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New committee formed on interdisciplinary study of ethics and policy

10:31 a.m., Sept. 29, 2003--A new program planning committee on the interdisciplinary study of ethics and policy has been formed, UD Provost Daniel Rich has announced. Rich made the announcement at the Sept. 17 University Faculty Forum featuring Arthur Caplan, bio-ethicist and director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Caplan was the first in what will be a series of lecturers on ethics, bioethics and policy sponsored by the Office of the Provost.

“This new committee was established in response to faculty and student interest in the interdisciplinary study of ethics and policy,” Rich said. “The interest on campus reflects a growing recognition of the importance of ethical and policy issues that cut across many disciplines and that are often the byproducts of new knowledge and its applications.

“Many faculty already are addressing these issues in their courses and in their research. The new committee will consider how best to support and coordinate existing initiatives. It also will identify new program opportunities that should be pursued,” Rich said.

The 12-member panel, chaired by Frederick Adams, chairperson of the Department of Philosophy, and co-chaired by David Weir, director of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI) and Gary Weaver, associate professor or business administration, includes:

  • Mary C. Farach-Carson, professor of biological sciences;
  • Kathryn G. Denhardt, associate professor of urban affairs and public policy;
  • Prasad S. Dhurjati, professor of chemical engineering;
  • Lesa Griffiths, professor of animal and food sciences and director of the Center for International Studies;
  • Evelyn Hayes, professor of nursing;
  • Willett Kempton, associate professor of marine policy;
  • Rivers Singleton Jr., associate professor of biological sciences;
  • Brian Little, vice president for academic affairs, Christiana Care Health System; and
  • Tony Digenakis, director of technology, Delaware Technical and Community College.

    Adams said student and faculty interest in questions of ethics in almost every discipline prompted Rich to call a meeting of faculty and other interested parties in April 2002. Forty faculty members attended the meeting and expressed an interest in teaching ethics and policy courses, Adams said

    Last fall, deans were asked to query their faculty about how many were teaching ethics as part of their course. They learned that more than 100 faculty were. In addition, Christiana Care expressed an interest in having University faculty hold workshops for its staff on medical ethics issues.

    The first step taken by the committee was to endorse the hiring of Mark Greene, then a postdoctoral fellow at the Phoebe R. Berman Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins University. He has joined UD’s philosophy department faculty and is teaching a new bioethics course this semester and in the spring.

    Adams said if there is widespread faculty interest in ethics and policy courses, there is a possibility that an interdisciplinary program could be formed.

    This month, the committee invited Caplin to kick off the ethics and policy lecture series.

    Rich said the committee will consider expanded and coordinated instructional programs, new undergraduate and graduate courses, new undergraduate and graduate research opportunities and professional and community education programs that partner with organizations such as Christiana Care and state agencies.

    “Over the longer term, we may submit a proposal to the National Science Foundation for the development of a nationally supported center at UD that will be administratively linked to DBI,” Rich said.

    Adams said the panel has several goals for next year:

  • To compile a list of teachers and instructors in Delaware who are teaching ethics to share with committee members;
  • To continue the lecture series on ethics and policy;
  • To plan an international conference with refereed papers on ethics and policy to be held at UD in October 2004;
  • To create a body of faculty versed in medical ethics that can partner with Christiana Care in advising medical staff on these issues.

    Article by Barbara Garrison

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