June 17, 2026
Dr. Frank Archibald is a retired ARL and mechanical engineering faculty member. This is the first of his five-part series that will appear here on Connect Happy Valley contemplating the future of college.
Every generation believes it is living through a period of extraordinary change.
The Industrial Revolution transformed work. Electrification transformed industry. Automobiles transformed transportation. Computers transformed information. The internet transformed communication.
Today, artificial intelligence has become the latest technology prompting predictions about the future.
Some believe AI will fundamentally reshape education, while others argue it will transform the workforce, and still others predict profound changes to research, business, government, and daily life. They may all be right. Yet as an engineer, I have learned that when a system changes, the most important question is not simply what becomes possible. Rather, the more important question to answer is what becomes valuable.
For most of human history, information was scarce – books, expertise, research, and even basic access to knowledge were all hard to come by. Universities became some of society’s most important institutions because they concentrated expertise, preserved knowledge, trained professionals, conducted research, and prepared future leaders.
That model served society remarkably well.
Today, however, information is becoming increasingly abundant. Knowledge can be accessed instantly. Learning can occur anywhere. Expertise is more widely available than at any point in history. When something becomes abundant, attention naturally shifts to what remains scarce. That observation may help explain why so many employers, educators, and community leaders are asking similar questions:
How do we develop judgment?
How do we cultivate responsibility?
How do we strengthen leadership?
How do we prepare people to work effectively with others?
How do we build trust in an increasingly complex world?
These questions are not about technology. In this moment of reflection, we are interrogating our own humanity.
In recent years, surveys of employers have consistently reported that communication, collaboration, adaptability, judgment, initiative, and problem-solving are among the most valuable qualities they seek. At the same time, concerns about civic engagement, institutional trust, loneliness, social fragmentation, and workforce readiness continue to grow. Viewed together, these trends suggest something interesting.
The future may place greater value on capabilities that are difficult to automate. Technical skills, research acumen, and innovation will all remain important. But increasingly, success may depend upon the ability to exercise judgment, navigate ambiguity, communicate effectively, build relationships, accept responsibility, and contribute to organizations and communities.
These are not new challenges. In fact, they are among the oldest challenges societies have faced.
For generations, families, schools, universities, employers, civic organizations, religious institutions, and communities all played a role in helping people develop these capabilities. They taught knowledge, certainly, but they also helped shape habits, expectations, responsibilities, and values. The question facing institutions today is not whether technology will continue to advance. (It will.) The question is whether our institutions are adapting with equal attention to the development of the human capabilities that technology cannot easily replace.
That question may be particularly important for universities.
For much of the twentieth century, higher education focused heavily on transmitting knowledge and developing expertise. Those missions remain essential. Yet universities also perform another function that is often discussed less frequently. They help shape people.
Students arrive with potential. They leave with degrees. It is on the journey from orientation to commencement that the value of higher education reveals itself.
Ideally, they also leave having developed better judgment, stronger communication skills, greater confidence, professional networks, leadership experience, and a deeper understanding of their responsibilities to others. Those outcomes are difficult to measure. They may also become increasingly valuable. For Penn State and communities such as Happy Valley, this raises a strategic question.
As technology continues to transform how information is created, distributed, and consumed, which aspects of education, community, and citizenship become more important rather than less?
That question will guide this series.
In the coming weeks, we will examine the role of character in American life, explore how technology may influence character development, consider the responsibilities of schools and universities, and ask how communities themselves can become environments that help develop capable citizens.
The future will undoubtedly be shaped by technology. Whether it is shaped wisely may depend upon the people who use it.
