CALL FOR ESSAYS AND CREATIVE WRITING PROJECTS

Undergraduate Ethics Symposium
DePauw University
April 3-5, 2008

PURPOSE
During the 2007-2008 academic year, DePauw University inaugurates The Prindle Institute for Ethics, which fosters interdisciplinary reflection on moral issues, including questions of justice and public policy, character, duty, and responsibility. The Undergraduate Ethics Symposium is 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
The Institute invites students to submit papers on topics that include, but are not limited to, issues about human rights, environmental ethics, media ethics, ethics of international relations, science research ethics, personal ethics, and ethics and religion. 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 twenty-five papers, whose authors will then be invited to the Institute for the three-day symposium, April 3-5, 2008. 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 (based upon $0.38 per mile for those traveling by car and up to $500 for airfare), lodging, and meal while on campus will be covered by the Institute.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER -- John K. Roth, Frederick Distinguished Visiting Professor of Ethics, DePauw University, author of Ethics During and After the Holocaust: In the Shadow of Birkenau.

VISITING SCHOLARS AND ARTIST

1. Noah Lemos, College of William and Mary -- scholar

2. Thomas Kasulis, The Ohio State University-- scholar

3. Janet Neipris, New York University Tisch School of the Arts -- creative writer

SUBMISSIONS - DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FEBRUARY 11, 2008
Submit works by February 1, 2008 to Martha Rainbolt, rainbolt@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. 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, 2008. For further information, please contact Martha Rainbolt, Coordinator; Prindle Institute for Ethics; 2961 W. 225 S. Co. Rd., DePauw University; Greencastle, IN 46135. You may also visit the Prindle Institute web site for a conference schedule and other information: http://prindleinstitute.depauw.edu.

SCHEDULE FOR UNDERGRADUATE ETHICS SYMPOSIUM,
April 3-5, 2008

Thursday:
Afternoon

 

Registration of students

7:30 p.m.
Prindle Auditorium

 

Plenary #1: Keynote lecture by John K. Roth, Frederick Distinguished Visiting Professor of Ethics, DePauw University: "The Failure(s) of Ethics." OPEN TO ALL

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

 

Seminar sessions with student writers

4:15 p.m.
Prindle Auditorium

 

Plenary #2: Lecture by Thomas Kasulis, The Ohio State University, "Responsiveness and Responsibility: Bringing a Japanese Perspective to Ethical Discussions." OPEN TO ALL

7:30 p.m.
Prindle Auditorium

 

Plenary #3: Lecture and Reading by Janet Neipris, New York University Tisch School for the Arts, "The Moral Responsibility of the Artist." OPEN TO ALL

Saturday morning:
10 a.m. - noon
Prindle Auditorium

 

Plenary #4: Discussion of themes, questions, and concerns raised by the students’ works at the Friday sessions, led by seminar leaders and attended by all students.

Saturday:
Noon - Lunch
Great Room
1 p.m. - Lecture
Prindle Auditorium

 

Plenary #5: Lecture by Noah Lemos, College of William and Mary, "Variety and the Good Life." OPEN TO ALL