The membership on this committee was selected by the Faculty Development Committee, from nominations submitted in response to an open invitation to all faculty members. These members were selected to provide wide-ranging expertise and multiple perspectives as they advise on the work of the Institute. Please contact any of these committee members if you have questions, comments or concerns.

Voting Members:

1.  Representative from arts or humanities -- Chris White, English
2.  from social sciences -- Brett O’Bannon, Political Science
3.  from natural sciences and math -- Sharon Crary, Chemistry and Biochemistry
4.  two members of philosophy department -- Marcia McKelligan
5.  and Jennifer Everett
6.  at-large member -- Paul Watt, Religious Studies and Asian Studies
7.  at-large member -- Sheryl Tremblay, Communication and Theatre
8.  Committee for Academic Policy and Planning representative -- Bruce Sanders, Librarian
9.  Frederick Visiting Professor of Ethics -- John Roth, academic year 07/08
10.  Coordinator of Ethics Institute (chair) -- Martha Rainbolt, English
11.  Robert Bottoms, President of the University

Non-Voting Members:

12. Fifth-Year Intern and Student Assistant -- Patricia McShane
13. Representative of Hartman House and Compton Center for Peace and Justice -- Sarah Ryan

The term of membership for this committee includes spring semester 2007 and the 2007-08 academic year. It serves as a sub-committee of the Faculty Development Committee and reports to the Committee on Academic Policy and Planning on curricular matters. The committee is composed of 14 persons and chaired by Martha Rainbolt.

Meeting Calendar:

During the 2007-08 academic year, the Advisory Committee will meet on the first and third Tuesdays of the month from 4:00 until 5:30. The committee will convene in 300 Julian Center until the Institute opens. Other meetings of the full committee or subcommittees will be scheduled as needed.

Statements of interest, submitted by faculty members, as part of the nomination process:

Brett O’Bannon, Assistant Professor of Political Science

My interests in questions ethical are myriad, as would be the case for anyone who teaches and researches in my fields (Political Science, development, conflict studies, women’s studies, etc.). I must confess, however, that I’ve often considered myself a rather poor ethicist! For too long my sympathies for the marginalized, the exploited and the voiceless have informed what I must say has been, at times, a rather unreflective approach to ethical reasoning. In short, if it was inconvenient, or cost me something, I felt it was probably the right thing for me to do! Not all that impressive, I concede.

Recently, however, because of my engagement with the continuing development crisis in Africa, and the abject failure of nearly every effort at its amelioration, I have begun to rethink my approach in this issue area. This has led me to take on what I think is one of the great ethical issues of our day - the aid relationship to the developing world. In a nutshell, the operative dictum ought to be Hippocratic: “do no harm.”

Sharon Crary, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

I have been interested in and dedicated to the ethics initiative here on campus since President Bottoms announced it at faculty meeting in the spring of 2005. In addition, I have been working to include ethics related material in my courses, for which I can offer the following examples:

  • references to relevant issues of social justice (related to public health) in my biochemistry classes
  • beginning my Biophysical Chemistry course (Chem. 440, a biochemistry major requirement) with a research ethics case study and a short discussion of the relevance of ethics in research
  • the incorporation of straightforward ethics-related case studies during the first lab period of Chem. 260 (Thermodynamics, Equilibrium, and Kinetics; a chem/biochem requirement and a prerequisite for pre-med students)

Marcia McKelligan, Professor of Philosophy

I have wide-ranging interests in ethics and a great deal of professional experience in the field. I have been teaching ethics courses at DePauw since 1977, including Ethical Theory, Ethics and Business, Leadership and Responsibility, and Moral Controversies. I am in the process of developing a course in biomedical ethics. I have done reviewing of texts in ethics and have published one book review on a collection of essays in ethics. I have been a member of the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics for many years and serve in some capacity (break-out leader, session chair) at their annual conference every year. I co-coach DePauw’s ethics bowl team. I am excited about exploring the ways in which the work of the Prindle Institute can contribute to the moral development of DePauw students.

Chris White, Assistant Professor of English

Issues of ethics have always been deeply important to me, both as a person and in my work as a playwrite an screenwriter. As a working artist in the committee, I hope to serve as a reminder that the arts are, and have always been, an effective and moving venue for exploring ethical matters. I also hope to add some perspective in regards to issues of freedom of artistic expression versus any sort of censorship (however well intended), as we should not confuse ethical examination with ethical prerogatives. Often the arts provide a lens through which to view this difference. Finally my own personal Buddhist practice gives me another unique perspective into issues of ethics, and I think is essential that diverse philosophies are represented in our discussion of ethics as we journey toward a more globalized DePauw.

Jen Everett, Assistant Professor of Philosophy

I have a broad background in ethics. I studied at University of Colorado Boulder for my PhD, concentrating my coursework in ethics, environmental ethics, and social philosophy, and was an affiliate of the Center for Values and Social Policy. In addition to meta-ethical and normative ethical theory, my research thus included a focus on various practical public controversies - e.g., affirmative action, welfare policy, reproductive rights, population policy, gay marriage, prostitution, environmental law, etc. Since graduating, my primary teaching responsibilities have included Ethics, Environmental Ethics, and Feminist Philosophy. My published research has mostly involved ethical issues involving nonhuman animals, but I have more recently begun to focus on the ethical responsibilities of higher education with respect to the sustainability of human civilization on the planet. This issue, of course, greatly overlaps with my professional service and teaching responsibilities. It has made me a passionate advocate of education for moral and civic responsibility, of service learning and experiential learning pedagogies, and of interdisciplinarity.

Sheryl Tremblay, Associate Professor of Communication and Theatre

I teach ethics as part of my focus on free expression and free press in my media courses, which include: upper level media courses, such as Media Law and International Media; the Media Fellows Honors Course for first year students; and the introductory media course, Media, Society, and Culture. I examine the First Amendment from a traditional Libertarian viewpoint. The First Amendment is a personal freedom and the key to an open society where no official orthodoxy should be established. As a member of the Department of Communication and Theatre with training in media studies and rhetoric, my goal is to provide students with strategies for effective participation in civic life. I teach media studies in a way that prepares students for life-long participation as productive and engaged citizens. I strive to create a climate where different opinions are given voice and consideration.

Paul Watt, Professor of Asian Studies

Many of the courses I teach in religious studies deal with ethical issues (the Intro to Religions course looks at a number of religions-- Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, among them-- from several perspectives including the ethical; the Buddhism course naturally has a significant ethical component since Buddhism sees ethics as part of its model of human development; and courses on Japanese religion I teach include discussion of the way the Japanese developed what is sometime called the core values of their society by drawing on several religious and cultural traditions). I have also published in the area of Buddhist ethics (e.g., in the work I’ve done on the 18th century Japanese Buddhist leader Jiun) and more broadly on Japanese ethics (in the writing I’ve done on the syncretic religious movement known as the Learning of the Heart). From a different perspective, I am interested in the way that the new Ethics Institute can frame discussions about ethics on campus in a global or international context, a context that fits well the university’s current emphasis on building an international learning community.

Bruce Sanders, Librarian WRO Associate Professor

My interest in being on this committee is based on the belief that the library and librarians will need to play a role in facilitating the teaching of ethics on campus. Librarians are well-schooled in the ethical issues surrounding privacy rights, copyright, and censorship, and we are often involved in ferreting out plagiarism on campus. The library will also need to be aware of curricular issues as they pertain to collection development. To that end, with a master’s degree in philosophy (though admittedly my coursework did not have an ethics emphasis), I may be the librarian best qualified to sit on the committee and look for ways the library can help in the process.