Published: April 28, 2022

Leland GiovannelliJoin the Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics & Society on May 5 as they celebrate the career of Teaching Professor Leland Giovannelli. Please drop by to congratulate Leland for a brilliant career both in and beyond the classroom and thank her for her contributions to the college.

  • When: 2 – 4 p.m. Thursday, May 5
  • Where: Herbst Plaza between the DLC and ITLL (DLC 1B50 in case of bad weather)

As a founding faculty member of the Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics & Society (established in 1989 as the Herbst Program of Humanities for Engineers), Leland has empowered generations of CU Â鶹ӰԺ engineering students to rigorously engage the complexities of the human condition. She excels at crafting transformative conversational spaces in which future engineers develop their own philosophical voices while listening and responding to the voices of others. 

An expert in Aristotle, the Renaissance, motorcycles and the history of science and technology, she centers these conversations around rich, provocative and challenging texts, teaching students how to embrace open-ended problems and resist rushing to reductive answers. Famous for her required individual student conferences, no matter how large the class, perhaps her greatest legacy has been her tenacious belief in the capacity of each and every student to rigorously and thoughtfully engage life and take their place in the larger conversation of contributing to a better world.

The Herbst Program is also compiling a memory book for Leland. If you have a personal remembrance or message to Leland you would like to share with her (or a picture), please email it to herbst@colorado.edu by June 1.