Bina Venkataraman to give Wooster’s Mortensen Lecture on Sept. 5
Bina Venkataraman, journalist and science policy expert, will give The College of Wooster’s Peter Mortensen Lecture on Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. The lecture will take place in Gault Recreation Center inside the Scot Center (1267 Beall Avenue) and is free and open to the public.
Venkataraman’s book, The Optimist’s Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age, was selected as Wooster’s summer reading book for the Class of 2027. The book tackles the problem of instant gratification and how failing to look toward the future has impacted humanity, with examples ranging from ancient Pompeii to modern-day Fukushima. As Venkataraman writes, “The future is an idea we have to conjure in our minds, not something that we perceive with our senses. What we want today, by contrast, we can often feel in our guts as a craving.” But Venkataraman dispels the myth that human nature is impossibly reckless and includes practical tips that both individuals and society at large can use to make smart long-term decisions.
A native of Wooster, Ohio, and an alumna of Brown University and the Harvard Kennedy School, Venkataraman is a journalist, author, and science policy expert. She is currently a columnist at The Washington Post and a fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, along with teaching in the program on science, technology, and society at MIT since 2011. Previously, she was the editorial page editor of The Boston Globe from 2019 to 2022 and served as senior adviser for climate change innovation in the Obama White House and directed global policy initiatives at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.
The Peter Mortensen Endowed Lecture Fund was established in 2006 with a gift from Peter Mortensen ’56, with gratitude for the contribution of The College of Wooster to the success and happiness of four generations of the Mortensen family. Income from the fund is used to support one or more public lectures and/or performances related to the First-Year Seminar or for similar purposes directly related to the academic programs.
Image: Bina Venkataraman. Photo courtesy of Riverhead Books at Penguin Random House
Posted in News on August 21, 2023.
