Making Commitments as a Student

Facilitator: Elizabeth Kovats
Lecturer at Berkeley- Haas School of Business

In this seminar we seek to develop a foundational understanding of commitment. What does it mean, both as a concept and as a component of a life well lived? Why does it, often, induce fear? And, perhaps surprisingly, how does it foster belonging, agency and freedom? Would a commitment to something intangible, such as one's imagination, compel thinking/acting that is distinct from that of a commitment to a personal/social relationship? Join us as we discuss these questions, and those you share, as we develop a working definition of our focal topic.

This seminar is open to undergraduate and graduate students.

Workshop 1: Understanding Commitment, Definitions and Manifestations
Tuesday, October 11th, 5:30-7:00 PM @ the Berkeley Institute

Workshop 2: Role of Intentions
Tuesday, October 18, 5:30-7:00 PM @ the Berkeley Institute

Workshop 3: Intangibles and Personal Relationships
Tuesday, October 25th, 5:30-7:00 PM @ the Berkeley Institute

  • Elizabeth Kovats

    Elizabeth Kovats is on the faculty of the BerkeleyHaas School of Business, in Innovation and Design. Her area of interest is in design and ethics, and how we can design products and/or processes to advance the common good. Prior to academia, Kovats worked in the high technology industry in Silicon Valley. Joining a start-up as the eighth employee, she helped scale operations through to an IPO. She attended the Jesuit School of Theology, focusing on philosophy and design, and studied creative writing at the University of Arizona and the University of Iowa.