Mission Statement

The Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions is dedicated to studying a broad range of ethical issues in American public life. Interdisciplinary in aim, the Center uses the full resources of Indiana University to initiate research and teaching across traditional academic boundaries.

The Poynter Center promotes moral deliberation about developments in science and technology, the provision of health care, the aims of higher education, the duties of corporate responsibility, and the challenges of democratic life and culture. Critical reflection about the meaning of rights, community, justice, diversity, power, and virtue provide the more general terms for much of the Center's inquiry.

The Poynter Center sponsors collaborative work among faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences and professional schools, along with members of the wider community. Initiatives include a publication series, national seminars, interdisciplinary faculty fellowships, teaching and research workshops, symposia with visiting lecturers, and seminars with local professionals. Focusing on theory and practice, the Center's strengths include work in bioethics; professional ethics; religion, culture, and society; research ethics; and teaching ethics in the sciences and humanities.