The SHU Ethics Bowl Team competed in the Upper Midwest Regional Ethics Bowl competition this past Saturday, Nov. 18th, at Oakland University, against 24 other teams from colleges and universities around the Midwest. Competing team members included Gabby Beveridge (captain), Krysten Schultz, and Kendrick Green. The team discussed and debated difficult real-world ethical issues throughout the day, winning two of their four matches. This is the second time Siena Heights has competed in the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. Congratulations to our team on an excellent competition!

Dr. Kling presented her paper "Who's Responsible for Refugee Justice?" at the 10th Annual Rocky Mountain Ethics (RoME) Congress this August in Boulder, Colorado. RoME is an international conference geared to offer the highest quality, highest altitude discussion of ethics, broadly conceived.

Dr. Kling is pleased to announce that she's under contract with Lexington Books to write a book about the philosophical issues concerning modern warfare and refugees. The book, tentatively titled War Refugees: Risk, Justice, and Moral Responsibility, is slated to be published in 2018.

Siena Heights’ Ethics Bowl team traveled to Utah this past weekend, and competed in the 2017 National Bioethics Bowl Competition. The students on the team are Justin Lempicki (captain), Laura Lattson, Gabby Beveridge, Jordan Ray, Marty Giannola, and Ravin France. In the Bioethics Bowl, teams of students are asked to constructively debate, with the goal of arriving at ethical solutions to complicated real-world bioethics problems. The teams are judged on their ability to make a clear, coherent, ethical argument, on how well their discussion takes into account the point of view of people who might disagree with them, and on how well their manner and presentation are conducive to having a constructive debate.

Our students did very well; they won one round and lost two rounds, and were commended by the judges for their collegiality and thoughtfulness. Several judges and coaches, not to mention other teams, could not believe that this was only our team’s second competition ever! (SHU’s first Ethics Bowl outing was in December 2016, to the Ethics Bowl Regional in Chicago.) We did not make the semi-finals in this year’s competition, but finished in the middle of the pack—9th out of 15 teams from across the country. Congratulations to this year's Ethics Bowl team!

The Brindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University has published 2 of Professor Kling's philosophy talks on YouTube. The first is an introductory talk (designed for people with no background in philosophy) and the second is a research talk (designed for those with a background in philosophy). You can view Professor Kling's talks here:

Siena Heights has created its first institute: the Ethnic & Gender Studies Institute, which will be directed by Associate Professor of English Julie Barst. It will build upon our current EGS minor program of study, and work closely in partnership with Sharese Mathis in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, various student groups, and the Adrian community. 
 
The Institute will serve students, faculty, and staff in an interdisciplinary fashion by further helping our community explore the ways that race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality are constructed within society and influence our lives in powerful ways. It will highlight the strong dedication of both Siena Heights University and the Adrian Dominican Sisters to fighting for social justice, spreading education and awareness to all members of our communities, and combatting discrimination in numerous forms. And it will bolster Siena’s mission “to assist people to become more competent, purposeful, and ethical through a teaching and learning environment which respects the dignity of all.” 
 
The Institute will also offer a film and speaker series and expand educational opportunities in numerous curricular areas. If you have questions or would like further information, please contact Julie at jbarst@sienaheights.edu.

Siena Heights University and Adrian College have partnered to organize and host the first annual Great Lakes Philosophy Conference at Siena Heights University in the spring of 2017. The conference will be open to undergraduates, graduate students, and professional philosophers. More news to be posted soon!