[363] Noted author’s keynote helps kick off MTSU Scholars Week March 27

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Best-selling author and culture critic Nicholas “Nick” Carr will deliver the MTSU Scholars Week keynote address at 7 p.m. Monday, March 27, in the Student Union Ballroom.

A group of MTSU students will meet and visit with Carr — 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of New York Times bestselling book “The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains” in the general nonfiction category — during dinner earlier in the evening.

The lecture is open to the public and campus community. To find parking and the Student Union, visit http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap.

Scholars Week emphasizes the research, scholarly efforts and collaboration of undergraduate and graduate students and faculty. To learn more about Scholars Week at MTSU, including a complete schedule of events March 27-31, http://www.mtsu.edu/scholarsweek/index.php.

Carr is a stimulating and thought-provoking speaker on issues related to technology, culture and business, according to his website, www.nicholascarr.com.

In his presentation, Carr will provide a deep, enlightening examination of how the Internet influences the brain and its neutral pathways and concludes with a very humanistic petition for balancing our human and computer interactions.

“He’ll be talking about the Internet and how it has changed the way we read, write and think,” said Susan Myers-Shirk, interim chair in the Department of History. “It’s an ideal keynote lecture for Scholars Week because the Internet has clearly changed how scholars work.”

Myers-Shirk said she and other Scholars Week leaders look forward to Carr’s appearance and the fact students will spend time with him.

Carr has spoken to professional and academic audiences around the world, including being a keynote at Google’s first Atmosphere conference in London, England; at the Seoul Digital Forum; at Futurecom in Rio de Janiero, Brazil; Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, California; and at MIT, Dartmouth, Harvard, NASA and other schools and institutions.

Carr’s books have been published in 30 countries.

The keynote lecture is presented by the Strickland Visiting Scholar Program and the MTSU Distinguished Lecturers Fund, with additional support from the Department of Computer Information Systems, the Department of History, the Office of the Provost, the Office of Research and the College of Liberal Arts.