Visions of Infinity: The American West and the Future of the University

The HERO-seminar.

Robert Frodeman, visiting Fulbrihgt scholar, has a broad experience of interdisciplinary research and teaching, and expertise in higher education and research policy as well as in the theory and practice of environmental ethics.

At the HERO-seminar Frodeman presents his research on the landscape of the American West, which is central to America’s self-image – a world of endless space, resources, and opportunity. More broadly, the iconography of the American West has exemplified the myth of modernity – of abundance and untamed desire. The modern research university has promoted this myth through its flat disciplinary structure, laissez faire attitude toward knowledge, and by separating knowledge production from use. What’s the future of this myth – and of the modern research university?