CALL FOR ESSAYS AND CREATIVE WRITING PROJECTS

Undergraduate Ethics Symposium
DePauw University
April 9-11, 2009

PURPOSE
During the 2007-2008 academic year, DePauw University inaugurated The Prindle Institute for Ethics, which fosters interdisciplinary reflection on moral issues, including questions of justice and public policy, character, duty, and responsibility. In this our second year, we will again host the Undergraduate Ethics Symposium, designed to encourage undergraduate scholarship and artistic work. This symposium is an outstanding opportunity for student scholars and creative writers to discuss their ethics-related work with leading scholars and creative writers in their fields and to participate in a significant discussion of ethical concerns. It is anticipated that the Institute will publish a Symposium volume, which, in addition to the presentations by the visiting guests, will include papers selected from works by the participants.

INVITATION
We especially encourage papers on two topics: Biomedical Ethics & Ethics and Race, but we welcome all texts addressing areas of ethical concern. Students may write an argumentative essay or an analysis focused on an ethical question or subject; or they may wish to explore ethical themes that are addressed in plays, poetry, film, or fiction. In addition, students may wish to explore these themes through fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry or dramatic writings. The Institute welcomes works centered on ethics from all disciplines, including the humanities and social sciences, but also the natural sciences and arts.

SELECTION PROCESS AND CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Consisting of DePauw University faculty members, the selection committee for the Undergraduate Ethics Symposium will identify up to thirty papers, whose authors will then be invited to the Institute for the three-day symposium, April 9-11, 2009. During the Symposium, these students will meet in seminars led by one of the distinguished visiting scholars or creative writers, who will not only present their work at the Symposium but also read the students’ works and facilitate discussion about them. The students’ travel (airfare or mileage at $.38 per mile up to $500), lodging, and meal while on campus will be covered by the Institute.

VISITING SCHOLARS AND ARTIST

1. David H. Smith, Director, Yale University's Interdisciplinary Bioethics Center -- scholar

2. Claudia Mills, Professor, University of Colorado -- scholar and creative writer

3. Ronald R. Sundstrom, University of San Francisco -- scholar

SUBMISSIONS
Submit works by February 1, 2009 to Linda Clute at prindleinstitute@depauw.edu. (N.B. Place your name and affiliation on a separate page, so that the works may be read anonymously.) Please note that all works must be submitted electronically, so that they may be transmitted easily to the faculty readers and other students. We would appreciate your submitting the work in Chicago style. Student essayists (both scholarly and creative non-fiction) and student fiction writers should submit work which does not exceed 3,500 words. Student poets should submit 5-10 poems; student playwrights should submit a ten-minute play; screenwriters should submit a ten-page screenplay. Students whose works are accepted for the Symposium will be notified by March 1, 2009. For further information, please contact Linda Clute, Assistant Director, Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University, P.O. Box 37,Greencastle, IN 46135.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE FOR UNDERGRADUATE ETHICS SYMPOSIUM,
April 9-11, 2009

Thursday:
Afternoon

 

Registration of students

7 p.m.
Prindle Auditorium

 

Guest Faculty Lecture by Ronald Sundstrom, Professor of Philosophy and Director of African American Studies, University of San Francisco
OPEN TO ALL

Friday:
9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

 

Seminar sessions with student writers

7 p.m.
Prindle Auditorium

 

Guest Faculty Lecture by David H. Smith, Director of Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, Yale University
OPEN TO ALL

Saturday:
9:45 a.m.
Prindle Auditorium

 

Guest Faculty Lecture by Claudia Mills, Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado
OPEN TO ALL

12:45 p.m.
Prindle Auditorium

 

Guest Faculty Panel; group discussion
OPEN TO ALL