March 01, 2003
New for Spring 2003: Ethics minor for Emory College
Recently approved by the College Curriculum Committee, an Ethics Minor is now available for Emory College students majoring in anything from business to biology.
For years, a small but significant number of Emory College students expressed interest in a major or minor in ethics. Students could search for ethics courses offered occasionally across various departments or participate in a co-curricular ethics program such as Science & Society or Ethics and Servant Leadership.
But no organized program existed for students who wished to focus their academic interests in ethics as a complement to their pre-professional major.
Ethics and Servant Leadership director Melissa Snarr investigated academic ethics programs for undergraduates at peer universities. Joined by Science & Society director Arri Eisen, she initiated meetings in Spring 2001 with the philosophy department’s Nicholas Fotion and Pamela Hall to discuss possibilities for an interdisciplinary Emory Ethics Minor. Several faculty from across the College who currently teach ethics courses added their support.
Students may graduate with the minor as early as Spring 2003.
Students pursuing the Ethics Minor must complete five courses in ethics. One course must be “Introduction to Ethics” (PHIL 115). The remaining courses may be chosen from fourteen existing College courses ranging from “Business Ethics” to “Religion and Ecology.”
Snarr, a religion department lecturer, will coordinate publicity and faculty development for the minor from the Center for Ethics, where she directs the Ethics and Servant Leadership program. Advisement of students enrolled in the minor will likely be shared by Snarr and Fotion. Snarr anticipates ten students participating the first year, with interest expanding as word spreads.
Meetings will be held each semester for participating faculty and students, and it is hoped that course development grants will eventually be available for additional courses for the minor.
Only two other top research universities offer interdisciplinary undergraduate programs in ethics. Yale offers “Ethics, Politics, and Economics” as a major, and Stanford offers “Ethics in Society” as a course concentration.
At Emory the Ethics Minor will join Violence Studies as a multi-departmental minor designed as a complement to—not a substitute for—a student’s preparation for graduates professional studies in anything from law to medicine to business. The minor also complements several co-curricular programs available to undergraduates, including Theory Practice Learning, Science & Society, and Ethics and Servant Leadership.
In a related item, the Center for Ethics recently initiated preliminary discussion for development of a graduate professional program in bioethics.
For further information about the Ethics Minor, please contact Melissa Snarr at (404) 727-1240. For more information about the Center for Ethics, please contact Chance Hunter, assistant director for communications and events, at (404) 727-1179.
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