Roslyn Clark Artis, Ph.D., is the 14th and first woman president of Benedict College. Previously, Artis served as the 13th and first woman president of Florida Memorial University. An active HxA member, Artis is a contributor to HxA’s Best Practices Guide and has been an expert panelist for roundtable discussions on the current state of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in higher education.

Artis has been recognized nationally for her commitment to the proliferation and transformation of colleges and universities that serve underrepresented people of color. She was named Female HBCU President of the Year by HBCU Digest, a Top 35 Leading Women in Higher Education by Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and, in 2020, President of the Year by Higher Ed Dive for her leadership in navigating the challenges of the pandemic.

Artis is a model for promoting and enacting Heterodox Academy’s core values of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement on campus. Guided by a strong moral compass, she has been fearlessly committed to standing up for freedom of expression, challenging entrenched conventions and orthodoxies, and pushing students to think beyond their current horizons. She is an inspirational leader and a guide for those who seek to improve the quality of research and teaching in higher education. 

Dorian Abbot, Ph.D., is an associate professor of geophysics at the University of Chicago and the comoderator of Heterodox Academy’s HxSTEM Community. Abbot uses mathematical and computational models to understand and explain fundamental problems in earth and planetary sciences. His work centers on problems related to climate, paleoclimate, planetary habitability, and exoplanets.

 In addition to his work as a geophysicist, Abbot is passionately committed to an ideal of fairness and building the next generation of scholars. He advocates for a system of Merit, Fairness, and Equality (MFE) “whereby university applicants are treated as individuals and evaluated through a rigorous and unbiased process based on their merit and qualifications alone.”

Although Abbot’s views on diversity initiatives came under intense scrutiny and led to the cancellation of his October 2021 talk at MIT’s John Carlson Lecture, he has demonstrated consistent courage and bravery in championing his beliefs despite the costs he has endured. He has become a household name in higher education for being a professor who chose courage over fear, the pursuit of truth over group conformity, and free inquiry over censorship of any kind.

Emma Camp graduated from the University of Virginia in 2022 with a degree in philosophy and English. While at the University of Virginia, she was a Jefferson Scholar, a regular freelance writer for Reason Magazine, and a Heterodox Academy Student Affiliate.

With a passion for debate and critical inquiry, Emma has been outspoken in her support for freedom of speech on college campuses. In her pursuit to uphold and protect free inquiry, she interned for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and wrote extensively about campus speech for Reason Magazine, Persuasion, the Cavalier Daily, FIRE Newsdesk, and most recently, the New York Times.

Emma’s pointed and honest New York Times op-ed, “I Came to College Eager for Debate. I Found Self-Censorship Instead,” reverberated around the nation, reinvigorating national debates about the speech climate on college campuses. As a student suddenly thrust into the spotlight, Emma has remained as principled and constructive as ever. In the face of derogation and unconstructive pushback, she has demonstrated exceptional bravery in championing the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement.