General Sessions

Connectivity is Destiny: Evolution in Information, Biology, and Organization

Wednesday, November 06, 2002
8:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. SESS03

Christopher Meyer, Director, Center for Business Innovation, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young

Ubiquitous, autonomous, connected elements characterize organisms, organizations, and increasingly our information systems. The effects go beyond "better, faster, cheaper," changing the way economic activity--profit and non-profit--is organized. At the same time, connectivity is increasing the volatility of our environment. In response, organizations and institutions will become more adaptive--and less stable--by borrowing the rules of biological evolution. In this session, attendees will use interactive technology to assess seven candidate rules for adaptive institutions. SIMULATION technology provided by Cinematrix.

Putting Content First: The Valley of the Shadow Project and Institutional Change

Wednesday, November 06, 2002
10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. SESS05

Edward L. Ayers, President, University of Richmond

For the last decade, professors and students at the University of Virginia have been building a large digital archive called "The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War." The archive has won major awards, received a great deal of media attention, and attracted millions of visitors, ranging from middle-school students to octogenarians. Despite its success, the Valley Project has failed in one of its major goals: inspiring faculty elsewhere to build projects that adhere to high scholarly standards and also work in the classroom. The enormous investment that higher education has made in information technologies will not achieve its potential until it creates digital work that can hold its own with the best analog work, until professors become producers rather than merely consumers of information technology. This talk will discuss the challenges and promises facing us as we consider that task.

Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: Higher Education Goes to Market

Wednesday, November 06, 2002
3:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. SESS12

David L. Kirp, Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley

Wired and Tired: A Portrait of Today’s College Students

Thursday, November 07, 2002
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. SESS02

Jeanette Cureton, Higher Education Researcher, Elmhurst College

Undergraduates have changed in recent years. In comparison with earlier generations, they’re older, more diverse, more career oriented, and more technologically savvy, but they’re also more overwhelmed by academic, social, and financial pressures. Serving the needs and fulfilling the expectations of contemporary undergraduates require fresh insight and special creativity.

Roberto Padovani, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, QUALCOMM Incorporated

Thursday, November 07, 2002
11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. SESS04

Roberto Padovani, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, QUALCOMM Incorporated