By Patricia Waldron, Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science
On


The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress has chosen Steven Jackson, vice provost for academic innovation and professor of information science and science and technology studies, as the fall 2026 Kluge Chair in Technology and Society.

Established in 2000, the Kluge Center brings in leading scholars from around the world to make use of the library's collections and to interact with congressional members and staff. Chairs are selected by nominators from around the world, and are free to conduct their own research among the vast collections of the nation's library. Past chair-holders include Vaclav Havel, Manuel Castells, and Wiliam Julius Wilson.  

The Chair in Technology and Society is one of five chairs outlined in the Kluge Center’s founding documents. 

During his tenure, Jackson will work with the library’s extensive holdings on science, technology, and industry to pursue two projects. The first, technology and the extension ideal, investigates the imaginations of science, technology, and democracy central to the history and practice of continuing education and cooperative extension. The second, a land-based history of American computing, explores the role of land and landscape in the constitution of contemporary computing infrastructures.
 

Advancing our understanding of American computing

I am honored to serve as a Kluge Chair at the Library of Congress and I look forward to engaging with and learning from the LOC collections, chairs, fellows, and staff to advance our understanding of American computing and educational history.

Steven Jackson
Vice provost for academic innovation and professor of information science and science and technology studies

"I am honored to serve as a Kluge Chair at the Library of Congress and I look forward to engaging with and learning from the LOC collections, chairs, fellows, and staff to advance our understanding of American computing and educational history,” Jackson said.

Jackson is Cornell’s fourth Kluge Chair holder, following Nelson Tebee (Law), Suzanne Mettler (Government) and Tamika Nunley (History).  

Previously, Jackson served as chair of the Department of Information Science, and professor-dean of William Keeton House on West Campus. He spent six years on the faculty at the University of Michigan before coming to Cornell in 2011. Jackson completed his Ph.D. in communication and science studies at the University of California, San Diego.

Patricia Waldron is a writer for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.