James J. Duderstadt, one of the nation’s foremost proponents of American higher education and its evolving role in shaping society, will deliver UGA’s 2009 Distinguished Lecture in Engineering. Open free to the public, the lecture will be held Oct. 2 at 10 a.m. in the Chapel.
Duderstadt’s lecture will draw on material found in his many books and articles, which use the prism of higher education as a tool through which to understand the challenges facing American society.
“Today’s society demands citizens who remain active learners throughout their lives, and hence it requires educational institutions capable of meeting their learning needs whenever and wherever they occur,” Duderstadt wrote in the introductory chapter of his 2000 book, A University for the 21st Century. “In a very real sense, higher education is both driving and being driven by technological, social and economic forces at work throughout the world.”
Duderstadt is president emeritus and University Professor of Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan. He has directed Michigan’s program in Science, Technology and Public Policy since July 1996.
“James Duderstadt embodies the forces driving change in American higher education,” said Dale Threadgill, director of the Faculty of Engineering. “His books dealing with the role of the university in the information age inform the discussion at many levels and demonstrate how higher education can and must continue to impact society by providing the leaders of tomorrow by educating the citizens of today.”
