Published: Oct. 21, 2019

Herbst Lesser HouseHerbst Lesser House

Thirty years ago, a gift from Clancy and Linda (Vitti) Herbst created the Herbst Program of Humanities in Engineering. Since then, the program has been committed to helping students develop a personal sense of responsibility as the basis for lifelong private and professional integrity.

After deliberations among the Herbst faculty and stakeholders, the program has decided to update its name to better reflect its scope and mission. The program will now be known as the Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics and Society.

Herbst courses challenge students to apply intellectual rigor to the ethical and social complexities of being engineers. In the past, the program was known by the humanities, whose rich and varied works have helped students explore these complexities. The new program name reflects those complexities themselves: the nexus of engineering, ethics and society.