Kentaro Toyama named Public Engagement Mentor Fellow

The Center for Academic Innovation has named University of Michigan School of Information professor Kentaro Toyama as a Mentor Fellow in the inaugural cohort of the University of Michigan Public Engagement Faculty Fellowship program.

The initial cohort includes nine Fellows eager to explore and build their skills, and nine Mentor Fellows with more experience in public engagement. In collaboration with units across campus, Public Engagement Fellows will strengthen their public engagement skills, connect with a community of experienced faculty and public engagement professionals at U-M, and develop innovative projects to serve the public good.

Toyama is W.K. Kellogg Professor of Community Information at the University of Michigan School of Information and a fellow of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT. He is the author of Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology. 

Previously, Toyama taught at Ashesi University in Ghana and co-founded Microsoft Research India, where he did research on the application of information and communication technology to international development.

His areas of research include information and communication technologies and development (ICTD), aspiration-based social development, theories of social change and data-centric analysis of social justice issues.

More about Kentaro Toyama
More about Public Engagement Faculty Fellowship

- Jessica Webster, UMSI PR Specialist