Center for Ethics Announces Spring 2022 Schedule

"Pandemic: Response, Resilience, Reflection" continues to explore the ethical questions and challenges that have arisen or have been exacerbated by the continued impact of COVID-19.

 Thursday, January 27, 2022 09:35 AM

Pandemic CFE Logo

"Pandemic: Response, Resilience, Reflection" explores some of the ethical questions that arise when we pause to think about the global pandemic including: What lessons can be learned from the scientific collaboration on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines? From receiving a vaccine to wearing masks, how has the pandemic exposed the limits and obligations of individual and collective ethical behavior? How should we respond to the ways in which the pandemic has had disparate impacts based on race and class? How do we think about the rationing of care when health systems get overwhelmed?

Spring 2022 Event Schedule

Mohsin Hamid
Event postponed due to COVID-19

 

Artists Quarantining with Their Work
November 17 – February 3, 2022
Martin Art Gallery Exhibit

Artists Quarantine With Their Art Collections began as a series of articles Stephen organized and edited for the arts journal Hyperallergic.com. The project looks at the ways global cataclysm can reshape meaning in artworks that predate it, and how the experience of a specific collective hardship can influence the significance we extract from (or project onto) artworks—even those we thought we knew well. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, Stephen asked his fellow artists: In the context of rampant disease, do you look at your personal collection differently now and which works in particular? Is there one that especially resonates with you at this weird, frightening moment? And does it take on new meaning?

The panel discussion, scheduled to be moderated by guest curator, Stephen Maine, was canceled due to COVID-19.

 

Documentary 5B Discussion with the Film Producers
Friday, February 25, 2022, at 2 p.m.
Zoom information to follow

5B is the inspirational story of everyday heroes, nurses and caregivers who took extraordinary action to comfort, protect and care for the patients of the first AIDS ward unit in the United States. 5B is stirringly told through first-person testimony of these nurses and caregivers who built Ward 5B in 1983 at San Francisco General Hospital, their patients, loved ones and staff who volunteered to create care practices based in humanity and holistic well-being during a time of great uncertainty. The result is an uplifting yet candid and bittersweet monument to a pivotal moment in American history and a celebration of quiet heroes, nurses and caregivers worthy of renewed recognition.

In advance of the discussion with filmmakers, the film can be viewed online.

 

Art Caplan Lecture
Wednesday, March 23, 2022, at 7 p.m.
Zoom webinar

Art Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City. Prior to coming to NYU, Caplan was the Sidney D. Caplan Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, where he created the Center for Bioethics and the Department of Medical Ethics. He has also taught at the University of Minnesota, where he founded the Center for Biomedical Ethics; the University of Pittsburgh; and Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he is co-directing an advisory group on sports and recreation for the US Conference of Mayors, created a working group on coronavirus vaccine challenge studies, developed an ethical framework for distributing drugs and vaccines for J&J and helped develop rationing policies for NYU Langone Health and many other health systems. He is a member of the WHO advisory committee on COVID-19, ethics and experimental drugs/vaccines, and he helped set policy for WIRB/WCG for research studies.

 

Forum on Women’s Leadership During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Tuesday, April 12, 2022, at 7 p.m.
Miller Forum, Moyer Hall

This event will feature a talk by Barbara Crossette ’63 based on her Ms. Magazine article on the topic and a panel discussion hosted by Muhlenberg College President Kathleen Harring. This event is co-sponsored by the Office of the President.

 

Dana Senior Forum
April 20 – 21, 2022 
Time, location and format to be determined

 

About the Muhlenberg College Center for Ethics

The Muhlenberg College Center for Ethics seeks to develop our capacities for ethical reflection, moral leadership and responsible action by engaging community members in scholarly dialogue, intellectual analysis and self-examination about contested ethical issues. Through thematic lectures and events, the Center for Ethics serves the teaching and study of the liberal arts at Muhlenberg College by providing opportunities for intensive conversation and thinking about the ethical dimensions of contemporary philosophical, political, economic, social, cultural and scientific issues. In service to its mission, the Center for Ethics hosts special events and programs, provides faculty development opportunities and provides support for student programming.

The 2021-2022 program directors are Chrysan Cronin, assistant professor of public health, and Lindsey Nagy, associate professor of economics. The director of the Center for Ethics is Brian Mello, associate professor of political science.


Unless otherwise noted, events are free and open to the public. At the time of this article's publication, all attendees must wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status. Food and drink will not be provided, and external food and drink are not permitted. Should event or visitor policies change, descriptions and event locations (including streaming locations) will be added to this article.

About Muhlenberg College
Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is a highly selective, private liberal arts college offering baccalaureate and graduate programs. With an enrollment of nearly 2,000 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences; selected preprofessional programs, including accounting, business, education and public health; and progressive workforce-focused post-baccalaureate certificates and master’s degrees. Located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, approximately 90 miles west of New York City, Muhlenberg is a member of the Centennial Conference, competing in 23 varsity sports. Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.