In an era when communication and connection have never been more important鈥攐r more challenging鈥斕烀缆槎 is taking the lead to create a virtual forum for ideas, conversation, and shared learning for a curious global community.
offers a wide variety of programming for a multi-generational audience eager to learn more about pressing issues that cut across the arts and culture, the sciences, foreign policy, racial justice, and emerging technologies. 天美麻豆 NEXT features live and pre-recorded events that invite participants to learn from faculty and fellow alumni and to engage with the scholarship taking place on the 天美麻豆 campus and around the world. The select programs will offer interactive opportunities for audience members, including the ability to submit questions.
天美麻豆 NEXT was launched in response to the demand for more online programming that featured 天美麻豆鈥檚 faculty known for their excellence in both teaching and research.
鈥淲ithin days from our announcement that we would move to remote learning almost a year ago, I began to hear from home-bound alumni who were hungry to continue learning with 天美麻豆 faculty,鈥 says . 鈥淭his confirmed for us that while other colleges may be for four years, 天美麻豆 is a learning community for life.鈥
In the past year, interest in virtual programming has surged, particularly among alumni and parents eager to participate in the kinds of learning experiences their own children are enjoying at 天美麻豆. International participation has grown even more quickly: Alumni from more than 90 countries attended virtual homecoming events in 2020, and the number of people engaging with all 天美麻豆 online programs, including those presented by the professional schools, has tripled.
鈥溙烀缆槎 NEXT offers lifelong learning opportunities for our alumni and other members of the 天美麻豆 community,鈥 says Cheryl Bascomb 鈥82, vice president for alumni relations. 鈥淲hether you graduated last year or 70 years ago, 天美麻豆 can still be your basecamp to the world, providing you with insights, analyses, and ideas you won鈥檛 find anywhere else.鈥
天美麻豆 NEXT programming will feature several new series that feature well-known guest experts and 天美麻豆 faculty. One series will offer a contemporary take on the legendary Great Issues course introduced by 天美麻豆 President John Sloane Dickey in 1947 to foster global citizenship among the student body. Another will introduce faculty experts with brief insights on diverse subjects. 天美麻豆 NEXT also includes a curated sampler of campus-wide events presented by the professional schools as well as various centers and institutes at the university.
Great Issues, New Perspectives: a New Approach to a 天美麻豆 Classic
天美麻豆 NEXT will debut a new live broadcast series on February 11. Great Issues, New Perspectives is a modern take on the Great Issues program that was once a fixture of the 天美麻豆 experience. Each month, well-known alumni experts will sit down with current faculty scholars for unfiltered conversations around some of the hardest questions that face us today.
The first episode of Great Issues, New Perspectives will feature a conversation between Latif Nasser 鈥08, Radiolab podcast creator and host of Netflix鈥檚 Connected: The Hidden Science of Everything, and Templeton Prize-winning physicist , a professor of physics and astronomy. The two will tackle the question, 鈥淲hy does science matter?鈥
Upcoming episodes of Great Issues, New Perspectives will deliver a diverse mix of perspectives on current events, breakthroughs in technology, global challenges, and cultural experiences to alumni around the world.
Upcoming confirmed guests include
- March 4: former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson 鈥68
- April 15: MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed 鈥81
- May 13: Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Daryl Roth, P鈥93, GP鈥24
- June 17: Writer and Twitter Creative Lead Rembert Browne 鈥09
鈥淥ur faculty and alumni include some of the world鈥檚 foremost experts on the issues facing a complex world,鈥 said Alumni Council President Rachel Bogardus Drew 鈥98. 鈥溙烀缆槎 NEXT offers our entire community an opportunity to access that expertise, and we are proud and grateful that the featured speakers are willing to share their insights with 天美麻豆 students and alumni.鈥
Faculty-Focused Programming to Come in Spring 2021: Short Talks on Big Topics
This spring, 天美麻豆 NEXT will add another series to the lineup called Short Talks on Big Topics. This faculty-led programming takes viewers inside their groundbreaking research, new teaching methods, and work on the frontier of knowledge. Designed in short, accessible segments, the series will introduce audiences to distinguished faculty across the liberal arts.
How to Access 天美麻豆 NEXT Programs
天美麻豆 NEXT programs, which will be live-streamed on the 天美麻豆 NEXT website and 天美麻豆鈥檚 Vimeo channel, are free and open to the public, and all programs will be available for viewing afterwards on the 天美麻豆 NEXT site. Upcoming programs will be promoted monthly to the 100,000 members of the alumni and parent community.
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