• The grant recipients will introduce themselves and discuss their proposals on Feb. 7th, 2007, noon to 1:50. All members of the campus community are invited.
  
  
  
  January 31, 2007
  ETHICS GRANT RECIPIENTS, WINTER '07
  
  Prof. Brendan Burns (Computer Science)
  Prof. Jeffrey Corbin (Biology)
  Prof. anupama jain (English)
  Prof. Michael Rudko (Engineering)
  Prof. Jordan Smith (English)
  Prof. Kenji Tierney (Anthropology)
  
  
  January 2007
  THE LATEST FROM BOB BAKER:
  A CODE OF ETHICS FOR BIOETHICISTS
  

  
  
  
  • For the past year, Robert Baker, William D. Williams Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Rapaport Ethics Across the Curriculum, has served on the four-member ACES Committee (Advisory Committee on Ethics Standards) of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities. At the Society's national meeting in Denver this October, the ACES committee reported the results of an extensive survey of the membership and unanimously recommended that the Society draft a code of ethics for bioethicists. Baker, who has long advocated such a code, had organized a national conference on the ethics of bioethics, held at Union College (co-sponsored by Union Graduate College) in April 2005. His latest publication on the subject, "A History of Codes of Ethics for Bioethicists" will appear in March '07 in The Ethics of Bioethics: Mapping the Moral Landscape, edited by Lisa Eckenweiler and Felicia Cohen and published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

  
  
  January 2007
  FACULTY WORKSHOPS
  

  Everyday Ethics workshops coming up in January 2007:
  
  

  • January 10 (Wed.) 12:00-1:30 Everest Lounge, Bob Baker and Mike Mathias will lead a workshop on "Teaching Race and other 4-letter topics". Bring your questions! Lunch will be provided.
    
    
  • January 24 (Wed.) 12:00-1:30 Everest Lounge, Ethics Workshop with Bob Baker and faculty members who have taught Ethics segments in the Fall. They will share their experiences and offer advice to those who plan to join the Ethics Initiative in the semesters to come. Bring your questions! Lunch will be provided.

  
  
  November 17, 2007
  SECOND ROUND OF GRANT APPLICATIONS IS COMPLETE
  The Ethics across the Curriculum Initiative has once again received a number of exciting proposals for new Ethics segments, guest speakers, co-curricular activities, and travel. To review the proposals, the Initiative's Steering Committee will be hard at work over the break.

On May 16, over lunch, we held an Ethics Case Study Workshop to give faculty some of the basic tools they need to start incorporating ethics into their teaching. Mike Mathias gave a brief but informative introduction to the case study method and its significance, and Bob Baker provided discussion and exercises to demonstrate how the method would work in a classroom environment. All those present were split into groups and given an ethical dilemma to discuss for a few minutes. The discussion was lively; everyone participated.

The number and the quality of the questions that followed during the Q&A session let us know that the session had been a success. It became apparent that faculty members are very interested in teaching ethics. They do not need to be convinced it is important. They have practical, methodological concerns about how to do it. We made it clear that we stood ready to address these concerns on an individual basis, as well as in group setting during future workshops.

Each participant was also provided with a materials package about the case study method, with several examples and tips on how to pick cases appropriate to their field. Copies of these materials are available upon requestâ please contact Anastasia Pease, peasea@union.edu