A former naval commander and aide to two U.S. vice presidents and one president, Howard Kerr says his greatest pleasure today comes from bringing a little ‘real world’ experience into the academic space. “When students tell me that I’m lucky to have had the experiences I’ve had, I agree, but with a big caveat. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo Zumwalt once defined luck for me as preparation waiting for opportunity,” says Kerr. “I took classes in Schaeffer Hall sixty years ago, sitting in the same seats they’re in, and I didn’t have any idea what I’d be doing when I left the university. But I found out that my time here at the university had prepared me to take advantage of opportunities that presented themselves. This is the message I try to pass on to students.”

We live in an age of new technology, expecting any day to wake up to yet another jaw-dropping device or a discovery that simply changes everything about the way we live and work. The rate of innovation in the modern age can be breathtaking, but technological advances have jolted humans into new and unfamiliar territory since the dawn of humankind. On the next WorldCanvass, we’ll contemplate the larger implications of the adoption of new technologies—how do they change the ways in which individuals interact, the sharing of information, the movement of people and ideas from place to place, and what does all of this mean to the shape and form of a culture? WorldCanvass guests will discuss “Encountering New Technology” at FilmScene on February 9, beginning at 5 p.m. The program is free and open to the public.