In just its second year competing in the Bioethics Bowl, UP’s team won the national competition. Dr. McShane, Philosophy, is the coach of the McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl and Bioethics Bowl teams at UP.
This year’s competition was held on April 8 at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. The competition drew 17 teams from around the country to debate a wide array of bioethical issues, including the ethics of international vaccine programs, clinical weight management, complex end-of-life care in the absence of surrogate decision-makers, and HIV disclosure policies.
The team went 5-0 in the competition, defeating University of Miami, Macalester College, Weber State, University of Alabama Birmingham, and, in the finals, Georgetown University.
This year’s Bioethics Bowl was coached by Paddy McShane, Assistant Professor of Philosophy. Debate team members represent wide variety of disciplines:
Elisa Reverman (’17)–Team Captain– Biology major, Chemistry and Philosophy minors
Savannah Collas (’17), Biology major
Carolyn Lutzenhiser (’17), French Studies and Sociology majors
Owen Price (’19), Philosophy and Math majors, Computer Science minor
Kit Tobin (’19), Nursing major, Theology minor
Morgan Wilhelmi (’19), Biology major, Philosophy minor, also helped the debate team prepare for competition.
During competition the team did an excellent job of doing philosophy and of representing UP; they were models of collegiality, intellectual rigor, and moral sensitivity.
