The Western Michigan University Center for the Study of Ethics in Society creates interdisciplinary opportunities for the University and Community to engage in public reflection about ethical issues.
spring 2024 events
We hope you were able to join us for our ethics in society lecture series in Spring 2024. Check out our You Tube channel to catch up on events you missed or listen to them on our podcast, Life Is Better With Ethics.
Our book clubs for Spring 2024 have ended. Check back in the fall for our new Ethics Between the Lines series.
The Ethics Center held a National Science Foundation-funded conference on Feb. 25 in Cincinnati exploring privilege in STEM research and research ethics training in cooperation with the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. An outcome of the conference is to generate a toolkit of best practices for participants and others to begin to use in training on research ethics that would improve the scientific environment. Participants contributed ideas regarding: strategies for dismantling privilege associated with widely used metrics for success in research; leveraging learning communities for developing allyships and advocating for institutional change; and designing research ethics training modules that center privilege.
News
Students interested in representing WMU at the regional qualifier for the national Ethics Bowl championship should register for PHIL 3140 in Fall 2024. See flier.
The Ethics Center is co-sponsoring a workshop on journalism ethics with the Public Communication Department of the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.
Ethics Center Affiliates Dini Metro-Roland (with Dale Brown and Ann Miles) and Ashley Atkins have been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities grants.
Ethics Center advisory board member Kathy Purnell has been appointed to the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Board of Trustees.
The Ethics Center funded the Shirley Bach Memorial Prize for one medical student, Eli G. Schantz, and two Ph.D., students, Nicholas Freeman and C Dalrymple-Fraser, who participated in the 13th Annual Midwestern Medical Humanities Conference hosted by Western Michigan University's Medical Humanities Working Group in Fall 2023.
Ethics Center Director Sandra L. Borden was selected for a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award to Spain in 2023-24.
A memorial fund has been set up for the Ethics Center's former associate director and co-founder, Dr. Shirley Bach.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT STATEMENT
We would like to recognize that Western Michigan University is located on lands historically occupied by Ojibwe, Odawa, and Bodewadmi nations. Please take a moment to acknowledge and honor this ancestral land of the Three Fires Confederacy, the sacred lands of all indigenous peoples, and their continued presence.