Science and Community
The aim of the Presidential Colloquium, which is moving into its eighth year, is to provide opportunities for Clemson University students and faculty, as well as members of the community to come together to explore important issues. The colloquium comprises various events spread over the academic year, e.g., speakers, theatrical performances, panel discussions, and films. In every case the event is linked to the colloquium theme, which is selected with an eye to its integration “across the curriculum."
This year we will be exploring the ways in which science and community intersect and interact. We’ll consider the history of the relationship between them, shared values, points of tension and prospects for the future.
The events of the colloquium will address questions such as the following
| What sorts of things tend to promote a healthy relationship between science and community? | What is the proper role of science in the development of public policy? |
| What sorts of things tend to undermine the relationship? | Are community interests more often in harmony or tension with the interests of science? |
| If the interests of science and community conflict, how should the conflict be resolved? | Is it only or mostly when new technologies emerge that science and community seem to be at odds? |
FALL 2007
September 20, 2007Thursday, 7:30PM |
Dr. John IkerdProfessor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics;University of Missouri – Columbia |
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"Concerned About the Climate? Focus on the Economy."
As state co-coordinator of extension programs in sustainable agriculture from 1995 to 2000, Ikerd was responsible for developing and implementing professional development programs for extension workers and other educators who worked on programs in sustainable agriculture. Other major research and educational activities included participatory on-farm research and demonstration work and educational programs linking sustainable agriculture to quality of life of farm families and others in rural communities. Since retiring from the University in early 2000, Ikerd spends most of his time writing and speaking out on issues related to sustainable agriculture with an emphasis on the economics of sustainability, activities he plans to continue in the future. Ikerd is author of Sustainable Capitalism, Kumarian Press Inc., http://www.kpbooks.com, A Return to Common Sense, R. T. Edwards, Inc., http://www.rtedwards.com/books/171/, Small Farms are Real Farms, and Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainable in American Agriculture, forthcoming from Acres USA and the University of Nebraska Press. More complete background information and selected writings are available at http://web.missouri.edu/~ikerdj/ . Sponsored by CU Environmental Committee’s Focus the Nation Initiative.Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America is an unprecedented educational initiative, involving over a thousand colleges. Focus the Nation is a catalyzing force shifting the national conversation about global warming towards a determination to face this challenge. CU will host the national Focus the Nation kick-off on January 25th, 2008. For more information, visit www.focusthenation.org and www.clemson.edu/focus. Co-Sponsored By:The Rutland Institute for Ethics & The Strom Thurmond Institute |
October 10, 2007Wednesday, 12:00PM |
Corey DoctorowJournalist/Blogger/Author |
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"From International Standards to Web Practices, IP Mania Has Undermined the Idea of Real Property, of Freedom, of Creativity"Cory Doctorow is a blogger, journalist and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is in favor of liberalizing copyright laws, and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, and uses some of their licenses for his books. Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, Disney, and post-scarcity economics. Doctorow was raised in an activist household, working in the nuclear disarmament movement and as a Greenpeace campaigner as a child. He later served on the board of directors for the Grindstone Island Co-operative on Big Rideau Lake, Ontario, helping to run a conference center devoted to peace and social justice education and activist training. He received his high school diploma from a SEED School and dropped out of four universities without attaining a degree. He moved to Los Angeles from London, England, where he worked as European Affairs Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, helping to set up the Open Rights Group, before quitting to pursue writing full-time in 2006. Upon his departure, Doctorow was named a Fellow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and now teaches at the University of Southern California, despite the fact that he holds no degrees in higher education. He is a frequent public speaker on copyright issues. Doctorow's first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom was published in 2003, and was the first novel released under one of the Creative Commons licenses. The license allowed readers to circulate the electronic edition as long as they neither made money from it nor used it to create derived works. The electronic edition was released simultaneously with the print edition. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom was re-released under a different Creative Commons license that allowed derivative works such as fan fiction, but still prohibited commercial usage. A semi-sequel short story called Truncat was published on Salon.com. Doctorow's other two novels use Creative Commons licenses that prohibit derived works and commercial usage and have followed the model of making digital versions available, without charge, at the same time that the print versions are published. In 2006, Doctorow was named the 2006-2007 Canadian Fulbright Chair in Public Diplomacy at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, jointly sponsored by the Royal Fulbright Commission, the Integrated Media Systems Center, and the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. The academic Chair included a one year writing and teaching residency at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Doctorow's nonfiction works include his first book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Science Fiction (co-written with Karl Schroeder), and his contributions to Boing Boing, the weblog he co-edits, as well as regular columns in Popular Science and Make magazines. He is a Contributing Writer to Wired magazine, and contributes occasionally to other magazines and newspapers such as the New York Times Sunday Magazine, the Globe and Mail, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and the Boston Globe. In 2004, he wrote an essay on Wikipedia included in The Anthology at the End of the Universe comparing Internet attempts at Hitchhiker's Guide-type resources including discussing his own article on Wikipedia. In the same year, he delivered a talk to Microsoft's Research Group related to copyright, technology, and DRM. He served as Canadian Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and co-founded the free software P2P software company Opencola with John Henson and Grad Conn. The company was sold to the Open Text Corporation in the summer of 2003. Together with Austrian art group monochrom, he initiated the Instant Blitz Copy Fight project. People from all over the world are asked to take flash pictures of copyright warnings in movie theaters. TOPICS:
Sponsored by:Rutland Institute for EthicsClemson Computing and Information Technology (CCIT)The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering |
SPRING 2008
January 28, 2008Monday, 7:00PM |
Andrew LightAssociate Professor of Philosophy & Public AffairsUniversity of Washington-Seattle |
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Technological Culture Wars: The Case of NanotechnologyAndrew Light, Ph.D. (University of California, Riverside, 1996), is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Public Affairs, and Adjunct Professor of Geography and Public Health Genetics, at the University ofWashington, Seattle. He is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy & Public Policy at Lancaster University (U.K.), a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Development in the School ofArchitecture at the University of Texas at Austin, an Affiliate Faculty member of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy at Bard College, New York, and a Studio Fellow at the Studio for Creative Inquiry in the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University. His primary areas of interest are environmental ethics and policy, philosophy of technology, moral and political philosophy, and aesthetics. Light is the author of over seventy articles and book chapters on these topics, and is editor or co-editor of sixteen books. Sponsored by:The Robert J. Rutland Institute for EthicsThe Strom Thurmond Thurmond Institute |
February 13, 2008Wednesday, 7:00PM |
Deepak KumarProfessor, History of Science and EducationZakir Husain Centre for Educational StudiesSchool of Scoial Sciences; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Deli |
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Science and Society in South Asia: Snippets from the PastDeepak Kumar is an Indian historian of science who is Professor of History of Science and Education, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He has sought to demonstrate in several of his books that British colonialism in India played a major role in how European scientific fields developed. He is the author of: Science and Empire: Essays in Indian Context, 1700-1947, Disease and Medicine in India: A Historical Overview, and Science and the Raj: A Study of British India (Oxford University Press, 2006). Dr. Kumar’s lecture will explore the history of science and society in Indian culture. What was the situation of science in a traditional society like India? How has it evolved in the global economy? What lessons one can draw? Sponsored by:The Robert J. Rutland Institute for EthicsThe Strom Thurmond Thurmond InstituteClemson Science and Technology in Scociety Program |
March 4, 2008Tuesday, 3:00PM |
William J. KilgallinHead, Investigative Legal and OutreachNational Science Foundation-Office of Inspector General |
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Research Ethics TodayWilliam J. (Bill) Kilgallin has been the Head of Investigative Legal and Outreach for the National Science Foundation’s Office of Inspector General since September 2004. In this position, Bill serves as legal advisor to the Associate Inspector General for Investigations, supervises the Investigative Legal Section, and provides legal advice to the Office of Investigations on issues that arise in the investigation of all civil, criminal, and administrative allegations of wrongdoing (including research misconduct) involving NSF activities. He also oversees OIG outreach efforts, which are designed to develop and improve partnerships with institutions, NSF, and members of the research and education communities. Prior to working for NSF OIG, Bill served as a member of the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps for 21 years. During his Army service, Bill served in a number of positions including Executive Officer for the U.S. Army Trial Defense Service and Chief of International Law for the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). Prior to that, he worked in Intelligence Law, managed two large legal offices, and litigated at the trial and appellate levels. Bill completed his undergraduate studies at The Catholic University of America, where he received his B.A. in Political Science. He received his J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law and his LLM from the Judge Advocate General’s School at the University of Virginia
Sponsored by:The Robert J. Rutland Institute for EthicsThe Strom Thurmond Thurmond InstituteCU Graduate Graduate SchoolResearch Division |
For more information contact:
Daniel E. Wueste, Ph.D.
Director, Robert J. Rutland Institute for Ethics
864-656-6147; Fax: 864-656-2858
Office email: ernest@clemson.edu
www.clemson.edu/ethics
More about the colloquium:
From the beginning, the theme of the colloquium has been a central focus in English Composition classes. However, the link to course work is not confined to English classes. Faculty across campus are encouraged to make the most of it in preparing syllabi for the upcoming academic year. In 2001, for example, the theme was “Science and Values: New Frontiers, Perennial Questions.” The subject of human cloning, which was addressed by one of the major speakers, was explored in many classes in the life sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Students who participated in the First Annual J.T. Barton Jr., Ethics Essay Scholarship Competition also explored it. (The competition is sponsored by the Rutland Institute for Ethics.) Linking the colloquium and the ethics essay competition turned out to be a very good thing. Accordingly, we continue to link them.