What is the most effective way for a Dialog to interact with an array adapter of a (parent) activity?

The way my dialog is set up currently, it is supposed to take the values from the EditTexts and save in into a database (a process simplified through Sugar ORM), then place the newly created SubjectInfo object into the RecyclerView. The way the notifyDataSetChanged(); is included gives me errors concerning the Thread (basically no thread is waiting upon the change in the data set). SO, I have two paths as I see it, but I'm still confused as to how each approach would work.

Option 1: Somehow revoke the onCreate() method in the SubjectManagerActivity so that the adapter responds to the new database. (How to revoke an onCreate method?)

Option 2: Create a custom Dialog Fragment Activity. Does this navigate back up to recreate the parent activity?

Please help explain how to make the notifyDataSetChanged(); respond, because once that line is removed, there are no errors, but I can't see the new Subject card until I restart the app.

Here is my code:

public class SubjectManagerActivity extends ActionBarActivity {
    public static ArrayList<SubjectInfo> subjectList = new ArrayList<SubjectInfo>();
    public static FloatingActionButton fabCreateSubject;
    private AlertDialog.Builder build;
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
     super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
     setContentView(R.layout.activity_subject_manager);
     RecyclerView recList = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.subject_card_list);
     recList.setHasFixedSize(true);
     LinearLayoutManager llm = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
     llm.setOrientation(LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL);
     recList.setLayoutManager(llm);
     subjectList = getSubjectInfoArrayList();
     SubjectAdapter sa = new SubjectAdapter(subjectList);
     recList.setAdapter(sa);

     fabCreateSubject = (FloatingActionButton) findViewById(R.id.fab_create_subject);
     fabCreateSubject.setOnClickListener (new View.OnClickListener() {

        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            build = new AlertDialog.Builder(SubjectManagerActivity.this);
            LayoutInflater inflater = getLayoutInflater();
            View alertview = inflater.inflate(R.layout.create_subject_dialog, null);

            // Pass null as the parent view because its going in the dialog layout
            build.setView(alertview);
            final EditText inputSubjectName = (EditText) alertview.findViewById(R.id.dialog_edit_subject_card_name);
            final EditText inputSubjectGrade = (EditText) alertview.findViewById(R.id.dialog_edit_subject_card_grade);

            build.setTitle("Add Subject")
                    .setPositiveButton("Save", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                        @Override
                        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
                            String enteredSubjectName = inputSubjectName.getText().toString();
                            boolean enteredSubjectIsArchived = false;

                            if((!(inputSubjectName.getText().toString().equals("")))) {
                                SubjectInfo si = new SubjectInfo(enteredSubjectName, enteredSubjectIsArchived);
                                si.save();
                            } 
                            dialog.cancel();
                        }
                    })
                    .setNegativeButton("Cancel", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
                            dialog.cancel();
                        }
                    });
            AlertDialog alert = build.create();
            alert.show();
        }
    });
}
public ArrayList<SubjectInfo> getSubjectInfoArrayList(){
    ArrayList<SubjectInfo> sial= new ArrayList<SubjectInfo>();
    List<SubjectInfo> sil = SubjectInfo.listAll(SubjectInfo.class);
    sial.addAll(sil);
    notifyDataSetChanged;
    return sial;

}