Clair Maple Memorial Address: Knowledge, Freedom, and the Purposes of Learning

What do our students need to know, and for what purposes? How can they best learn it? This talk will address some of the philosophical and practical issues academic administrators are presently confronting in the United States, including the shape of liberal education, the role of research, how we assess outcomes, and the balance between authority and freedom in both the description and delivery of knowledge.

The Clair Maple Memorial Address is the opening plenary session for the Directors Seminar, given in memory of Clair George Maple (1916-1985), one of the founding fathers of SAC. In 1963, Maple became director of the Iowa State Computation Center and served in that position until his death at SAC in 1985. He was a respected and well-loved member of the academic community, both on the Iowa State campus and nationally. Maple served on the EDUCOM board, was elected board chair in 1984, and received its Distinguished Service Award posthumously in 1985. One of his contributions-and perhaps his greatest pleasure-was to serve as a consultant and sounding board to his large circle of computing friends. He loved meeting with us, his many friends and colleagues, at professional meetings. We fondly remember him and carry his advice, counsel, and spirit with us as we continue developing information technologies for higher education.