, and Professor Cary is a model of how to incorporate open inquiry, free speech, and viewpoint diversity in the classroom and beyond.”

For the academic who, through research or another form of scholarship, has best advanced knowledge of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, or constructive disagreement.

Cory J. Clark is the Director of the Adversarial Collaboration Project at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a behavioral scientist whose work has focused on how social motivations influence human judgment and empirical beliefs; how scientists evaluate science, and in-group political bias.

Clark is receiving the 2024 Exceptional Scholarship Award from Heterodox Academy for her ability to organize large-scale collaborative research projects to expose and understand bias and censorship in science; and for her leadership of the Adversarial Collaboration Project that uses constructive disagreement methods to resolve contradictory findings in the scientific literature. Clark is a role model for translating Heterodox Academy’s principles of viewpoint diversity and constructive disagreement into research methods to further truth-seeking in science. She has recently led large research collaborations that have been published in PNAS, Perspectives on Psychological Science, and Psychological Science.

Her colleagues note, “Her scholarship has potential to radically transform the culture of science to one where disagreement is leveraged for mutual benefit by scientists rather than a source of conflict and hostility.”

For the educator who has most effectively integrated open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, or constructive disagreement into the classroom and/or curriculum.

Simon Cullen is an Artificial Intelligence and Education Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. His research uses tools from cognitive science and philosophy to improve how people reason and communicate. In the classroom, he applies his empirical findings to improve how students explore, debate, and constructively disagree over today’s most challenging moral, social, and policy questions.

Cullen is receiving the 2024 Teaching Excellence Award from Heterodox Academy for his innovative pedagogical techniques to foster open discussion on controversial topics across his courses, and for his course on Dangerous Ideas in Science and Society, dives headfirst into some of the most contentious topics in society today, including education, speech, race, gender, abortion, gun rights, immigration, and religion, among many others. He has helped to develop and popularize pedagogical techniques that can promote open, rigorous, and challenging classroom inquiry. He has made important contributions to argument visualization, an innovative, evidence-based approach to teaching the analytical skills students need to engage meaningfully with real-life argumentation. Dozens of campuses across the nation and thousands of students around the world benefit from pedagogical materials he makes available on his website Philosophy Mapped. Cullen also developed the idea of a “discussion market,” and implemented it in his app, Palaver. Discussion markets promise to eliminate many moderator biases and ensure that everyone’s voice can be heard in group discussions.

His colleagues note, “He manages to create a classroom atmosphere in which students respect others who disagree, engage with ideas that they find uncomfortable, and interrogate their own beliefs in a safe and welcoming space.” 

For the Heterodox Community or HxA Campus Community that has done the most to advance or sustain open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement in their discipline, academic setting, region, or campus.

Heterodox Libraries is a peer community that explores heterodoxy in the context and practice of academic librarianship. The community is led by Craig Gibson, Professor of Libraries at The Ohio State University, and Sarah Hartman-Caverly, Reference and Instruction Librarian at Pennsylvania State University - Berks.

The Heterodox Libraries community is receiving the inaugural 2024 HxA Community Excellence Award from Heterodox Academy for elevating discourse about open inquiry and viewpoint diversity in the library sciences. Launched in 2020, Heterodox Libraries provides a forum for addressing the culture war challenges facing libraries to ensure that libraries continue their work of providing access to information and diverse viewpoints to academic communities and the public. The community also hosts regular virtual symposia examining a range of issues facing librarianship, intellectual freedom, and information culture that feature a keynote address, small breakout group discussions, and Q&A to promote sharing information and perspectives across lines of difference. The group also launched Heterodoxy in the Stacks on Substack to share issues of viewpoint diversity in the library sciences with a broader audience.

Many Heterodox Libraries members are also charter members of the Association of Library Professionals, a new organization dedicated to library neutrality, open inquiry, and intellectual freedom.

For the person who has demonstrated consistent courage in pursuing truth, and embodies bravery in championing the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement in the academy despite social and professional costs.

J. Michael Bailey is a Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University. His research focuses on sexual orientation, gender nonconformity, sexual arousal, and genetics of sexual orientation.

Bailey is receiving the 2024 Courage Award from Heterodox Academy for embodying open inquiry across his decades of research on sexual psychology in the face of significant professional and personal costs. Across his career, he has published over 200 scholarly articles on contentious topics of sexual orientation, sexual arousal, and trans-generism, including a popular science book, The Man Who Would be Queen (2003) — all while receiving backlash from both sides of the political aisle. Despite the backlash, he has courageously pursued his research, which has become the foundation for countless research programs across the academy.

His colleagues note, “Bailey continues to pursue heterodox research that deserves attention, and showcases the importance of open inquiry and viewpoint diversity. He is deserving three times over for the Courage Award.”