New interdisciplinary series to open with discussion of the liberal arts and the digital world

The SUNY New Paltz College of Liberal Arts and Sciences announces the debut of a new cycle of lectures, panels and performances to be presented under the title “Without Limits: Interdisciplinary Conversations in the Liberal Arts.” The series seeks to reconsider, reimagine and reaffirm the place of the liberal arts in higher education and civic engagement.

“The breadth of departments and programs, majors and minors offered in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is both its strength and challenge,” said Laura Barrett, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “‘Without Limits’ aims to bridge our vast array of disciplines so that faculty, students, staff and community members are encouraged to see the multiple lenses that offer essential perspectives on social, cultural, political and technological issues, to make connections among those perspectives and to recognize the importance of the humanities and social sciences in the development of thoughtful, engaged and productive citizens.”

The inaugural year’s programming will be organized around the theme “Screens and Scenes,” and will open with a panel discussion featuring New Paltz faculty and students on the “Liberal Arts and the Digital World,” Oct. 28 from 3-5 p.m. in Lecture Center 102.

The panelists will discuss the role of screens as sites of work and play, entertainment, art and information, and will present ideas drawn from their research about the impact of this interaction with screens within their respective disciplines.

Panelists will include Wendy Bower, instructor of Communication Disorders, who will speak on technology usages by individuals with social communication disorders; Lauren Meeker, associate professor of Anthropology, who will discuss ethics and ethnographic film; Tom Olsen, associate professor of English, who will survey criticisms of digital environments and explore possible futures of screen reading in the Humanities; and student Megan Doty ’16 (graphic design, French), who will discuss the role of design in creating value within digital scholarship.

A question and answer period will follow the panelists’ opening remarks, and a reception will follow in the Lecture Center south lobby. The event is free and open to the public.

The event is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and by Campus Auxiliary Services.  For more information, contact committee members Ken Nystrom at 845-257-2986 or nystromk@newpaltz.edu, or Cyrus Mulready at 845-257-2739 or mulreadyc@newpaltz.edu.

About “Without Limits: Interdisciplinary Conversations in the Liberal Arts”

SUNY New Paltz’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences boasts a panoply of disciplines from the humanities to the social sciences which engage with questions using everything from poetic prose to laboratory-based sciences. Focusing on a distinct theme each year, the “Without Limits” program aims to make connections among the many aspects of the liberal arts while inviting campus and community partners to investigate the meaning and role of liberal education in the twenty-first century.  For more information, visit the program website at http://www.newpaltz.edu/collegelas/without-limits/.