Moti Nissani, Associate Professor/ Genetics, Campaign Financing, Environmental Science & Politics, Greenhouse Effect, English, Media Studies, Cold War History, Critical Thinking, Philosophy, Cognitive Psychology, Teeth Clenching & Grinding, Interdisciplinarity / aa1674@wayne.edu

Homepage: www.is.wayne.edu/mnissani/

Home Telephone.: 248.427.1957

Home Address: 28645 Briar Hill Dr., Farmington Hills, MI 48336

Moti Nissani holds degrees in genetics, philosophy, and psychology.   He left genetics in 1980, not wishing to carry out recombinant DNA research. Since then, his research and teaching defy specialization, involving such diverse fields as history, politics, media, science education, history of science, the greenhouse effect, and medicine. During the 1995-96 academic year, he served as a Fulbright Scholar at Tribhuvan University, Nepal and in 2000 served as an advisor to that university’s honors program. He also authored Lives in the Balance: The Cold War and American Politics, 1945-1991 (Hollowbrook Publishing, 1992).  He has been very active in exploring web site development and in incorporating new technology into his teaching.

In 1932, the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gassett wrote:  "Previously, men could be divided simply into the learned and the ignorant, those more or less the one, and those more or less the other. But your specialist cannot be brought in under either of these two categories. He is not learned, for he is formally ignorant of all that does not enter into his specialty; but neither is he ignorant, because he is 'a scientist,' and 'knows' very well his own tiny portion of the universe. We shall have to say that he is a learned ignoramus, which is a very serious matter, as it implies that he is a person who is ignorant, not in the fashion of the ignorant man, but with all the petulance of one who is learned in his own special line." 

Looking back, I realize now that I've been trying to avoid this modern curse of specialization all my life.  That's one reason why I don't have a fixed discipline, a steady set of courses which I teach over and over again, one country or religion that I prefer to all others, or, even, a lifelong hobby.  I move from one discipline to another; from one course, country, or hobby, to another.  The  may be one of the few places on earth where they let people wander like that--and still write them a paycheck!

To find out more about my writings, research, teaching, and current interests, please visit me at www.is.wayne.edu/mnissani/