Chris Marsicano

I’m the Katie ’90 and Stan Humphries ’90 Director of the The D.G. and Harriet Wall Martin Institute for Public Good at Davidson College, my undergraduate alma mater. In this role, I lead and serve as chief strategist and ambassador for Davidson’s flagship initiative integrating research, teaching, creative practice, and community engagement to advance ethical leadership, civic education, and public problem-solving across the institute’s five program areas. I also founded the College Crisis Initiative (C2i), which is now a subsidiary of the Martin Institute in the Allison S. and Thomas C. Franco Program on Public Policy and Research. 

I also serve as Chair of the Educational Studies Department, home to one of the fastest growing majors on campus. I teach classes mostly in public policy and higher education in the Educational Studies Department at Davidson, but occasionally teach courses in the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics program as well. 

My research portfolio includes working on the political, public health, and public policy issues surrounding crisis situations in higher education. My research has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals like PLOS One, Educational Researcher and Research in Higher Education, and peer-reviewed government and policy publications like the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. My work also has been featured in many national and international media outlets including The PBS NewsHour, NPR’s Morning Edition, Time Magazine, InsideHigherEd, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.