The Keller Center has just posted its spring list of of cutting-edge technology courses, all of which are taught by exceptional teachers and designed to appeal broadly to all undergraduates.
Michael Gordin, the author of a new history of the Cold War as well as a recent essay in the Los Angeles Times on the United Nations and nuclear arms control, will be teaching a keystone course called Technology and Society.
Why should non-techie undergraduates care about technology? Because virtually all the problems the world faces have some kind of technological dimension. And why should techie undergraduates care about society? Because the deployment of technology always has societal repercussions. But don’t take EQN’s word for it — you can hear from Gordin directly in the video above.
A centerpiece of the Keller Center‘s mandate is to ensure that all students at Princeton gain a clear appreciation of technology and the social and political forces that shape it. To that end, Princeton undergraduates will find spring course offerings in engineering and community service, in entrepreneurship, and in a range of topics at the intersection of technology and society, from alternative energy to the computational universe.
By the way, one of Princeton Engineering’s most prominent alumni, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, recently remarked that he was attracted to Princeton precisely because its engineering school was embedded in a liberal arts setting. “I believed that the value of a liberal arts education would serve me in some inchoate way,” says Schmidt. “That has proven true.”
You can watch a 3-minute feature video profile of Schmidt here or on Youtube. It is part of a library of engineering alumni videos created by Michael E. Wood ’08.
