David KaiserGuest
Jonathan GruberGuestPeter DeZekasHost
Heather PaxsonGuestWell, on that note, the note being MIT history, right after World War II, MIT decided that it wanted to form SAS.
And again, as people might know, there were some departments that we would now associate with SAS that preexisted this.
But there was this famous, famous for us, famous on campus, something called the Lewis Report, which you'll hear about over and over again this year, I'm sure.
So the group was put together very soon after the end of the Second World War, starting in 1946. very soon.
And they got together and studied almost everything you can imagine about life and the future at MIT.
I mean, like parking lots and how far do the faculty commute, which is on my mind, as well as things like the undergraduate curriculum, dormitories, really every aspect, intellectual, residential, social, and beyond.
But as you rightly know, when they completed the report in 1949, among their most significant recommendations was that MIT should not just have a few departments in humanities and social sciences, but have a concerted effort in what we would now call ShAS.
And of course, about 25 or so years ago, 50 years since the founding, we also very proudly added arts to our name.
So the point is, the Lewis Committee said, in essence, there are so many striking, dramatic, literally world-changing developments that we can associate with what we might now call STEM or science technology.
which had been used to such dramatic effect just not long before they wrote the report.
And they were concerned that changes that could be that rapid and that far-reaching simply require an informed leadership, an informed citizenry more generally, of people who can try to think critically and carefully and kind of contextually.
and not only understand neutron diffusion, but also understand the flow of people and ideas and cultures and politics and beyond.
This needs to be as central to MIT's existence and experience as School of Science, School of Engineering, and of course, there are other great schools as well.
Well, on that note, the note being MIT history, right after World War II, MIT decided that it wanted to form SAS.
And again, as people might know, there were some departments that we would now associate with SAS that preexisted this.
But there was this famous, famous for us, famous on campus, something called the Lewis Report, which you'll hear about over and over again this year, I'm sure.
So the group was put together very soon after the end of the Second World War, starting in 1946. very soon.
And they got together and studied almost everything you can imagine about life and the future at MIT.
I mean, like parking lots and how far do the faculty commute, which is on my mind, as well as things like the undergraduate curriculum, dormitories, really every aspect, intellectual, residential, social, and beyond.
But as you rightly know, when they completed the report in 1949, among their most significant recommendations was that MIT should not just have a few departments in humanities and social sciences, but have a concerted effort in what we would now call ShAS.
And of course, about 25 or so years ago, 50 years since the founding, we also very proudly added arts to our name.
So the point is, the Lewis Committee said, in essence, there are so many striking, dramatic, literally world-changing developments that we can associate with what we might now call STEM or science technology.
which had been used to such dramatic effect just not long before they wrote the report.
And they were concerned that changes that could be that rapid and that far-reaching simply require an informed leadership, an informed citizenry more generally, of people who can try to think critically and carefully and kind of contextually.
and not only understand neutron diffusion, but also understand the flow of people and ideas and cultures and politics and beyond.
This needs to be as central to MIT's existence and experience as School of Science, School of Engineering, and of course, there are other great schools as well.
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