Faculty from King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi Explore Humanities at Georgia Tech

Posted October 23, 2019

The presence and role of the humanities and social sciences at a technical institute is not only a topic discussed among faculty at North American universities. Recently, eleven guests from King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) in Thailand visited the Georgia Institute of Technology to discuss the intersection of humanities and technology.

“As we realized at our May symposium on Humanistic Perspectives at Technological Universities, institutions focusing on science and technology world-wide share similar opportunities and challenges. KMUTT’s liberal arts are currently only auxiliary to the lead disciplinary areas and majors on their campus,” said School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) Chair Richard Utz. 

In addition to Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Bundit Thipakorn and Vice President for Education Development Panuthat Boonpramuk, the delegation included colleagues from KMUTT's Schools of Liberal Arts and Architecture as well as several colleagues from their Learning Institute. According to Utz, the KMUTT faculty found that they shared many of the same challenges and opportunities as faculty from Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. 

“The KMUTT university leadership recognizes the central importance of human-centered academic work, including communication and collaboration, and that's why they wanted to meet and connect with us. It is clear KMUTT sees us as an aspirational institution that is closer to the kind of integration of the sciences, engineering, and technology they would like to reach themselves,” Utz said. 

LMC is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.