UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics

Join the Conversation: “Invisible Suffering: The Air We Share,” Feb. 6

clean-dirty-air-dt-150-copyPlease Join College of Arts and Sciences faculty and regional representatives for an interdisciplinary conversation on the topic of “Invisible Suffering: The Air We Share,” on Monday, February 6, 7 to 8:30 p.m., in the Pilot House bookstore. All are welcome to attend.

Presenters include College of Arts and Sciences dean Michael F. Andrews; Ted Eckmann, environmental studies; Mary Peveto, president of Neighbors for Clean Air; Alan Sprott, vice president of Vigor Industrial; and Norah Martin, philosophy. The conversation will feature:

  •   Vised from the perspectives of liberal arts, ethics, and environmental justice
  •   Short presentations to introduce main themes
  •   Student-led Q&A and open discussion’

Refreshment will be served following the event. Sponsored by the McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics.

UP Bioethics Bowl Team Competes at National Level

Staff and faculty portraits

The University’s inaugural Bioethics Bowl Team traveled recently to an intercollegiate competition, the National Bioethics Bowl, on April 8-10, at Case Western Reserve University. The team is a first step in extending an initiative of College of Arts and Sciences dean Michael Andrews in his role as McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics. In recent past years, the University held intramural ethics bowl events, but did not compete in intercollegiate competition.

Team members are Megan Berg, biology/ Spanish; Madeleine Boyle, philosophy/math; Emma Brooks, nursing; Savannah Collas, biology; Lucas Gushikuma, nursing; and Elisa Reverman, biology/chemistry/philosophy. Patricia McShane, philosophy, is coach of the team. Drawing on previous experience coaching successful teams at Georgetown (where she founded their Ethics Bowl program), she worked extensively with the students  to help them understand how to discuss the cases at the competition.

The UP team was the only one to go undefeated in the preliminary rounds, defeating University of Maryland Baltimore County, Ripon College, and San Jose State University, but fell to Macalaster College in the quarterfinals. Students debated a wide array of bioethical issues, including the ethics state-sponsored newborn bloodspot biobanks, medical deportation, neuroenhancement, postmortem genetic testing, and more. This year’s efforts and team travel were sponsored by the McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics, the Department of Philosophy, and the School of Nursing.

For more information contact Paddy McShane, philosophy, at 7282 or mcshanep@up.edu.

Free Screening of “Welcome To Unity,” Nov. 13

staff & faculty portraitsThe McNerney-Hanson Chair in Ethics will host a screening of the award-winning documentary, “Welcome to Unity,” on Thursday, November 13, at 6:15 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium. The screening is free and open to all.

“Welcome to Unity” is a story filmed by a group of exchange students and local American teens. The exchange students sink their teeth into rural Oregon, while becoming the stars of their high school football team, and simultaneously learn to live the ‘American Way’. It is described as “a coming of age documentary that embarks on a journey of friendship, learning, understanding, and tolerance. As a group of people become a global family, they beat the odds in transcending cultural boundaries, and moving past stereotypes.” The film won best documentary in two different categories at the Chicago Film Festival.

For more information, contact Norah Martin, philosophy, at martinn@up.edu.

McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl Showcase at UP

Staff and faculty portraitsThe second annual McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl Showcase was held on Saturday, April 5, according to College of Arts and Sciences dean Michael F. Andrews (pictured). The event was sponsored by Andrews, who also serves as the McNerney-Hanson University Endowed Chair in Ethics.

This year’s McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl highlighted the nationally acclaimed UP Speech and Debate Union, whose members explored two ethics issues in front of a packed audience at Mago Hunt Theater. One case study explored the relationship between ethics and technology in an examination of Google’s purported “driverless car.” The second case study explored the relationship between ethics, law, and science in an examination of whether bone marrow donors should be paid. Special thanks go out to Bohn Lattin and Brian Simmons, communication studies; Richard Askay and Andrew Eshleman, philosophy.

Unlike other ethics bowl competitions, the annual McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl Showcase reflects a particular UP emphasis on ethical formation of the whole person and the study and articulation of ethical theory and practice. The purpose of the Ethics Bowl is to encourage ethics education across the curriculum by exposing graduate and undergraduate students to a philosophically reflective, ethical style of thinking that allows them to apply an understanding of ethics to particular situations and issues.

For more information contact Andrews at 7760 or andrews@up.edu.

Philosophy Lecture Honoring Thompson Faller, April 15

faller copyAll faculty and staff are invited to a lecture honoring the career of Thompson Faller, philosophy, who will retire from his long, colorful career on The Bluff at the end of the spring semester. The lecture will be “The Use of Philosophical Principles in Modern Catholic Social Teaching” by Rev. Joseph W. Koterski, S.J., associate professor at Fordham University, on Tuesday, April 15, at 7 p.m., in the Bauccio Commons boardroom. A reception will follow, and no RSVP is required. Sponsors include the philosophy department, theology department, the McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics, and The Garaventa Center.

For more information contact Andrew Eshleman, philosophy, at 7317 or aseshleman@up.edu.

McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl

The first annual McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl was held on Saturday, April 20, according to CAS dean Michael Andrews. The event was sponsored by Andrews, who serves as the McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics, with additional support from the Dundon-Berchtold Ethics Grant. Two UP teams took part: one team of graduate students from Pamplin School of Business, and a second team of undergraduate students from the Speech and Debate Union. Special thanks go out to Bohn Lattin and Brian Simmons, communication studies; Richard Askay and Andrew Eshleman, philosophy; and Brian Adams, business administration.

Unlike other ethics bowl competitions, the McNerney-Hanson Ethics Bowl reflects a particular UP emphasis on ethical formation and the study and articulation of ethical theory and practice. The purpose is to expose graduate and undergraduate students to a philosophical kind of reflective, ethical thinking that allows them to apply an understanding of ethics to a particular situation or issue. For more information contact Andrews at 7760 or andrews@up.edu.