Esteemed Carleton professor Clifford Clark will present the College’s annual Argument and Inquiry Seminar Convocation on Friday, Sept. 26 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. Entitled “My Freshman Year and Yours: Politics, Technological Change, and the Future of the Liberal Arts,” Clark’s presentation is designed to stimulate student reflection on the nature of liberal arts and a liberal arts approach to learning. His presentation will highlight the ways in which scholars ask questions, discover and evaluate information, and effectively and ethically construct arguments.
This event is free and open to the public. Convocations are also recorded and archived online at go.carleton.edu/convo/.
Clark is a professor of history and the Hulings Professor of American Studies. Since 1970, he has taught courses on American social, political, and intellectual history with a particular focus on reform movements. In his talk, Clark will compare the context of his freshman year in 1959 to the experience of the incoming Carleton class of 2019.
In Clark’s freshman year the Cold War, the Civil Rights movement, and the invention of new technologies—from antibiotic drugs to computers—redirected his interests and priorities in ways that he, at the time, could not have predicted. Similarly, Carleton's incoming freshman class of 2019, whom sociologists have labeled the "Millennial Generation," will face both the holdover problems from Clark’s generation and new ones that will be difficult to anticipate. How will students approach these new problems? How helpful will technology be and in what ways will students be able to use their liberal arts education? These are some of the questions that Clark will explore in his presentation.
This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Convocations Committee. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222- 4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First Street, between College and Winona Streets, in Northfield.
