History of the Program

On April 30th 2002, UD Provost Dan Rich called a meeting of interested faculty and staff to discuss “Issues of Ethics and Policy” at the University of Delaware. The purpose of the meeting was to determine if there was interest and opportunity to establish a program of activities on ethics, as we move forward into the new century. The university is creating new knowledge and technology at an accelerated rate across all seven colleges, but nowhere has there been a coordinated effort to discuss the implications of that new knowledge and technology for society.

Approximately 35 faculty members, chairs, and program directors turned out. All expressed deep interest in a program of activities coming into existence to address concerns of ethics and policy. At the time there were corporate scandals on Wall Street (Enron, Imclone, and Tyco), and, apparently false, news accounts of successful human cloning. So the setting was right for moving ahead, and the interest was there in the faculty.

In Provost Rich’s May 20th 2002 summary of the discussion, he emphasized that the meeting demonstrated:

• “… broad-based interest in these matters that extends far beyond the boundaries of particular disciplines, departments, and colleges.”
  
• “… significant sentiment in favor of launching some new interdisciplinary program initiatives.”
  
• “… that issues of bioethics, bio-policy, and bio-economics [among several other topics] are of serious concern to our academic community and to our community partners.”
  
• “… a desire to serve the needs of a number of constituencies: undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and the outside community, i.e. teachers, medical workers, legislators and policy-makers. In particular, there is a strong interest in pursuing efforts with Christiana Care and the State of Delaware.”
• “… possible program initiatives included: development of new undergraduate and graduate courses, professional development, training, and outreach programs to Christiana Care, among others.”
  
• “… that DBI should play a coordinating role for our program initiatives, since it is a university-wide institute with responsibilities and partnerships that extend far beyond the campus.”
  

The next step, leading to where we are now was a September 22nd 2002 memo from Provost Rich to the Deans of the seven Colleges of the University of Delaware asking for the following information from departments and units across all colleges:

• What type of instruction in ethics takes place in your units? Broadly conceived, this includes: environmental policy, research ethics, management ethics, business ethics, engineering ethics, bioethics, medical ethics, nursing ethics, and so on?
  
• Are there new areas where your units need to insert ethics into instruction or research or grant writing?
  
• Who from your units should be invited to the next meeting of a working group on ethics?
  
• How would you see your unit’s role in ethics instruction and/or research fitting into a larger UD initiative to coordinate activities in instruction and research?
  

The response was significant. Twenty departments and units across the university reported some form of ethics instruction underway. No fewer than 68 faculty across the university were named as engaging in ethics instruction or research in their classes and academic activities but, with little communication or co-operation, and no doubt duplication of effort.

Consequently, Provost Rich formed an Ethics Program Planning Group to look into the prospects for an Ethics Program housed at DBI and orchestrated through the University of Delaware.