University News

Theme Speaker 9/28

September 20, 2010

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MACOMB, IL – Anya Kamenetz, educational futurist and staff writer for Fast Company magazine, will present "DIY U: The Coming Transformation of Higher Education" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 28 in the University Union Grand Ballroom on the WIU-Macomb campus as part of the 2010-2011 University Theme Speaker Series, held in conjunction with the 2010-11 Universitywide theme "Teaching and Learning in a New Era." Kamenetz's presentation is open free to the public.

In 2004, Kamenetz broke new journalistic ground when the Village Voice nominated her for a Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for her work on the series "Generation Debt: The New Economics of Being Young." In January 2005, the series became a bi-weekly column and Kamenetz became one of the youngest columnists in the paper's history. Today, she reaches millions with her "Generation Debt" online column as a personal finance expert for Yahoo! Finance. Kamenetz is also a staff writer for Fast Company magazine, where she recently took second prize in the Education Writers Association (EWA) 2009 National Awards for Education Reporting for her article "Who Needs Harvard?"

Her newest book, "DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education," sheds light on the future of education, and how technological and experimental innovations can break the cycle of rising costs and set education free.

A magna cum laude graduate of Yale University, Kamenetz writes about the importance of financial literacy and responsibility, the costs of higher education and in particular, credit laws to protect young adults from chronic and excessive high-interest debt.

Cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch – dubbed "the explainer" by Wired magazine – will be the featured speaker at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 25 in the Union Grand Ballroom.

For more information on the Speaker Series or the University theme, visit theme.wiu.edu.

Posted By: Darcie Shinberger (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing