Spring 2007 Lecture Series - Envision the Workplace of the Future: Its Technology, Design, and its Challenges to Employees
What will the workplace of the future look like? What technology will dominate our working lives? Will it invade worker privacy? These, and other crucial questions about working conditions in the future and how to prepare students and employees for them, were the subject of “The Workplace of the 21st Century,” a series of five lectures sponsored during Spring 2007 by Southern Vermont College.
January 25
Speaker: Ed Mierzwinski
Director of the Federal Consumer Program for U.S. Public Interest Research Group in Washington, D.C.
Topic: “The Digital Consumer in a Wired Workplace and Wired World: What happens to privacy?”
Ed Mierzwinski has authored or co-authored numerous reports on consumer issues ranging fro the failure of cable television deregulation to privacy identify theft, bank fees, predatory lending and unfair practices and product safety. He frequently testifies before Congress and state legislatures, and he has appeared on the NBC "Today" show, CNN "Crossfire" and ABC "Nightline." Mierzwinski is active in international consumer protection efforts and is a past member of boards of large consumer-owned businesses. He earned B.A. and M.S. degrees from the University of Connecticut.
Watch Ed Mierzwinski's lecture (Quicktime movie, 233MB)
February 22
Speaker: Carlin Meyer
Professor at New York Law School
Topic: “Law of the Future Workplace: Law and the Workplace: What rights will we lose? What protections will we have?”
Carlin Meyer is regarded as a champion of progressive politics. She was honored at the 2002 annual dinner of the National Lawyers Guild's New York City chapter. She served in the New York City Mayor's Commission on the Status of Women as consultant to its Sexual Harassment Task Force. Meyer has taught and written on constitutional issues of feminist jurisprudence and separation of powers, and frequently speaks on issues related to sexuality, gender, labor and world trade. She was the former bureau chief for labor in the New York State Attorney General's Office and represented the state labor Department and Workers' Compensation boards. Meyer is a member of the Society of American Law Teachers and Law and Society Association.
- Listen to Carlin Meyer's lecture as broadcast on WBTN (MP3 audio, 67MB)
March 22
Speaker: Dr. Chai Wah Wu
Technical Staff to the Vice President of Technical Strategy
and Worldwide Operations at IBM's Watson Research Center
Topic: “Global Technology Outlook 2007: How will it affect the workplace? How can we prepare for it?”
Dr. Chai Wah Wu has written more than 100 technical papers, and has been issued more than 40 U.S. patents. He has published journal papers on cellular neural networks, nonlinear discrete-time systems, chaotic synchronization and communication systems, and digital halftoning and watermarking. Wu is a Fellow of the IEEE and associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, Part I. He earned a Ph.D. and M.S. in electrical engineering, and an M.A. in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. He also earned a B.S. in computer engineering and B.A. in cognitive science from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa.
Watch Chai Wah Wu's lecture (Quicktime movie, 482MB)
April 5
Speaker: Michael L. Joroff
Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Topic: “Workplace of the future: What will it look like? Will it be yours or 'the company's'?”
Michael L. Joroff directed the Laboratory of Architecture and Planning for 18 years. Joroff consults with corporations in the U.S., Europe and Japan on real estate strategy and the design of workplaces. He specializes in organizational diagnostic and design by utilizing the workplace-making process to drive organizational development, problem and opportunity framing, and alignment of the workplace and business strategy. As founder and program director, Joroff’s accomplishments include the MIT Joint Program for Building Energy, MIT-Shimuzu Building Research Program, MIT-Korean Institute of Construction Program, and distributed work-related research projects and consulting for organizations such as IBM, Nokia, Nissan, Cigna, American Express, Kodak, AT&T and Xerox. For professional journals he has written numerous articles about corporate infrastructure management and workplace design and management.
Watch Michael Joroff's lecture (Quicktime movie, 251MB)
April 30
Speaker: David Nowlin, Architect and President of ArchC3, an architectural design and consulting group in Portland, Maine
Topic: “Building the workplace of the future: Greening architecture and the workplace.”
David Nowlin has a wide range of experience in planning architectural design and project management strategies for commercial, industrial and residential projects in both the public and private sectors.Clients include federal, state and local government agencies, national retail businesses, private industrial and commercial companies, school districts, universities, hospitals, media groups and nonprofit affordable housing developers and homeowners. In addition to his experience as a construction manager and builder, Nowlin has worked on projects in New York City, New England, Japan and Israel.
Listen to David Nowlin on WAMC Northeast Public Radio's "The Roundtable." (MP3 audio, 13MB)
