EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: Wednesday-Friday, May 13-15, 2015

EVENT: “Academic Engagement in Public and Political Discourse”

In this era of exploding social media, “culture wars” and a looming distrust of scientific expertise, where opinions not grounded in fact are embraced by many—to the potential detriment of society—academics have a duty to get involved. Or do they?

Scholars from around the country will explore faculty attitudes and best practices on a host of activities such as Congressional testimony, board service, public presentations, media interviews, blogging, social media and political activism—all activities that lie outside the “standard” notions of scholarly pursuits.

The event’s two keynote addresses are open to the public and will be live webstreamed at myumi.ch/JYyzP. They are:

• “Delivering on Science’s Social Contract,” 7:30-9 p.m. May 13, with Jane Lubchenco, Distinguished Professor of Zoology at Oregon State University and former administrator of NOAA and Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
• “Good, Bad and Maybe: Communicating Scientific Near-Certainties and Deep-Uncertainties to a Non-Scientific Audience,” 9-10:30 a.m. May 15, with Richard Alley, professor of geosciences, Pennsylvania State University

A President’s Panel at 1:30 p.m. May 13 will feature U-M President Mark Schlissel with Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University; Philip Hanlon, president of Dartmouth College; and Teresa Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia. This event is not open to the public, but will be available to view via the live webstream.

The conference is part of the Michigan Meetings, a series of annual interdisciplinary meetings of national and international scope on topics of broad interest and contemporary importance to both the public and the academic community.

Andrew Hoffman, director of the Erb Institute and Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, is a key organizer of “Academic Engagement in Public and Political Discourse.”

Join the conversation at #acadeng on Twitter.

PLACE: Rackham Assembly Hall, 915 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor

SPONSORS: Rackham School of Graduate Studies, Erb Institute, Graham Institute, Michigan Energy Institute, Risk Science Center

INFORMATION: myumi.ch/LovQl

MEDIA: All events are open to media, but please RSVP to Greta Guest, 734-936-7821 or [email protected].