How can governments use technology to solve problems? How can we use our entrepreneurial skills to create solutions that help people?
Beth Simone Noveck, Ph.D., J.D., who fuses innovation with leadership to advance data transparency in government, will address these questions as a guest speaker in the Bryant University Honors Program Speaker Series. Her March 17 talk will discuss public entrepreneurship, technology, and collaboration between government and its citizens. The event, from 4-5 p.m. in the Bello Center's Stepan Grand Hall, is open to all students and faculty.
"All of our Honors students have a need to know, to evolve, and to affect change."
Her presentation caps the inaugural year of the Speaker Series, which aims to expose students to scholars from diverse backgrounds, professions, and industries, and to further awareness of global and cultural issues. This year's series also included:
- a talk on climate change by Andy Nash, a highly regarded meteorologist from the National Weather Service;
- a discussion of the misinformation landscape by Damaso Reyes from the News Literacy Project;
- "Empathy, Apathy, and Aliteracy: Publishing for Children and the Importance of Reading," a presentation by adolescent literature novelist Erin Dionne.
"Dr. Noveck is a highly accomplished scholar. We're excited to have her share her knowledge and scholarship with our students, and for our students to share their knowledge with her and contribute to the discourse," says Susan Baran, MA, Associate Director of the Honors Program and senior lecturer in the Department of Communication. “All of our Honors students have a need to know, to evolve, and to affect change," she adds.
According to Edinaldo Tebaldi, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Director of the Honors Program, the speaker series reinforces values the Honors Program seeks to emphasize with Bryant students: scholarship, service, success, and self-awareness.
Beth Simone Noveck, Ph.D., J.D.
Noveck, a graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School, is a public entrepreneur and Director of the Governance Lab, whose mission is to improve lives by changing how we govern. She is a Professor in Technology, Culture, and Society at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering and a Fellow at NYU's Institute for Public Knowledge. She served under the Obama administration as the first U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer and director of the White House Open Government Initiative. Her areas of research include open government, open data, institutional innovation, technologies of expertise, and information law and policy.
Her books on how technology can improve governing include "Wiki Government," which Kevin R. Kosar in Public Administration Review said “ranks among the most important books in public administration written in the past decade.” Her latest book, "Smart Citizens, Smarter State: The Technologies of Expertise and the Future of Governing," was among The Guardian’s 2019 list of Top 10 Books About Building Cities.
