Symposium on Engineering and Liberal Education
Educating the Stewards of a Sustainable Future
June 5-6, 2009
With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Union College will host the second annual symposium exploring better ways to integrate engineering, technology and the traditional liberal arts on June 5-6, 2009. We invite you to participate.
In 1845 Union was a pioneer in adding engineering to the liberal arts college in response to the needs of a nation characterized by rapid industrial and urban growth. The introduction of engineering as a field of study was a matter of preparing students to enter and succeed in that world. A century and a half later, science and engineering are even more important.
This symposium, organized by the steering committee listed below, will continue the discussion of understanding of what it means to be a liberally educated citizen in the Twenty-first Century. The symposium will bring together select academic leaders and scholars to explore different models for integrating engineering, technology and the traditional liberal arts, specifically focusing on this year's theme, Educating the Stewards of a Sustainable Future.
We have invited participants from colleges and universities which are actively examining the evolving, expanding and intersecting areas of liberal arts and engineering education. Speakers and participants will explore both general questions of how engineering and the liberal arts relate, and more specifically how those relationships contribute to creating a sustainable future.
Featured speakers will include:
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| Braden R. Allenby, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and of Law, Arizona State University, and President of the International Society for Industrial Ecology | Lewis M. Duncan, President, Rollins College, and former dean and professor of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College | Diane P. Michelfelder, Professor of Philosophy and former Provost and Dean of the Faculty at Macalester College, and President for the Society for Philosophy and Technology |
There will be an informal reception on the evening of Thursday, June 4 and the symposium itself will get underway Friday morning. In addition to speakers, there will be breakout sessions to discuss the issues and on Saturday morning we explore in parallel a number of key questions that relate to advancing the Symposium's themes. Participants will have the opportunity to display a poster about specific activities that they are undertaking to blend engineering and liberal education. We expect that each invited school will send a team of two to four academic leaders (senior administrators and faculty).
If you would like to receive a copy of last year's proceedings, please email your request.
Click here to download the 2009 Proceedings.
2009 Symposium on Engineering and Liberal Education Steering Committee:
- Cherrice A. Traver, Dean of Engineering, David Falk and Elynor Rudnick-Falk Professor of Computer Engineering, Union College, Chair
- Ann M. Anderson, Agnes S. Macdonald Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Union College
- Ian Baker, Senior Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, Dartmouth College
- Clifford W. Brown, Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Government, Union College
- Palma Catravas, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Union College
- Rob Clark, Professor and Dean, University of Rochester School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
- Drew Guswa, Associate Professor, Picker Engineering Program, Smith College
- Sharon Jones, Director, Engineering Division, Lafayette College
- J. Douglass Klein, Dean of Interdisciplinary Studies and Professor of Economics, Union College
- Hans Mueller, Professor of Classics, Union College
- Catherine Peters, Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Princeton University
- Mark Walker, Professor of History, Union College