2006 in Review

Privacy in Public

The Poynter Center, with support from OVPR, is hosting a series of four half-day workshops on the topic of Privacy and Technology. Deborah Johnson of the University of Virginia School of Engineering spoke September 21 on “Privacy in Public? Technology, Privacy, and Democracy.” Eden Medina from the IU School of Informatics gave the response. Helen Nissenbaum of New York University spoke October 26 of “Privacy and Information Technology: The Trouble with the Public/Private Dichotomy.” Barry Bull from the IU School of Education responded. For more information, see Privacy and Technology

Poynter Center Interdisciplinary Fellows

We are in our fourth year of the Interdisciplinary Fellows Program. The fellowship program aims to stimulate interdisciplinary inquiry into political and practical affairs by bringing together faculty from a variety of departments and schools on campus.

The 2005-06 topic was “Nature in the Scientific and Moral Imagination.” J. Baird Callicott of the University of North Texas spoke in the fall of 2005 on “Naturalizing the Boundary between Humanity and Nature.” Paul Lauritzen from John Carroll University spoke in the spring of 2006, on the topic of “Piercing the Veil of the Familiar: ‘Nature,’ the new Grotesque, and the Bioethical Imagination.” The fellows presented results from their studies at a seminar October 21.

The topic for 2006-07 is “Memory: Ethics, Politics, Aesthetics.” The fellows include: Purnima Bose, Department of English and Director of the Cultural Studies Program; Maria Bucur, John V. Hill Chair in East European History and Acting Director of the Russian and East European Institute; Patrick Dove, Department of Spanish and Portuguese; Joseph Hoffmann, IU Bloomington School of Law; John L. Lucaites, Department of Communication and Culture; Lynn Struve, Departments of History and of East Asian Languages and Culture. Support continues to come from the IU School of Law and the Poynter Center. See Poynter Center Fellows for more details about the Fellows.

From the second seminar on “The Ethics and Politics of Childhood,” the Poynter Center published Gareth Matthews’ presentation, A Philosophy of Childhood, as well as Aviva Orenstein’s (IU School of Law) monograph, The Ethics of Child Custody Evaluation: Advocacy, Respect for Parents, and the Right to an Open Future. Richard Miller wrote the introductions. The monographs are available from the Poynter Center in print or online in PDF format at Publications.

Teaching Research Ethics

Kenneth D. Pimple, Director of Teaching Research Ethics Programs, directs the annual Teaching Research Ethics Workshop (TRE), with Glenda Murray serving as coordinator. The workshop, initially funded by a three-year grant from the U.S. Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, is now funded by university sponsors and registration fees. The thirteenth annual program was May 10-13 at the Indiana Memorial Union, with 37 participants from 26 institutions in 17 states and Switzerland. See TRE for further information.

Scientists and Subjects

This innovative, Web-based seminar on the ethics of research with human subjects was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Grant funding ended in 2005, and we offered the 2006 course through Poynter Center resources. Project director Kenneth D. Pimple offered the online course January 9-March 19, 2006. Fifteen people from 13 institutions in eight states and three countries successfully completed the program. See SAS for more information.

Lectures and Seminars

Matthew Vandivier Sims Lecture

When Matthew Vandivier Sims died in infancy, his family and their friends created a fund to open a discussion of issues in responsible communication among patients, families, professional care givers, and counselors or on issues in medical ethics and research. The Poynter Center coordinates the guest lecture each year for the Matthew Vandivier Sims Memorial Lecture. Ronald Green, from Dartmouth College, spoke February 23, on “Babies by Design? The Ethics of Gene Enhancement.” The lecture was audio-streamed by IU and is available at our web site, Publications. Professor Green and Damon Sims had lunch and discussion with students from the Hudson Honors College and Wells Scholars Program earlier in the day. More information about the Sims Lecture is at Sims Lecture.

Race and the Academy

The Poynter Center hosted a forum January 31 featuring three distinguished members of the IU faculty who discussed the role of race in their research and intellectual work. They identified opportunities and challenges that arise for scholars who study race relations historically, politically, and culturally.

The panelists were: Yvette Alex-Assensoh, an associate professor in the Political Science Department: John Nieto-Phillips, an associate professor of History and Latino Studies; and Ranu Samantrai, an associate professor in the department of English. Richard B. Miller, director of the Poynter Center and professor of Religious Studies, was the moderator. See the News Archive for more information.

Health Care Ethics Seminars

The Health Care Ethics Seminars provide interaction between the campus and the community. Byron Bangert, Research Associate, coordinated the series in 2006. The spring speakers included Jennifer Girod from IUPUI, Rebecca Ballard and Jason Eberl from IUPUI, and Robert Crouch from the Poynter Center. The fall presenters were Byron Bangert from the Poynter Center, Peter Schwartz from IUPUI, Rajih Haddawi from the Volunteers in Medicine program in Bloomington, and Jerry Jesseph, speaking about medical conflicts of interest and challenges.

Co-hosting other lectures

In February 2006 we hosted William Sullivan, from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, who spoke on “Professionalism Across the Professions: The Public Role of Professional Education.” He also participated in a lunch with the Wells Scholars and Hutton Honors College students.

Martin Marty, who was a guest at the Institute for Advanced Study, spoke to a group at the Poynter Center in February.

John Reeder from Brown University spoke in October on “Torture, Compassion, and the Exceptional Case.” His visit was co-sponsored by the departments of Philosophy and Religious Studies. In addition to the public presentation, Professor Reeder met with a group from Religious Studies.

The Ethics, Philosophy and Politics group meets monthly at the Poynter Center. The group includes a number of Poynter Center staff and students and faculty from Religious Studies and Philosophy.

Other Events

Ethics Bowl

The Indiana University Poynter Center Ethics Bowl Team competed in the Twelfth Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl March 2 in Jacksonville, Florida. The competition is held each year in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. The day-long competition is held as a method of involving students in viewing difficult situations from a variety of ethical perspectives. The competition is presented by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics and the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

The team included five members: Amy Payne, a junior in Psychology; Megan Robb, a sophomore in English, Philosophy, and India Studies; Neil Shah, a freshman in Mathematics, Finance, and Accounting; Laura Williams, a senior in Journalism and Political Science; and Emma Young, a sophomore in Classical Studies and Religious Studies. The coach was Mark Wilson, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Religious Studies. The faculty advisor was Richard Miller, director of the Poynter Center and professor of Religious Studies.

In 2006-07 the national competition instituted a regional system. We selected the Ethics Bowl team in the fall so they could compete November 11 in Indianapolis. They did well in the regional and will represent IU in Cincinnati February 22. The team is: Khalil AbuGharbieh, a senior in Political Science, Religious Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Culture; Emily Crouch, a senior in Religious Studies and the Liberal Arts and Management Program; Ryan Funk, a senior in Political Science and Religious Studies; Neil Shah, a sophomore in Mathematics, Finance, and Accounting; and Emma Young, a junior in Classical Studies and Religious Studies. Richard B. Miller, Director of the Poynter Center and Professor of Religious Studies, is the faculty director. Mark Wilson, a doctoral candidate in Religious Studies, is coaching the team. For more information, see Ethics Bowl for more information.

Science and Public Life

In October the Poynter Center released a White Paper, Intelligent Design, Science Education, and Public Reason, written by Robert Crouch, a research assistant at the Poynter Center; Richard Miller, director; and Lisa Sideris, a faculty member in Religious Studies. The White Paper is the product of over a year’s collaboration bringing together Poynter Center staff and faculty at Indiana University in the sciences, education, and the humanities. The paper stakes out basic scientific, theological, educational, judicial, and public policy dimensions to recent efforts to include “intelligent design theory” in science teaching and to remove evolution theory from science curricula. The White Paper is available at our web site.

Undergraduate Research Stipend Program

In 2006 the Poynter Center launched a program to offer up to $200 in research stipend to undergraduates who were addressing theoretical and applied ethics in coursework. Our first recipient was James Conant, who was a senior in political science and philosophy. In the second year of the program we have three students who are researching projects and who will present their findings at the Poynter Center in the spring of 2007. For more information on the program, see Research Stipends.

Ewha Womans University of Korea

In the fall of 2006 representatives of IU and the Poynter Center signed an agreement of friendship and cooperation with the Ewha Institute for Law and Bioethics at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea. Mr. Soo-Hun Park, who was a visiting scholar at the IUB School of Law, initiated the discussions.

Center on Philanthropy

The Poynter Center hosted the graduation lunch for the IUB Center on Philanthropy students and the American Humanics students on April 27. For more information on the Center on Philanthropy, see the IU Center on Philanthropy.

The Association for Practical and Professional Ethics

The Poynter Center and the Association continued their close association.  Membership in the Association at the end of the last membership year was 775, including 121 institutional members. APPE published two issues of its newsletter, Ethically Speaking, in 2006. See APPE for more information.

For what's happening in 2007, see Announcements and Public Events 2007.