E-mail this pageActivities of Former Fellows
Former Fellows
The following individuals have served as fellows at the Institute. The summaries below are based on the work of each fellow at the time they completed their residency.
Spring 2007
Dr. Beth Dixon
Dr. Beth Dixon of the Philosophy Department explained that she pursed projects "that involved exploring ways to include community service activities in the philosophy department curriculum. Specifically, these included: Designing a new course titled, 'Community Service: Theory and Practice,' which requires at least 20 hours of community service activity; Proposing curriculum revisions for the philosophy department's study option, 0699 Ethics and Social Philosophy, locating a more prominent position in the curriculum for the community service practicum requirement; Drafting a brochure for students as a way of explaining and advertising the department's commitment to community service; Creating opportunities for philosophy students to practice doing philosophy with children at three local area schools (Oak St. Elementary, Stafford Middle School, and Saranac Elementary. Our philosophy students who have a major concentration in Ethics and Social Philosophy may satisfy their community service practicum requirement in these settings)."
Mr. Robert Harsh
Mr. Robert Harsh of the Educational Opportunity Program and Adjunct Instructor in Sociology was the first professional staff member to study at the Institute, he "focused his reading and writing on the economic distribution of higher education opportunity.... He examined current trends in college admission and financial aid practices that disadvantage poorer students, illustrating these dynamics in a paper reflecting on his experiences interviewing local applicants to a highly selective, elite university. He then revisited W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk (1903) as it relates to current discussions of multiculturalism, inclusion, and diversity, integrating his research with his professional experience in a paper--"Bringing Du Bois to the Diversity Conversation"--that he presented first at SUNY Plattsburgh and then at a tri-state conference of college opportunity program staff in April."
Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus
Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus of the History Department described her work at the Institute in these terms: "I spent a significant amount of time considering how to more deliberately encourage students to think about ethics and civic engagement in my upper-level courses on popular culture. I also appreciably advanced my book project, an examination of the depiction of housework and housewives in advertising, as well as a short paper on a related topic. I also believe that my own interests in popular culture and postmodernism played an important role in providing fodder for our discussions, particularly during our discussions about civic engagement and community in the twenty-first century."
Fall 2006
Dr. Rodney Cavanaugh
Dr. Rodney Cavanaugh of the Special Education Department. Dr. Cavanaugh who was a widely respected faculty member at the College and who was selected as a CASE Professor of the year in 1995, passed away in January of 2007 after a courageous battle with cancer.
Dr. Jin Kim
Dr. Jin Kim of the Communications Department indicated that he engaged in the following activities: "Reading for and attending weekly seminars on a series of ethical/moral principles that various human societies have developed and practiced. Developing a lengthy bibliography of reading materials and reading/note-taking in order to address the issues affecting the modes of civic discourse, as well as the character of civic society in America, as a result of various changes brought about by the adoption of new communication technologies by both individuals and institutions. Based on tentative conclusions that I have reached about some of those issues, I am scheduled to give a public lecture in July at the Plattsburgh Unitarian Universality Fellowship on Communitarian Values and Information Abundance. Also, in the fall 2007 semester, I am planning to make a presentation to the college community on generational gaps in information-seeking-&-consumption patterns in college classrooms. Developing course contents as well as philosophical foundations for a GE course, tentatively entitled as 'Information, Media & Civic Society.' This new course proposal will be submitted in the fall 2007 for the General Education category of 'Individual, Society and Responsibility.'
Dr. Margaret Morrow
Dr. Margaret Morrow of the Mathematics Department described her work in the following way: "My work at the Institute has provided me with the confidence to move ahead with finding ways to meaningfully incorporate issues related to societal and civic responsibility into a general education mathematics class. My period as a fellow allowed me to do the ground-work for designing a course in which mathematics is embedded in contexts that involve significant ethical issues. The course (MAT 133, Mathematics in Context) has been approved (including approval for general education purposes), and will be taught for the first time in fall 2007. I have ongoing work in designing instruction, activities and assignments in such a way as to encourage exploration of the ethical dimensions of the topics."
Spring 2006
Dr. Mark Cohen
Dr. Mark Cohen of the Anthropology Department completed substantial amounts of research and writing including a portion of each chapter of a book, Immortal Serpent: racial thinking and its effects on contemporary problems (proposed title) that will probably submitted to Oxford University Press. In addition he neared final editing on Prehistoric Health (a conference volume) for University Press of Florida; and wrote a chapter and edited a volume on the philosophy of the evolution creation debate intended for publication by Allyn Bacon.
Mr. Kim Hartshorn
Mr. Kim Hartshorn of the Theatre Department indicated that "My investigation focused upon the concept generally known as 'color-blind casting'. This concept, the idea that the race or ethnic origin of the actor was of no consequence in regards to the role depicted on the stage, has existed for many years. Essentially this involved the idea that, in simple terms, a black actor could play a character generally assumed to be white or, in a more convoluted form, an acceptable premise could be suggested to the audience as to why the character was black. Although 'color-blind casting' has been generally accepted as the ethically correct approach, in practice it tends to break down. Additionally, the support of 'color-blind casting' is not universal among black theatre professionals, most notably the playwright August Wilson. My suspicion, however, is that the basic premise has become more nuanced of late. My suspicion is that the issue of race and verisimilitude is easily conventionalized in the eyes of a modern audience. In other words, the race of the actor as well as the race of the character is simply not noticed. Serendipitously, I had the opportunity of testing this out in our spring production of Urinetown which featured a young African-American actor portraying an older rich man with a young daughter played by a young Caucasian woman...and nobody noticed any incongruity or desired any sort of explanation."
Dr. Jurgen Kleist
Dr. Jurgen Kleist of the Foreign Language and Literature Department devoted his time as fellow at the Institute to broaden his research in the field of "Inter-Cultural Communication" (ICC) which concerns itself with linguistic, political, ideological, philosophical, economic and ethical questions. Ethical behavior, he has come to realize, depends to a great extent on the economic situation of the agents of communication (Bertolt Brecht: "Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral."--"First comes food, then comes morality.") In addition, inter-cultural communication requires an understanding of the "mind-set" of the "other" which is constituted by education, traditions, culture, history, socio-economic conditions, etc. In order to investigate further into the "otherness" of agents of communication, he has planned a film symposium titled, "Terror, Torture, and the Trauma of War: The Abuse of Human Rights," to be held during 2007. Furthermore, Dr. Kleist plans a symposium during 2008, which will address the differences and similarities that exist between the western world and Islam, the so-called "Clash of Civilizations."
Fall 2005
Dr. Jon Gottschall
Dr. Jon Gottschall of the Political Science Department offered the following conclusion from his primary research concern: "In constitutionally entrenching its 25 year old Charter of Rights and Freedoms and authorizing judicial interpretation and enforcement of it, Canadians have drawn heavily on the over 200 year history of the United States. In doing so, however, Canadians sought to preserve basic aspects of its history of parliamentary supremacy so that an unelected Supreme Court would often not have the final word in constitutional meanings. In practice, however, Canadian Courts have embraced the American model of judicial supremacy in constitutional interpretation, and the Canadian Public and their elected representatives have largely acquiesced in this shift. This new judicial empowerment, however, has not been accompanied by the kinds of safeguards (i.e. Senatorial confirmation of federal judicial appointments) or by an evolved tradition of judicial restraint in constitutional interpretation. Canadian Courts, therefore also may not be able to provide the constitutional continuity from administration to administration which also characterizes the American system, and the Canadian constitution may therefore ultimately provide lesser security for fundamental rights."
Dr. Steve Mansfield
Dr. Steve Mansfield of the Psychology Department explained that "During my fellowship I explored the incidence of plagiarism in an Introductory Psychology course. In previous semesters I had accumulated 4835 written assignments from my Introductory Psychology course. I have compared each assignment word-by-word with the course textbook to find cases where students copied phrases from the textbook rather than using their own words. My research had indicated that a copied sequence longer than 18 words is unlikely to be an incidental match, and can be flagged as 'plagiarized.' Using this criterion, 22% of assignments contained plagiarized phrases. A closer analysis revealed that the incidence of plagiarism is higher when students write longer answers. This relationship can be explained by a simple Poisson model: If plagiarism occurs at a certain base rate then longer answers are more likely to contain plagiarism. This finding indicates that answer length needs to be considered when we assess plagiarism. For example, plagiarism was approximately 1.5 times more frequent when answering fact-based questions (e.g., "How did the researchers go about answering their research question?") than it was for opinion-based questions (e.g., "Describe and explain a strength or weakness of this study.") However when the answers are compared using a length-independent measure of plagiarism, this difference is less marked. The incidence of plagiarism increased during the semester from about 10% of assignments to over 30%. A length-independent measure of plagiarism shows that the time during the semester accounts for 56% of the variance in plagiarism. This trend was not found in sections of the course where the students were given feedback to prevent plagiarism. Overall, using an objective criterion for plagiarism I have found that plagiarism was more likely when students wrote long answers to fact-based questions. This type of plagiarism may be considered to be petty--after all, the students are not copying whole paragraphs into their work. However, the increase in plagiarism during the semester underlines the importance of detecting and dealing with petty plagiarism before it becomes a serious problem."
Dr. Heidi Schnackenberg
Dr. Heidi Schnackenberg of the Adolescence Education Department described that "I used my semester at the Institute for Ethics in Public Life to immerse myself in a new literature concerning ethics, technology, and non-American cultures. Overall, I read over 57 journal articles, from 2000-2005, in the International Review section of Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D). I had been interested in the ethical concerns involved with introducing or infusing technology into emerging countries or cultures. As the premiere journal in the field of educational technology, I thought that ETR&D would have articles which would give me the best sense of what was occurring in my field surrounding my issue of interest. As a starting point in my new line of research, I categorized the articles that I had read and analyzed what the trends in the literature were telling the educational technology community. I subsequently wrote a manuscript entitled "What is the Literature in ETR&D's International Review Telling Us About Educational Technology and the International Community in the New Millennium?" The manuscript is currently in submission to Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D). This new knowledge also enabled me to create a 3-credit, graduate-level elective course for education majors entitled, Ethical Issues in Educational Technology (EDU 558). As all the units in this course encompass various ethical issues in my field, I will have a wonderful opportunity to pass along what I've learned at the Institute to my students. This course will be offered for the first time in the summer of 2006. It is a fully distance-delivered course, facilitated via SUNY Plattsburgh's Angel Course Management System. I've also modified EDU 580, Foundations for Education, to include one unit addressing educational technology and ethical issues."
Spring 2005
Dr. Robert Cabin
Dr. Robert Cabin of the Biology Department explained that "Over the course of this fellowship I read a great deal of important and helpful literature outside my field that I never would have come across, let alone read, on my own. These readings, along with our formal and informal discussions of this literature, have greatly informed and deepened my thinking about ethics in public life in general and various specific bioethical and conservation issues. Over the course of this semester I also worked on my forthcoming book, Restoring Paradise: Rebuilding and Rethinking Nature in Hawaii and discussed an excerpt from this book with the greater Ethics Institute community. This discussion and my overall experience as a Fellow substantially deepened and enriched my research on and thinking about this project. Finally, I began working on a teaching module for incorporating discussions of ethical issues within my biology courses.
Dr. Lonnie Fairchild
Dr. Lonnie Fairchild of the Computer Science Department explained that as a fellow she "focused on finding ways to bring the consideration of social and ethical issues involving computer technology into the introductory computing courses that she regularly teaches. I was concerned with curriculum and pedagogy for improving the treatment of these concerns in a general education course, as well as in introducing them into an introductory course for majors where they had been given scant attention. The discussions at the Institute were a great source of constructive suggestions and valuable ideas, and I am working on revisions of both courses that will be implemented the next time that I teach them."
Dr. Jonathan Slater
Dr. Jonathan Slater of the Communication Department describes that: "There is a way of understanding ethics in America as related to the devices we use to sustain our various cultural narratives... Today, much of our story as a society is recounted and reinforced through outlets of mass communication, and the thousands of mediated messages we attend to every week often deliver a conflicting, incomplete and otherwise unclear vision of what it means to be ethical and act ethically... The mass media, by their very nature, make the serious examination and contemplation of virtue an impossibility. The mass media provide a virtually endless supply of trivia. And what is not already trivial easily becomes trivialized in today's media environment. The mass media are more than just a way of knowing about the world; they are a way of being in it. Unfortunately, a mass-mediated existence is seldom profound. With its emphasis on sensory (and sensual) rewards and gratifications, the mass media easily corrupt worthy ideas, supplant them with petty and cynical views of the world, and in the process undermine our capacities to make it a better place." Dr. Slater will incorporate these and other insights into his teaching of courses in "Mass Media and Society" and "Public Relations." He is also developing a proposal for a book elaborating on these themes.
Fall 2004
Dr. Tim Palkovic
Dr. Tim Palkovic of the Theatre Department described his work as a fellow by explaining that: "Using the model of the 'case study,' I revised and updated my teaching and performance idea called Small Town USA. This expansion of the role-play idea successfully focuses on characters in ethical crises. The role-play gives the impression, to the audience, of the performance of a play because of the focus on moral dilemmas grounded on the structured development of character. I have successfully demonstrated this role-play in demonstration classes in January 2005 at the NYSTEA, New York State Theatre Education Association Convention, as well as in my Spring 2005 Intro to Acting class at Plattsburgh State College."
Dr. Tracie Church-Guzzio
Dr. Tracie Church-Guzzio of the English Department explained: "I am interested in the ways in which African Americans responded (and continue to respond) ethically to slavery and to racism. My concept of a "blues ethic" develops out of this concern. In the midst of the cultural domination of slavery and white supremacy, African Americans established an expressive culture of music, poetry, dance, sermons, and satires that politically and spiritually engaged them, offered practical advice on surviving their situation, and argued for social justice and equality. A "blues ethic" not only investigates these characteristics historically, it also provides a code of conduct for the contemporary, multicultural world. The ethic is pro-active, communally-based, artistic, civically engaged, and mindful of history, while at the same time it embraces humanity in the face of evil, darkness, and despair, often with ironic, biting humor, but with grace and dignity. I can see the framework for such an ethic being useful not only in our classrooms but also in our local and global communities. Students really respond enthusiastically to African American expressive culture, but it has rarely been used (with the exception of the 1960s) for political and civic purposes in America at large."
Dr. William Teter
Dr. William Teter of the Computer Science Department focused his work at the Institute on the question of: "What role is possible and appropriate for a public liberal arts undergraduate institution to play in the development of civic and moral behavior of its students? This is the question that was central to my work while at the Institute. By civic and moral behavior I mean the actions (present and future) that are taken by our students as members of various public (i.e. outside family) communities -- the professional community in which one works, the local community in which one lives, and the political community, which one supports with taxes" and other political acts... I think the major obstacle to educating a wise citizenry is not the corporate control of media but a misunderstanding of the connection between science, world knowledge, beliefs, and behavior."
Spring 2004
Dr. Amy Mountcastle
Dr. Amy Mountcastle of the Anthropology Department Used her time as a Fellow at the Institute to further develop and focus the course she teaches on human rights--to more sharply define the goals and objectives for the course, devise an outline for the course, and establish contacts on and off campus to develop an experiential component of the course. She explained that "Through the process of rethinking, reading and discussing the course with colleagues, what has emerged as a primary personal goal for the course is that it facilitate and nurture in students and understanding of themselves as global citizens with obligations to their fellow human beings, both near and distant. The idea that human rights are possible to the extent that people are willing to safeguard those rights on behalf of others is, I believe, an important starting point for the course. Anthropology students must then learn how to intellectually and ethically negotiate the complicated terrain that arises in cross-cultural contexts." Her work at the Institute will culminate, in part, with a course and general education proposal that she expects to complete by the end of the Fall 2004 semester.
Dr. Mark Beatham
Dr. Mark Beatham of the Center for Educational Studies and Services investigated what he describes as a "field theory of ethics," as a way of expanding the social imagination. At the end of the semester he presented a paper on this theme to a conference in Mytilene, Greece, on "Nature, Science, and Social Movements." He also considered carefully many of the most fundamental questions about ethics in public life, specifically as they relate to education, and explored ways that they can be incorporated into modifications in the curriculum for education majors.
Dr. Gary Kroll
Dr. Gary Kroll of the History Department spent his time at the Institute engaged in a critical inquiry of something he calls "ecological civics."
"Ecological civics is a model of thought and practice that 1) challenges the domination of national sovereignty and advocates a more inclusive and global sense of citizenship, 2) acts on the understanding that environmental issues and social issues are intricately related, 3) fosters a historical understanding of justice, and 4) comes to all of the above through the act of genuinely listening to the concerns of the lesser-developed world and the American underclass."
The project is essentially the work of critical theory--identifying the core maladies of the modern world and providing solutions. The work has essentially involves researching environmental justice movements, critical ecological theory, social theory, cultural theory, and political science. The lion's share of his time was spent composing a manuscript that outlines the tenets, justifications, and overall purpose of ecological civics and relates them to teaching.
Fall 2003
Dr. Deborah Altamirano
Dr. Deborah Altamirano of the Anthropology Department pursued two projects while a fellow at the institute. The first involved expanding her background in anthropological ethics or "ethno-ethics" in order to enhance the ethics component of the research methods/AWR course--a required for anthropology majors- which she teaches. Second, she researched ethics in social movements. Specifically she sought materials on the codes of ethics espoused by and practiced by revolutionary movements. In the course of this research she looked at the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua, the Zapatistas in Mexico, Tito's Partisans, and writings on the ethics and politics of Che Guevara.
Dr. Shakuntala Rao
Dr. Shakuntala Rao of the Department of Communication revised both the format and the content of the course she teaches on mass media ethics (MSM/JOU 348 ) including in-depth study of various philosophers who have written about ethics. With particular assistance from Dr. Beth Dixon (Department of Philosophy, Plattsburgh State) she was able to integrate the philosophical works of Aristotle, John Stuart Mill, and Immanuel Kant into her lectures. She also developed a set of case studies from the media, which address specific moral and ethical dilemmas that media practitioners face on a daily basis. Additionally, she worked with Dr. Seow Ting Lee (Nanyang University, Singapore) on a paper titled, "Globalizing Media Ethics? An Ethnographic Assessment" which was presented at a prestigious colloquia (in April 2004) titled, "Media, Ethics, and Politics" at the School of Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia. This paper will be published in the Spring 2005 special issue of Journal of Mass Media Ethics. Finally she worked with Dr. Dixon in running a series of workshops on ethics for members of the local media.
Dr. James Rice
Dr. James Rice of the History Department sought the capacity to "acquire a facility with the conceptual tools that would make it possible to more firmly ground his teaching and writing about Indians in an ethical, rather than a political context." Accordingly, he spent the Fall 2003 semester at the Institute considering more fully the ethics of representing others, especially the Native Americans who feature so prominently in his writing and teaching. In addition to following the course of reading prescribed for the weekly seminar, he read Native-centered works on history, memory, and their contemporary uses. He also developed a new course on Native American history, strengthened his connections to local First Nations communities, and made presentations in Toronto; Alexandria, and Virginia, as well as presenting his research at a conference in Williamsburg, Virginia, and submitting an article for publication in a forthcoming University of North Carolina Press volume that will mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.
Fellows in Residence in Former Years
Spring 2003
Ms. Holly Heller-Ross
Ms. Holly Heller-Ross, of Library and Information Services Faculty, focused on ethical considerations in the acquisition and use of information, with a particular focus on the academic honesty issues of cheating and plagiarism. She reviewed the college's online plagiarism tutorials for inclusion in an introductory information and technology literacy course and revised the Library web guide: "Preventing and Detecting Plagiarism." she also collaborated on a conference session entitled "Turning the Tide of Plagiarism" for the SUNY Librarians Association Annual Conference in June of 2003.
Dr. Richard Schnell
Dr. Richard Schnell, of the Counselor Education Department, developed a graduate course, Ethics Case Studies for Mental Health Counselors, as well as the case studies for a proposed accompanying book. Based in part on his work as a fellow at the Institute, Dr. Schnell was selected as a member of the State Board for Mental Health Practitioners. Among other activities this board reviews ethical complaints.
Dr. Charles R. Simpson
Dr. Charles R. Simpson, of the Sociology Department, worked on issues of "Local Community and Ecological Sustainability." His objective has been "to re-conceptualize environmental preservation as part of a sustainable global matrix which avoids shifting resource extraction and waste disposal burdens to the politically weakest regions of the globe, and which respects the variety of culturally-shaped relationships which communities have forged with the landscapes around them."
Fall 2002
Dr. Anna Battigelli
Dr. Anna Battigelli, of the English Department, engaged in an intensive reading program to cultivate expertise in commentaries of Virgil's Aeneid and on Dryden's seventeenth-century translation of the Aeneid. The purpose of this reading program was to explore the ethical dimensions of ancient Greek and Roman texts so as to redesign English 295, "Ancient Myth and Modern Mythmaking" to emphasize the ethical complexity of these texts, as well as to include these insights in her future scholarly publications.
Dr. Sylvie Beaudreau
Dr. Sylvie Beaudreau, of the History Department, examined the construction of individual and collective identities and the meaning of citizenship in national and international contexts, and the challenge of multiculturalism. In the process of this analysis, she elaborated a general comparison of the divergent national "personalities" of the United States and Canada, with an attendant "ethical identity checklist" of these two nations, which she has been able to integrate into several of her courses.
Dr. Lynn Schlesinger
Dr. Lynn Schlesinger, of the Sociology Department, pursued three related projects. First, she focused on learning more about classical philosophical theories. Second, she explored ways in which teachers can better introduce students to ethical issues, and ways for teachers to address student concerns once such issues have been introduced. Finally, she is using her insights in her scholarship on women who live with chronic pain.
Spring 2002
Dr. Helen Deresky
Dr. Helen Deresky, of the Management Department, developed a comprehensive teaching module entitled Social Responsibility and Ethical Decision Making in International Business. This module will be made available with training to other faculty in the School of Business and Economics for use in their courses.
Ms. Diane Fine
Ms. Diane Fine, of the Art Department, pursued her work on the role of "gift" in art. She will integrate this unique perspective on ethics in art into her teaching in both art and women's studies courses as well as in her "gift project" which was an inspiring campus event in the spring of 2002 attracting almost 100 participants. This work will be reflected in a soon to be released set of prints.
Dr. Daphne Kutzer
Dr. Daphne Kutzer, of the English Department, undertook research on the ethical treatment of children in America, which she now incorporates this research into her course on Films for/about and Children. She is also developing a course on utopian literature to more fully focus on ethics, and she is refocusing her teaching in ENG 371 and ENG 260 to contain an emphasis more heavily influenced by ethics. She is now working on a book entitled Teaching the Buddha's Way: A Path to Compassion in the Classroom.
Fall 2001
Dr. Ellen Fitzpatrick
Dr. Ellen Fitzpatrick, of the Economics Department, developed a team-taught interdisciplinary course on International Environmental Policy. She is also revising ECO 311, "World Food, Population and Poverty" to include ethical considerations in each of these areas. She is also working on an article on Ethics in International Trade Agreements with Dr. Kate Joyce.
Dr. Bryan Higgins
Dr. Bryan Higgins, of the Geography Department, has incorporated ethics into three of his geography courses (GEG 317 , GEG 301 , and GEG 321 /MLS 544 .) He has developed active learning exercises on ecotourism and international development in ethics and developed bibliographic and website resources on Global Ethics and Environmental Justice.
Dr. Kate Joyce
Dr. Kate Joyce, of the Center for Earth and Environmental Science, is developing a new course on "International Environmental Law and Policy" for the general education program in collaboration with Dr. Ellen Fitzpatrick. Additionally, they are working together on an article on the Ethics in International Trade Agreements. She is also modifying her courses on Environmental Law, Environmental Policy and Environmental Science to include material on ethics
Spring 2001
Dr. Thomas Morrissey
Dr. Thomas Morrissey, of the English Department, used his time at the Institute to integrate and foreground ethics into his Science Fiction course ENG 339, which is a course in the Global Issues category of the General Education Program. He will also use the knowledge and insights from his work as a fellow to inform all teaching in all his courses.
Dr. Amy Bass
Dr. Amy Bass, of the History Department, worked on her manuscript entitled Not the Triumph but the Struggle (which was published in the summer of 2002) incorporating into that work her thinking about citizenship, the nation-state and the global community. In part, as an outgrowth of her work at the Institute, she would like to continue to design a course on citizenship and culture for the History Department.
Dr. Stewart Denenberg
Dr. Stewart Denenberg, of the Computer Science Department, now incorporates ethics in all of his courses, but particularly in his course Computer in Society. He also prepared an application and was selected as a participant in the MSF Program on "Teaching Computer Ethics."
Fall 2000
Dr. Vincent Carey
Dr. Vincent Carey, of the History Department, developed a new course on Genocide in History. He also prepared an NEH /Folger application on this topic, which received funding. As a result, he spent the 2001-2002 academic year on a prestigious fellowship at the Folger Library in Washington D.C. His work at the Folger led to his being asked to curate a major exhibit there entitled Voices for Tolerance In an Age of Persecution, which opened in June of 2004.
Dr. Richard Robbins
Dr. Richard Robbins, of the Anthropology Department, recast a second edition of his book "Global Problems in the Culture of Capitalism" by incorporating work on "The Creation of the Citizen/Activist." The book was selected for Choice's One Hundred Best Academic Books for the past year. This material has been incorporated into his course work. He also developed a paper entitled "Religious Intolerance and the Rights of Children" which was presented at the London School of Economics in April of 2001.
Dr. Jen Scanlon
Dr. Jen Scanlon, of the Women's Studies Program, used her time at the Institute to develop a seminar on "Gender, Film, and Consumer Culture," which has strong ethical implications and to develop expertise that informs her teaching in all her courses.
Spring 2000
Dr. Martin Lubin
Dr. Martin Lubin, of the Political Science Department, worked on the development of new courses on "Ethnic Politics" and "History of Political Ideas." He continued work on his book entitled "Democratic Government and Politics in Quebec." He also collaborated with Visiting Professor Dr. Henry Millner who completed his book Civic Literacy. During the semester, Dr. Millner also shared this research in draft form with students in seminars at the Institute.
Dr. Faten Moussa
Dr. Faten Moussa, of the Management department, developed a 100 page teaching module on Ethics in Business Management and prepared a new course on the same topic, which has now been approved for the General Education Program.
Fall 1998
Dr. Priscilla Myers
Dr. Priscilla Myers, of Education Department, developed a new course entitled "Teaching Culturally Responsive Arts" which is a course that responds to increasing diversity in classrooms and the ways in which educators must affirm, respect, and value this diversity.
Dr. Douglas Perez
Dr. Douglas Perez, of the Sociology Department, has modified his teaching in all of his courses to include ethics. This impacts most specially his course on Sociology of Policing, as well as ethics in Criminal Justice. Dr. Perez also completed a book entitled Police Ethics: A matter of Character, as well as an article for the journal Criminal Justice Ethics entitled "A Typology of Police Misconduct." He undertook this work with a coauthor Dr. J. Alan Moore who was also in residence at the Institute with Dr. Perez. Dr. Moore subsequently taught the course on Ethics in Criminal Justice for our Criminal Justice/Sociology Department.
Dr. Douglas Skopp
Dr. Douglas Skopp, of the History Department, modified the way he teaches Introduction to History, as well as his course on the Holocaust, as a result of his tenure as a fellow. Dr. Skopp also continued work on his book on Nazi Medical Doctors, which he is now completing. He has also continued to participate in the Guided Inquiry program at the Institute and has recently made a presentation (with Drs. Dixon and Moran) on this work at the national meeting of the Association for Applied and Professional Ethics.
Special Mention
Dr. Beth Dixon & Dr. John Yardan
The work of two other individuals should be noted in this section, despite the fact that they have not served formally as fellows at the Institute. But they have been very active participants at the Institute. The first is Dr. Beth Dixon, of the Philosophy Department, who has played a lead role in the Guided Inquiry Program and who completed a paper on the development of case studies in ethics, which was presented at the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum, and which has was published in journal Teaching Ethics. This paper is an important resource for the F.P.S.E. project. She has also presented her work at professional gatherings, including the earlier a presentation, with Drs. Moran and Skopp, at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Applied and Professional Ethics in 2004. Additionally, she led a project (in concert with Dr. Rao of the Communications Department) to run workshops on ethics for professionals working in the local the media. This work was supported by a grant from the Winkel Humanities Fund of the Plattsburgh State College Foundation, which she primarily authored. The second is Dr. John Yardan, of the Philosophy Department, who has been a faithful participant in seminars and meetings at the Institute, and who recently published a book entitled God and the Challenge of Evil.
Contact Information
If you would like more information about the Institute for Ethics in Public Life at Plattsburgh State, please contact
E. Thomas Moran, Ph.D., Director
University Distinguished Service Professor
Office: Hawkins Hall, Room 233
Phone: (518) 564-3018
Fax: (518) 564-3071
E-mail: moranet@plattsburgh.edu
Plattsburgh State
101 Broad St.
Plattsburgh, New York 12901