Lundquist Lecture

The annual Eldon F. Lundquist Faculty Fellowship Lecture will examine privacy issues and our changing world. Professor Mike Keen’s topic is “Extraordinary Individuality and the End of Privacy.”

The annual lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 24, in Room, 1001, Wiekamp Hall, Indiana University South Bend.

Keen, who is a professor of sociology and director of the Masters of Liberal Studies program, will speak on privacy and surveillance. The title of the talk refers to earlier times when royalty and churchmen were the centers of attention and everyone knew their every move. They were the extraordinary people of their time. “There has been a change in the axis; we have all become extraordinary people.” Every individual is being observed.

“The information age is at the same time the invasive age; the information highway is a snooper byway operating at the speed of light and driving us ever faster and further into the age of surveillance,” he said.

Keen is the 21st recipient of the Lundquist award.

In 2000, Keen received the North Central Sociological Associations’ Scholarly Achievement Award.

He currently serves as a board member of the IU Institute for Advanced Studies, the IU South Bend Graduate Council and the Association of Graduate Liberal Programs. He formerly was the chair of the Department of Sociology from 1997 to 2002.

He came to IU South Bend in 1986 as an adjunct assistant after he earned his master’s and doctorate in sociology from the University of Notre Dame. He rose through the department, first as a visiting assistant from 1987 to 1989, then to assistant professor from 1989 to 1995, and to associate professor from 1995 to 2002, and full professor in 2002.

He is a prolific author and researcher. Through his research, he has examined Central and Eastern Europe, surveillance of American sociologists and teaching methods.

Keen has been the recipient of the IU Trustees’ Teaching Award in 2001, the Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching Award for IU and the IU South Bend Distinguished Teaching Award, both in 1993; and the Teaching Excellence Recognition Award in 1997.

Off campus, he was the chair of the American Sociological Association’s Section on the History of Sociology from 2002 – 2003 and the coordinator of the Midwest Student Sociological Steering Committee from 1994 to 2003. He served as the Chancellor’s Fellow from 1998 to 1999.

Active in the community, his is currently a partner in Eco-Urban Collaborative, which is a new development and design firm. The collaborative brings together the principles of new urbanism and green building to contribute to city center revitalization.

He has been on the board of directors of Fine Arts Inc.

The Lundquist Lecture was instituted in 1984 and named after Eldon Lundquist, one of Elkhart’s best known natives. He wore many hats – public relations, advertising, hospital development director, sportscaster and legislator. He was a member of the Indiana General Assembly from 1961 to 1976, where he served as the Senate Education Committee chairman for more than a decade.

In 1976, he was appointed assistant to the president of Indiana University with an office at IU South Bend. He served in that role until his death in 1977.

His friends established an endowment in his name to sponsor public lectures. In 1984, the Faculty Fellowship Program was established to support IU South Bend faculty members who demonstrate outstanding accomplishments in teaching, scholarship and research.