Bland Addison, Curtis Abel and David DiBiasio Presentations

Bland Addison gave a pechakucha presentation entitled "The Humanities and the Social Sciences in Preparing Students for Urban Engineering Projects in Morocco" at the Ninth Symposium on Engineering and Liberal Education at Union College, June 3-4.  A pechakucha presentation is a very brief presentation of ideas (in this case seven minutes) that allows ample time for discussion afterwards.  This talk focused on the difference between social science methods taught to prepare students to analyze foreign societies and humanistic instruction that encouraged students to form hermeneutic understanding of other peoples.  Conference attendees, including both members of the liberal arts and engineers, were in general agreement about the current need for a broader social science and humanities pedagogy in preparing engineering and technical students to address social problems.

At the same symposium, Curtis Abel and David DiBiasio presented, with theatrical assistance from Bland Addison, their presentation, “Humanitarian Engineering Past and Present,” a role-playing game that they helped to develop and are co-teaching with John Bergendahl, Kris Boudreau, Joe Cullon, Leslie Dodson, Glenn Gaudette, Paul Kirby, Laura Robinson, and John Sullivan.