ICS 30-Year Anniversary Preliminary Program

Theme: Data Centers, Community, and Sustainability in Northwest Ohio

8:30 AM Coffee and Breakfast

9:00 – 9:30AM | Opening & Anniversary Welcome

Location: Multipurpose Room
Moderator: Valeria Grinberg Pla (ICS, Director)

  • Welcome Remarks: President Rodney Rogers (BGSU)

  • 30th Anniversary Recognition (Institute for the Study of Culture & Society – ICS): Dean Ellen Schendel (College of Arts & Sciences, BGSU)

9:30 – 10:45 AM | A Podium Discussion with Photographer Stephen Voss – Living with Data Centers 

The event features photographer Stephen Voss, noted for his documentation of landscapes and societies transformed by industry. It provides a collaborative forum for scholars, students, artists, and locals to examine the intersections of AI and digital infrastructure, energy sustainability, and public health. Discussions will specifically address the role of AI in the arts and the localized effects of data centers in Northwest Ohio. 

Location: Multipurpose

Moderator: Clayton Rosati (Associate Professor, School of Media and Communication) 

Panelists: Andrew Kear, Ellie Brock, Env Action Group, Wayne Wilson

11 AM – 11:50 AM | From Classroom to Workplace: Media, AI, Equity, and Labor

This panel, organized by Class Con, examines the evolving role of media and artificial intelligence in both educational and workplace contexts, with particular attention to creativity, equity, and labor. Bringing together perspectives on music and media centered pedagogy, classroom AI use, and regional workforce transformation, the panel explores how emerging tools can deepen learning, lower barriers to participation, and redistribute creative agency while also raising concerns about authorship, assessment, deskilling, and job security. These presenters situate debates within creative, economic and labor realities. Together, the presentations invite a candid discussion of hope, hesitation, and responsibility as educators and workers navigate AI’s expanding presence.

Location: Mylander Room

Moderator: Clayton Rosati (Associate Professor, School of Media and Communication)

Speakers:

  • Kristine Ketel (BGSU, Relational AI Strategist & Cultural Technologist)

  • John M. Mora King (American Cultural Studies, BGSU)

  • Jon-Jama Scott ( American Cultural Studies, BGSU)

1:15 – 2:15 PM | AI Data Centers and Sustainability: Balancing Innovation, Environment, and Society

Location: Mylander Room

The rapid expansion of data centers and AI related technology is creating significant social, environmental, and ecological challenges. While state and federal policies expedite data center development, local governments are the primary area of resistance, as public opinion grows increasingly critical. This panel will examine issues such as intensive water use, high energy demands, land use, and resulting pollution. It will also address social concerns, including zoning conflicts, declining property values, rising utility costs, generous tax incentives, inadequate long-term job creation, and limited public input in siting decisions. Ultimately, the panel asks: how sustainable are data centers, and what are their impacts on society, the environment, and the economy?


Moderator: Andrew Kear (Associate Professor, Public Administration, Public Policy)

Speakers:

  • Enrique Gómezdelcampo (Associate Professor, School of Earth, Environment & Society)

  • Timothy Pape (Assistant Professor, School of Earth, Environment & Society)

  • Kefa Otiso (Professor of Geography, & Service Excellence (2017-2020), and Director of the Global Village, Graduate Coordinator)

  • Andrew Kear (Associate Professor, Public Administration, Public Policy)

2:30 – 3:20 PM |  Who Owns Creativity in the Age of AI? 

Join members of the Art Community, ranging from Film, Theatre, Creative Writing, Music, and Graphic Design for a wide-ranging conversation that explores the complexity of AI in the Arts, its possibilities and downfalls. Panelists will share brief individual remarks before a broader panel discussion followed by audience Q&A.

Location: Mylander Room
Moderators: Jonathan Chambers + Amanda McGuire

Stephen Crompton (Film)

Baxter Chambers (Theatre)

Amorak Huey (Creative Writing) 

Perfect Broman (Music)

Lori Young (Art)

3:30 – 4:30 PM |Making the Invisible Visible: A Photovoice and Poetic Inquiry Project on Data Centers in Northwest Ohio

As data centers expand across Northwest Ohio, their presence often remains unseen yet deeply consequential. This project invites graduate student co-researchers to explore how these infrastructures are imagined, anticipated, and experienced within everyday community life before they are even built. Using photovoice and poetic inquiry, participants document and reflect on the visible and invisible traces of data infrastructure across local spaces, transforming observation into visual and narrative insight.

Join us for light refreshments and an opportunity to walk through a curated photo exhibit, engage with the images, and reflect on the stories they tell. The event will then transition into a panel conversation where student researchers share their insights and invite the community into a dialogue on visibility, place, environment, and the social meaning of emerging technologies.

Location: SMC Kuhlin Center 

Lead: Divya S. (Assistant Professor, School of Media and Communication) and Sandra Falkner (Associate Professor, School of Media and Communication). 

In collaboration with Graduate Student Senate

5:00 - 6:00 PM AI and Public Health: From Policy to Practical Applications

This panel provides an overview of the major AI policy and implementation issues facing public health leaders in Ohio. Learn how Ohio Health Commissioners and Epidemiologists are thoughtfully and ethically harnessing AI tools to help protect their communities from health hazards. Expert panelists will discuss potential uses of AI in their field and explore how AI use policy helps ensure these innovative tools strengthen, rather than replace the human aspects of public health practice.

CHHS 100 

Moderator: Phil Welch (Associate Professor, Department of Public & Allied Health, College of Health and Human Services)

Jared Warner, MEM, RS, Highland County Health Commissioner and Chair of AOHC AI Work Group

Tyler Briggs, MPH, Assistant Director of Health Promotion and Prevention, Wood County Health Department to the Public Health panel on Oct 13.

(TBC Rachel Aeschliman, Wood County Deputy Health Commission??)

6:30 - 8:30 PM |Community Town Hall 

Learn more about Hyperscale Data Centers and their environmental and public health impacts on communities. Topics include zoning and planning, site selection, moratoriums, utility infrastructure demands and costs, farmland and wildlife habitat loss, property values, and broader quality-of-life concerns. Join local leaders, experts, and community members in an open discussion about the future of data centers in Northwest Ohio.

Doors open at 6 PM

Location: Veterans Building

Welcome: Valeria Grinberg Pla (Director, Institute for the Study of Culture & Society; Professor, World Languages and Cultures) 

Moderators: TBD 

  • Tammy K. Clark, Industrial Hygiene/ Occupational & Environmental Health and Safety

  •  Kristen Meghan Kelly  Sr. Industrial Hygienist/Public Health

  • Kyle A. Brooks, Executive Director of the Ohio Township Association, Government Affairs

  • Chelsea Ziss, Mayor of Maumee, Ohio

9:00 PM | Closing Session: ICS at 30 — Looking Ahead

Location: Arlyn’s Good Beer

Come chat and network in an informal setting. 

Updated: 05/08/2026 08:13PM