The event is the culmination of a year-long consideration by the members of the 2014-15 ISI faculty seminar on ‘Value.’ Our fellows come from disciplines ranging from Management and Resource Economics, to English, Chinese Literature, Architecture, Afro-American Studies, Public Health, and Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies. During this year their conversations have covered questions on the social and collective construction of values; how value is measured; how and under what conditions values shift; and many other topics besides. Now the aim is to bring things closer to home by considering value in the university—our university, and the institution of the university in general. We are hoping for an invigorating and lively conversation.
The format. The event will feature Provost Katherine Newman, who will begin by reflecting on questions of value at UMass as an institution, and in the institution of the university more broadly considered. What have university values been historically? How are they shifting in our current era? What should we preserve and what should we change? How do we measure the value of these shifts? Following that, a number of fellows in our seminar will speak briefly on key themes that have emerged during the year, deriving from the projects of the group. And then we want to turn the discussion over to the audience. Help us focus on questions of value by drawing on your own experience and perspectives. Given our transitional times, given planning under way on campus, this should be an event that has everyone involved.
Seminar Fellows. The 2014-2015 ISI fellows are Jenny Adams (English), David Buchanan (Public Health), Angela de Oliveira, (Resource Economics), Aline Gubrium (Public Health), Miliann Kang (Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), Rebecca Lorimer Leonard (English), Max Page (Architecture), Britt Rusert (Afro-American Studies), Anurag Sharma (ISOM), and Enhua Zhang (Asian Languages and Literatures). In addition, at the roundtable we will introduce our ISI fellows for 2014-15.
Reception. Following (and even during!) the event, refreshments will be served to celebrate the end of a productive and stimulating year.