Speaker Series
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Play Nice: The Rise Fall and Future of Blizzard Entertainment
Jason Schrier is an investigative journalist covering the massive, lucrative, often silly world of video games. He reports on people who make games, people who play games, and people who do incredible things with games. He is currently a reporter at Bloomberg News, where he writes about the business and culture of gaming. He is also the New York Times bestselling author of two books about game development, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels and Press Reset.
Thursday, October 17 @ 10:30
Wildcat Theater or Zoom https://weber.zoom.us/
AI on Campus & Beyond: Don't Get Distracted by the Hype
The author of the book “The Innovation Delusion: How Our Obsession with The New Has Disrupted the Work That Matters Most” discusses how to make sound business decisions without falling victim to both positive and negative forms of hype.
Thursday, September 26, 2024 | 12:00 am
Wattis Building Room 122
Rethinking the Luddites in the Age of AI
Brian Merchant is a writer, tech journalist, and author of a bestselling book about the iPhone, The One Device and Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech (2022). He founded Automaton, a site that examines the human impact of automation, for Gizmodo. He is an editor at Motherboard, VICE’s science and technology outlet, and the founder/editor of Terraform, its online fiction site. Brian is also the co-editor of a print anthology of Terraform stories, called Terraform: Watch/Worlds/Burn (2022). His work has appeared in the New York Times, Harper's, Wired, the Atlantic, the LA Times, the Guardian, Slate, VICE Magazine, Fast Company, Fortune, and beyond. He lives in Los Angeles.
Tuesday, February 27, 2024 | 12:00 pm
Noorda 305-307 or zoom
ttps://weber.zoom.us/j/
The Artifice of Intelligence: Divine and Human Relationship in a Robotic Age
Noreen L. Herzfeld is Reuter Professor of Science and Religion at St. John's University and senior research associate with ZRS Koper. A theologian and computer scientist, she is the author of several books, including, most recently, The Artifice of Intelligence (Fortress Press, 2023)
Tuesday, October 31, 2023 | 11:30 - 12:30 pm
Noorda 305-307 or zoom
https://weber.zoom.us/j/
How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Ethics and Technology in the 21st Century
David J. Gunkel (PhD) is an award-winning educator, scholar and author, specializing in the ethics of emerging technology. His teaching and research synthesize the hype of high-technology with the rigor and insight of contemporary critical analysis. He is the author of over 80 scholarly journal articles and book chapters and has published 14 influential books including the book Person, Thing, Robot from MIT Press.
Tuesday, September 26, 2023 | 11:30 - 12:30 pm
Noorda 305-307 or zoom
https://weber.zoom.us/j/
Dr. Rabindra (Robby) Ratan, Connecting my Virtual Dots: How the social science of avatars, gaming, and virtual meetings made an unexpected metaverse researcher
The metaverse—a network of interoperable immersive persistent virtual environments that complements and enhances the modern Internet—is not quite a reality yet, but people are increasingly adopting virtual reality (VR) devices to meet, socialize, and play. Dr. Ratan will discuss findings from his work that explores gender stereotypes in gaming, the influence of avatar identity characteristics on user behavior (i.e., the Proteus effect), and on why women tend to experience more zoom fatigue than men. He will also highlight his current projects that focus on promoting fairness and well-being in virtual meetings, and on a new controllable-agent paradigm of human-computer interaction that could be used to promote prosocial behaviors.
Dr. Rabindra (Robby) Ratan is an Associate Professor and Director of the Social and Psychological Approaches to Research on Technology-Interaction Effects (SPARTIE) Lab at Michigan State University. His research explores the effects of human-technology interaction, focusing on how media technologies (e.g., avatars, video games, agents/AI, VR) influence meaningful outcomes (e.g., fairness, well-being, motivation) across societal contexts (e.g., education, health, industry). His research is funded through multiple research grants, including from the National Science Foundation. He has also received multiple teaching awards and presently teaches his classes in virtual reality.
Tuesday, April 11, 2023 | 11:30 - 12:30 pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://weber.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 985 0045 8272
Passcode: 194926
Jessica Smith, Engineers and the Ethical Dimensions of Corporate Work
By definition, engineers are organizational actors. This dimension of their work raises concerns for both engineering ethicists and engineers themselves, as it presents challenges for their professional autonomy. In this talk, Professor Smith draws on long-term research to explore how engineers who practice in the mining and oil and gas industries craft themselves as ethical actors through their work, in the face of significant controversy.
Monday, February 27, 2023 | 11:30 - 12:20 pm
Noorda Room 305 and 307 via zoom OR through zoom:
https://weber.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 929 2495 1271
Passcode: 088463
Jenny Davis, How Artifacts Afford: The Power and Politics of Everyday Things
Jenny L. Davis is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Australian National University. Her work intersects technology studies and social psychology, with a current focus on AI and machine learning. She is Deputy Lead of ANU's Humanising Machine Intelligence Program, Co-Director of the ANU Role-Taking Lab, on the board for Theorizing the Web, and Past Chair of the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology section of the American Sociological Association. Learn more about Jenny's work at JennyLDavis.com and/or follow Jenny on Twitter @Jenny_L_Davis
Wednesday February 1, 2023 | 11:30 - 12:20
Noorda forum via zoom OR through zoom:
https://weber.zoom.us/j/92924951271?pwd=aHBGTmJIS1pCNmZ3dENhTk1xRHpKdz09
Meeting ID: 929 2495 1271
Passcode: 088463
Colin Gray, Dark Patterns and the Potential for “Everyday Ethics”
Peterson Speaker Series
- Using Knowledge of User Experience for Nefarious Purposes
Colin M. Gray is an Associate Professor at Purdue University in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology and Associate Professor (by courtesy) in Learning Design & Technology in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. They are program lead for an undergraduate major and graduate concentration in UX Design.
Wednesday, November 2, 2022 | 9:30 am - 10:20 am
TBA (most likely Lindquist Hall Room 116) or
https://weber.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 983 0066 6384 Passcode: 695868
Janet Abbate, Gender in Computing: Lessons From Pioneering Women.
Peterson Speaker Series
Women's Changing Participation in Computing
Janet Abbate is a professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech and serves as co-director of the graduate program of the Department of Science, Technology, and Society in Northern Virginia. Dr. Abbate’s work focuses on the history, culture, and policy issues of the internet and computing
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 | 9:30 am - 10:20 am
https://weber.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 983 0066 6384 Passcode: 695868
Tyler Haggin - TrueInsight
England Logistics Speaker Series
Tyler Haggin currently works as a Principal and Chief Operating Officer at TrueInsight LLC, a provider of Engineering Validation, Data Analytics, Machine Learning and High-Performance Computing solutions. Prior to working at TrueInsight, Tyler worked for GoEngineer, another Weber State Sales sponsor, for 15 years in all areas of sales including Inside Sales/Business Development, Outside Sales, Customer Service and Sales Management. Throughout his career, Tyler has focused on recruiting top performing sales talent and building high-performing sales teams using training and coaching as a guide.
Wednesday, October 11, 2022 | 10:30 am - 11:20 am
Noorda Building Room 305
Miriam Posner, Agile and the Long Crisis of Software
Peterson Speaker Series
"An investigation into everyone's favorite way to build software"
Miriam Posner is an assistant professor at the UCLA School of Information. She’s also a digital humanist with interests in labor, race, feminism, and the history and philosophy of data.
Monday, October 3, 2022 | 9:30 am - 10:20 am
https://weber.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 983 0066 6384 Passcode: 695868
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Aaron Campbell - Boston Scientific
England Logistics Speaker Series
Since graduating from Weber State’s Technical Sales and Communication’s programs, Aaron Campbell has spent the last 25 years in sales and marketing roles in the Pharma, BioTech and MedTech industries. Aaron currently is the West Region Sales Manager for a division of Boston Scientific, a global leader in medical devices and frequent recipeitn of Fortune’s “Most Admired Companies” award. Aaron is excited to share where a sales career in medical devices has taken him as well as other Weber State graduates.
Wednesday, March 23, 2022 | 12:30 pm - 1:20 pm
Ogden Campus: Linquist Hall 101
Jodi Orgill Brown
Presented by Women in Computing, Engineering & Technology, the STEP Club and SWE.
Anti-fragility expert & brain tumor survivor.
Award-winning author of "The Sun Still Shines," Jodi Orgill Brown will share how she strengthened her capacity to thrive in the face of upheaval. She is a corporate trainer, certified coach, professional keynote speaker, and
post-traumatic growth expert.
Tuesday, March 15, 2022 | 12 pm - 1 pm
Ogden Campus: EH 318
Zoom Recording
OR
Thursday, March 17, 2022 | 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Davis Campus: Stewart Center, Ballroom A
Professional Cultures and Inequality in STEM
Peterson Speaker Series
Dr. Erin Cech
Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Department of Mechanical Engineering (by courtesy) at the University of Michigan.
Does STEM have its own culture, and can the beliefs and practices of that culture reproduce inequality? Drawing on data from numerous NSF-funded studies, Prof. Cech argues that the professional culture of STEM often has gender, race, and LGBTQ biases built into its foundational assumptions about excellence and objectivity. She examines the role of three specific cultural ideologies schemas of scientific excellence, depoliticization, and the meritocratic ideology in inequality in STEM.
Monday, January 24, 2022 | 11:30 AM
Davis D2-110 or via Zoom https://weber.zoom.us/j/
The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality
Peterson Speaker Series
Dr. Erin Cech
Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Department of Mechanical Engineering (by courtesy) at the University of Michigan.
Probing the ominous side of career advice to "follow your passion," Dr. Erin Cech explains how the passion principle fails us, how it perpetuates class, gender and racial inequalities and how to reconfigure our relationships to paid work.
Tuesday, January 25, 2022 | 1:30 PM
Lindquist Hall 101 or via Zoom https://weber.zoom.us/j/
Peterson Speaker Series
The Right(s) Question: Can and Should Robots have Rights?
David J. Gunkel
Author of Robot Rights
Dr. Gunkel challenges his audience to consider whether robots can and should have rights. In the process of doing so he sheds light on what it means to be human, how humans
interact with technology, and the import of artificial intelligence and robots.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020 | 10:30 AM
Stewart Library Hetzel-Hoellein Room, Weber State University | Ogden Campus Map
Peterson Speaker Series
Future Technology Ethics
Cennydd Bowles
Author of Future Ethics
Reluctantly, the tech industry has owned up to its deep social, political, and moral impacts. Now the hard work begins. A slew of ethical aids have emerged – toolkits, card decks, playbooks – but the true challenges run deeper, caused by complex human trade-offs, misaligned values, and faulty incentives. Can concerned technologists genuinely shift the moral cultures of high-performing tech firms, or will ethics remain a mere discussion point? Cennydd Bowles, author of Future Ethics, explores why nascent ethics initiatives stumble in tech companies, and suggest a radical new path that draws on collective power to engender system change and iluminate a radical new path that helps ethical advocates to consider hidden stakeholders and harms and that draws on collective power to engender system change.
Monday, October 28, 2019 | 10:30 AM
Stewart Library Hetzel-Hoellein Room, Weber State University | Ogden Campus Map
LingoFest
Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble
Author of Algorithms of Oppression
Professor at USC & Researcher on Gender and Race Bias in Media
Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble is an Associate Professor at UCLA in the Departments of Information Studies and African American Studies, and a visiting faculty member to the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor in Department of Media and Cinema Studies and the Institute for Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2019, she will join the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford as a Senior Research Fellow.
Friday, February 1, 2019 | 5:00 PM
Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart Stadium, Weber State University | Ogden Campus Map (SK in the map)
Free and open to the public
Alan E. Hall Speaker Series
Discovery Channel’s “Diesel Brothers”
In the world of diesel vehicles, no one has more fun or builds bigger, badder trucks than Heavy D, Diesel Dave and their crew at DieselSellerz. Their mega builds and awesome truck giveaways are the stuff of diesel legend. DIESEL BROTHERS on the Discovery Channel, follows the team at DieselSellerz as they trick out trucks, work hard and play harder in the process. Starting off their business by buying used, or broken down trucks and tricking them out for sales... Heavy D and Diesel Dave use the internet/social media as marketing tool to share their best pranks and stunt driving. Millions of hits later, DieselSellerz has become the
destination for diesel lovers looking for tricked out trucks, crazy stunts, pranks and hilarious antics. In 2014, Heavy D and Diesel Dave were invited on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and in 2015, the Discovery
Channel began filming “Diesel Brothers” in 2015, and since then the show has become one of the most popular reality shows on cable television.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019 | 9:30 AM
Ballroom A, Shepherd Union Building
Sara Toliver - CEO of Ogden Visit
Selling Ogden
Sara Toliver, CDME, is President/CEO of Visit Ogden. Sara received her BS and MBA degrees from Utah State University before opening three retail stores on Historic 25th Street. The ensuing redevelopment of this historic district led to Sara’s passion for the Ogden community which continues to drive her in her day to day activities to make Ogden an amazing visitor destination. Sara and her husband Brett have 13 year old twins and love skiing, hiking, biking, and pretty much anything else they can do in their mountains.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018 | 9:30 AM
Wildcat Theater, Shepherd Union Building
Jake Hoffman - Ford Motor Company
Root Causes: The Key to Success at Work and Home
Friday, Septemeber 28, 2018 | 12:00 PM
WSU Technical Education Building 202D
Brandon Checketts - Founder of RoundSphere
The Man Who Started 23 Businesses (and finally grew one to an Inc 500).
Founder of RoundSphere a tech incubator based in Athens Georgia and home to BookScouter.com and Seller Labs.
Brandon Checketts calls himself a “Parallel Entrepreneur” meaning that he starts and runs several businesses at the same time. He even started two businesses while a full-time student at Weber State University in the early 2000’s. One of his current businesses, Seller Labs, recently landed on the Inc 500 list of fastest growing private businesses in America.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018 | 11:30 AM
Wildcat Theater, Shepherd Union Building
Dr. C. Daniel Litchford
Professor of Professional Sales at Weber State University
Dr. Charles Daniel Litchford, Jr. is an emeritus Professor of Professional Sales at Weber State University. He came to Weber State in 1970 and is credited as being one of the pioneers of sales education in the Sales and Service Technology Department. He taught courses in sales, sales management, and sales personality profiling. He is a certified instructor for “Managing Interpersonal Relationships,” Wilson Learning Corporation, and was a certified consultant for Performax International. He is also a Certified Master Practitioner of Nero Linguistic Programming. He has served as a consultant in marketing, sales promotion, and customer service for retail businesses throughout the nation. He has been a recognized motivational speaker and performer and serves as an educational consultant. Dr. Litchford has been honored with numerous awards and accolades including the Master Teacher Award, Distinguished Professor Award, the H. Aldous Dixon Award and Professor of the Year Award. Dr. Litchford officially retired ten years ago after years of teaching and inspiring students to be BIONIC! Going on 48 years, he continues to teach online as an emeritus professor with a musical-motivational approach that gives the learning environment a truly unique atmosphere.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018 | 9:30 AM
Wildcat Theater, Shepherd Union Building
John C. Wolthuis - Vice President of WCC.
John C. Wolthuis graduated from Weber St. University in 2006 with
a B.I.S. degree, focusing on areas of emphasis in Zoology, Chemistry
and Sales & Service Technology. Upon graduation, John and his
wife Brittney moved to Portland, Oregon, where he started at West
Coast Container, Inc. (WCC). John currently serves as Vice President
of WCC., where he runs the day-to-day operations.
Monday, April 9, 2018 | 8:30 AM
Wildcat Theater, Shepherd Union Building
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John Kasson
Professor Emeritus of History and American Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
From the earliest days of the American republic, two central questions concerned the
terms by which the new nation would industrialize. How might emerging technologies
preserve and extend the ideals upon which the nation was founded, and what were the
implications of these technologies for art in a republic? The relation of STEM to art has a
long history, and this lecture will explore some early chapters.
Wednesday, January 24, 2018 | 12:30 PM
Stewart Library, Hetzel-Hoellein Room
Warren Osborn
Serial Entrepreneur
Warren Osborn is a serial entrepreneur who has founded ten companies. One of Warren’s recent companies, Braven, created a nearly indestructible waterproof speaker allowing speakers to go anywhere you go and became the leading outdoor portable speaker brand. Another of Warren’s companies, Luvaire, created the highest-end essential oil diffusers in the market and coupled home decor into its diffusers. One of his companies created the Blu-ray disc package, which established the worldwide standard for high-definition movie packaging. His companies have sold hundreds of millions of products.
Friday, January 26, 2018 | 9:45 AM
Wildcat Theater, Shepherd Union Building
Brian McCullough - Author of “How The Internet Happened”
Practically everyone is familiar with Google. But not so many people know how Google evolved from a small search engine on the Stanford University campus in the early 1990’s to a billion dollar company. In this presentation Brian McCullough recounts the history of Google – how the founders met, the evolution of the Google search algorithm, the financial and philosophical challenges Google faced as it sought to commercialize its services during the bursting of the dot com bubble, the development of AdWords, and Google’s eventual IPO. Brian McCullough is host of the Internet History Podcast (http://www.internethistory- podcast.com). A book loosely based on these podcasts will be coming out in Spring 2018. It is currently titled How The Internet Happened, and will be published by Liveright, a subsidiary of W.W. Norton. Brian is also the founder of various dot com enterprises and in 2016 was selected as a TED Resident.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017 | 7:00 PM
Dumke Hall, The Hurst Learning Center
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2017 | 10:30 AM
Elizabeth Hall 229
CRAIG PETERSON - PRESIDENT OF CRAIG A. PETERSON CONSULTING LLC
When it comes to receiving your first job offer, selling yourself is half the battle. In this presentation Craig Peterson explains how to make your name stand out in a crowd, and secure that elusive job. Peterson has a wealth of hiring experience and understands what makes a success- ful job applicant. In 1998, Peterson started his own consulting firm specializing in inter-governmental relations related to infrastructure development. Prior to estab- lishing his own company, he served in a variety of leadership roles including: Senior Manager at Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, and Corporate Vice-President of Versar Incorporated. Peterson also served in the Utah State Legislature for 12 years, two years in the Utah House of Representatives, and ten years in the Utah senate including four years as the majority leader and two years as Senate Majority Whip. Peterson graduated from WSU in 1972 with a degree in Manufacturing Engineering Technology. His father, Lorenzo Peterson served as the chairman of the WSU Technical Education Division.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017 | 10:30 AM
Wildcat Theater, Shepherd Union Building
Dr. Lee Vinsel
Professor of Science and Technology
Studies at Virginia Tech.
When it comes to receiving your first job offer, selling yourself is half the battle. In this presentation Craig Peterson explains how to make your name stand out in a crowd, and secure that elusive job. Peterson has a wealth of hiring experience and understands what makes a success- ful job applicant. In 1998, Peterson started his own consulting firm specializing in inter-governmental relations related to infrastructure development. Prior to estab- lishing his own company, he served in a variety of leadership roles including: Senior Manager at Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, and Corporate Vice-President of Versar Incorporated. Peterson also served in the Utah State Legislature for 12 years, two years in the Utah House of Representatives, and ten years in the Utah senate including four years as the majority leader and two years as Senate Majority Whip. Peterson graduated from WSU in 1972 with a degree in Manufacturing Engineering Technology. His father, Lorenzo Peterson served as the chairman of the WSU Technical Education Division.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017 | 10:30 AM
Library Hetzel-Hoellein Room 321
Brett Frischmann
Professor in Law, Business, and Economics at Villanova University
Brett Frischmann is the Charles Widger Endowed University Profes- sor in Law, Business and Economics at Villanova University, and an affiliated scholar of the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. He teaches courses in intellectual property, Internet law, and technology policy and has written a number of books including Infrastructure: The Social Value of Shared Resources (with Oxford University Press) and Governing Medical Knowledge Commons (with Cambridge University Press). His next book, Re-Engineering Humanity, which he is co-authoring with RIT philosopher Evan Selinger, will be published this April by Cambridge University Press.
Friday, January 26, 2017 | 9:45 AM
Wildcat Theater, Shepherd Union Building