Dyson College of Arts and Sciences
Issue link: http://dysoncollege.uberflip.com/i/242044
INSPIRED THINKING IN THE HUMANITIES ANANT AGARWAL, FOUNDER OF EDX, KICKS OFF DYSON DAY CONFERENCE The annual Dyson Day conference took place on April 12 at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts on the New York City Campus and focused on the theme of Addressing Critical Challenges for the Liberal Arts College. Keynote speaker Anant Agarwal gave a timely presentation on "Reinventing Education." Agarwal, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is president and founder of edX, a pioneering online learning venture making online education a possibility for millions of students worldwide. The day-long conference also featured a conversation between Agarwal and Pace University President Stephen J. Friedman, a roundtable on the Disruptions and Innovations in Higher Education, and breakout sessions on topics ranging from the Socratic Method of teaching to the emergent trend of digital portfolio use in the publishing marketplace. Dyson Day is an annual conference that provides Dyson College faculty with an opportunity to exchange ideas, present innovative models, and establish a dialogue between academicians and professionals from the fields of the arts and the sciences. The conference also serves to enrich and affirm the sense of community among the faculty of Dyson College, the University's largest. EQUALITY CAN'T WAIT: MAYORAL FORUM The Department of Women's and Gender Studies and the National Organization for Women (NOW) hosted a mayoral forum at the Schimmel Center on May 7. Mayoral candidates Bill de Blasio, Christine Quinn, John Liu, Bill Thompson, John Catsimatidis, Joe Lhota, and Adolfo Carrión Jr. debated critical issues impacting women, girls and all New Yorkers. STUDENTS FILM ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTARY IN MEXICO This spring, 12 students from the Media, Communication, and Visual Arts program in Westchester traveled to Magdalena Bay, a small fishing hamlet on the western shore of Mexico's Baja peninsula to film a short documentary, ¡Viva La Tortuga!, about environmentally protected sea turtles as part of the program's unique travel course. Under the guidance of Associate Professor Maria Luskay and Andrew Revkin, senior fellow at Pace's Academy for Applied Environmental Studies, the student team spent three days filming interviews with local conservationists and shooting b-roll, the supplemental footage such as ocean waves, sandy beaches, and turtles. 10 • Dyson College of Arts and Sciences