First Tuesday Topic: “How Has Social Media Changed the World?”

St. Paul, Minn. – On Tuesday, September 3, President Brian Rosenberg will welcome the Macalester community to campus and kick off the academic year during “First Tuesday,” the college’s opening convocation. The event will include a panel discussion moderated by Rosenberg with guests Rebecca Van Dyck ’91 (Macalester Trustee, Chief Marketing Officer, AR/VR at Facebook, and member of the board of directors of The New York Times Company); and Macalester Professor Shilad Sen (Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science). They will discuss how social media is shaping our society and influencing life on campus.

First Tuesday begins at 11:30 a.m. in the Leonard Center’s Alumni Gymnasium. The event also includes a welcome by the Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) President Blair Cha ’20 and recognition of new faculty, students, and staff; invocation; and the peace prayer. All students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.

Van Dyck is the Chief Marketing Officer of AR/VR at Facebook, responsible for the marketing and sales of all Oculus, B8, and Social VR products and services. Prior to this role, she was the VP of Consumer + Brand Marketing at Facebook, responsible for creating the company’s marketing with the goal of building a strong relationship between Facebook and its community. Before joining Facebook, Van Dyck was the Chief Marketing Officer for Levi’s®, where she was responsible for all marketing across the Levi’s brand globally. Prior to Levi’s, she was at Apple, Inc. as a Senior Director where she led the worldwide Marketing & Communications efforts for some of the world’s most well-known and admired product launches, including the iPhone, iPad, Macs and iPod + iTunes. Before that she was the NIKE Global Account Director at Wieden + Kennedy (WK) where she managed the account for the advertising agency around the world. Van Dyck was listed as one of Ad Age’s “Women to Watch” in 2011 and honored as a top “100 Most Creative People in Business” in 2012 by Fast Company. She currently sits on the board of The New York Times and PSI, is on the board of trustees for Macalester College and sits on the Advisory Board for Strava and IDEO.org. Van Dyck graduated from Macalester with a BA in History and Psychology and studied abroad at the University of Cairo in Egypt.

Sen is a professor of Computer Science at Macalester College and a data science research fellow for Target Corporation. He studies the relationship between algorithms, software, and people and focuses on biases and inequalities along dimensions such as race, gender, and geography. Sen’s research has been recognized through grants from the National Science Foundation, best papers’ awards at top computer science conferences, and coverage in popular press venues including The Atlantic. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota and Bachelor’s Degrees in Math and Saxophone Performance from Northwestern University.

Immediately following the discussion, everyone is invited to a zero-waste picnic with complimentary Macalester lunch bags on Shaw Field (or the field house in case of rain).

If you require ADA accommodations to make this event accessible, please complete this form to submit your request.