Installation:
Symposium Addresses
Information Technology

"Rethinking Institutions in the Information Age" will consider the impact of the communications revolution both on universities and on other important institutions in society.

Brody, as chairman two years ago of the influential Committee for the 21st Century, led the push for the creation of the office of university chief information officer and for substantial new investment in information infrastructure. The committee concluded that Johns Hopkins cannot remain the globally influential institution it has been since 1876 without an aggressive strategy for managing and delivering information.

The symposium is designed to start conversation around the university about the next step: how to use new information tools and resources to reshape the university's approaches to teaching, research and service.

The event will be held Friday, Feb. 21, the opening event in the weekend leading up to Brody's formal installation as president two days later. It will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. in Shriver Hall Auditorium on the Homewood campus. It is open to all faculty, students and staff who are able to attend, and to the public.

The keynote speaker is Mario Morino, an expert on the transforming power of information technology and co-founder of Legent Corp., one of the world's largest software companies. Now retired, he is chairman of the Morino Institute, a nonprofit organization he founded to help people use electronic communications for positive social change.

Four leading experts on information technology will comment on Morino's presentation. The panelists include:

Bernard Gifford, former head of education marketing at Apple Computer and founder of Academic Systems Corp., an education software developer;

Jeffrey Abramson, professor of law and politics at Brandeis University, and a political theorist with a special interest in political institutions in the electronic age;

Toni Carbo, dean of information sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a consultant on information issues and served on the U.S. Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure; and

Douglas Becker, president of Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. He founded and heads one of the world's largest private providers of educational services, including computer-based testing.

For more information on the Brody inauguration Web site, check out "Hopkins Online."