HIGH POINT, N.C., Oct. 27, 2011 – High Point University will feature Dr. Sherry Turkle, director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, as part of Faculty Cultural Enrichment Series. The event will be held at 6 p.m. on Nov. 2 in the Francis Auditorium in Phillips Hall, and is open to the public.
The faculty series this year, titled “Our On-line Lives,” will explore the evolution and implications of living online with specific focus on how online technologies affect human relationships.
Turkle, who is also an expert on social networking and sociable robotics, will speak about her most recent book, “Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.”
“She is a leading thinker on our relationships with technology, including computers and cell phones,” says Dr. Bill Carpenter, associate professor of English at HPU, who is helping coordinate speakers in the series. “We invited her because she examines not just how we use technology in our daily lives, but also how such uses are changing the ways we relate to each other. As we become increasingly tethered to our technology, we may also be changing our personal relationships in ways that isolate us and perhaps even dehumanize us. … She will help our campus understand what is at stake as we continue to evolve in our online lives.”
Carpenter uses live Twitter feeds – encouraging students to comment on a subject in real time – and other social media platforms in his classes to expose students to the technology and to teach them how to use it as a tool.
At High Point University, every student receives an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment with caring people.℠ HPU, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is a liberal arts institution with over 4,200 undergraduate and graduate students from 51 countries and 46 states at campuses in High Point and Winston-Salem. It is ranked by US News and World Report at No. 3 among Regional Colleges in the South. Forbes.com ranks HPU in the top 7 percent among “America’s Best Colleges.” Parade Magazine lists HPU in the top 25 private schools in the nation. HPU was selected in the 2010-2011 list of “Colleges of Distinction,” as well as one of the top green schools in the country by the Sierra Club. The university offers 50 undergraduate majors, 43 undergraduate minors and 10 graduate degree programs. It is accredited by the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and is a member of the NCAA, Division I and the Big South Conference. Visit High Point University on the Web at highpoint.edu.
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Pam Haynes
Communication Specialist
336-841-9055
[email protected]