Students and faculty investigate ethics

By Kathryn Walters, Staff Writer walters14@up.edu

Every student at UP must take a course in ethics to graduate, but now, seven student-faculty partnerships have an opportunity to further investigate ethical issues with the Dundon-Berchtold Initiative in Applied Ethics this semester.

Michael Andrews, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, who is helping to oversee the initiative, said its mission is to bring ethics to multiple fields of study.

"What this program is attempting to do is infiltrate ethics to all areas of the curriculum so that students, faculty and alumni can begin to see that every decision we make has ethical implications," Andrews said. "It's about seeing that ethics is in the air we breathe at UP."

In addition to projects for undergraduate and graduate students involving reflection on ethical issues through seminars and retreats, the initiative also funds fellowships, where students and faculty investigate ethical issues unique to their disciplines. The initative, funded as a RISE campaign pledge of $500,000, was given to the University by Amy Dundon Berchtold and her husband, 1963 alumnus Jim Berchtold.

Seven students partnered with faculty to conduct research into how ethics applies to disciplines ranging from education and engineering to nursing and psychology.

Mark Poorman, executive vice president, selected the students, while the faculty members were chosen by both Poorman and Andrews.

"What we discovered was that the students themselves were already thinking about ethical theories, and one of the pieces that needed to be put into play was to engage faculty along those same lines," Andrews said.

Andrews anticipates that several of the projects will be presented at Founder's Day in April and even be used future publications, and for Admissions and University outreach.

Ultimately, Andrews said the hope is that the initiative will continue into future years, and that more students will have an opportunity to get involved.

"I would love to have a day where we have 200 student applications and we take 40 students, because those other students will want to apply again the next year and we could build interest," he said. "Students would see ethics not only in its value, but the opportunity to implement it in their own educational curriculum."

Ethics in Engineering

At first glance, engineering and ethics may not align, but junior Jordan Schiemer wants a better understanding of how the two are related, especially in the workplace.

"I just want some of those tools to make decisions someday," he said.

Along with engineering professor Tim Doughty, Schiemer has been investigating the implications of ethics within engineering.

Their project, "Ethical Resources for Engineers: What to do when you don't know what to do," delves into the ethical resources that are available to engineers in the workplace, and how to raise awareness of these resources.

"The ethics education that is typical for an engineering curriculum is fairly dry," Doughty said. "We're at a great university for strengthening these understandings."

As part of their project, Schiemer and Doughty have been contacting local technical and engineering businesses and recent UP engineering alums to inquire about ethical resources available to employees that find themselves in ethical dilemmas.

"Sometimes it's about time versus materials," Schiemer said. "Do you use the best materials possible, or do you get the job done quickly?"

When they are done interviewing, Schiemer and Doughty hope to present their findings to UP students so they can better understand what resources would be available to them in the work environment.

"There's an ethical code for engineers, but it's just basic stuff so I think it would be cool to get more information to draw that would be useful in the future," Schiemer said.

Ethics in Nursing

Molly Brown is not your typical senior.

At 32, she has already worked in behavioral health for 10 years, but she decided to return to school to get a nursing degree.

"I was ready to do something that felt more tangible and have skills that are more practical," she said.

Studying ethics, Brown has an even greater opportunity to enhance her learning experience.

"Having ethics infused into all these subjects is reflective about UP," she said. "It's about more than being an expert in your field."

Brown is partnered with nursing professor Lorretta Krautscheid on their project "Micro-Ethical Decisions in Clinical Practice Settings: A Qualitative Investigation of Student Nurse Experiences." The concept of their project is to investigate the ethical decision-making process student nurses must sometimes grapple with in their clinical training, like dealing with a patient's personal beliefs versus the medical procedure they might require.

"Our hope is to understand how that learning happens or doesn't happen so we can support students and improve their educational experience," Brown said.

In the end, Brown hopes that her research will be published, so that future nursing students can benefit from her findings.

"UP is a leader in nursing and hopefully it becomes a piece in that," she said.

Ethics in Education

For senior elementary education major Cady Anderson, one of the biggest dilemmas in education is differentiation, or how to ensure that each student in a classroom has his or her individual needs met, while making sure the class moves forward as a whole.

"There is a growing recognition that every student has needs and everyone should learn, she said. "What lacks is resources and know-how in how to provide that, especially since class sizes are growing."

Anderson is partnered with Karen Eifler, professor of education. Their project, called "Ethics from the Teaching Trenches: A Principled Framework for Differentiated Instruction," confronts ethical issues that Anderson must deal with in her student teaching experiences, like differentiation, and tries to offer solutions.

"It's one thing to know the right answers in your head and it's something completely different and much more profound to make an ethical decision that's grounded in something," Eifler said.

Anderson said her ethical dilemmas in the classroom boil down to utilitarianism, where the good of the many is preferred over the good of the few.

"How do I create a positive learning experience for five students who are struggling and help the other 25 students at the same time," she said. "We don't have an answer for that question."

Anderson and Eifler's finished product for the fellowship, which they have been collaborating on since last semester, will be video vignettes where Anderson presents ethical problems in the field of education, and how she confronted them in her classroom with her students. The vignettes will be posted on Eifler's faculty website for her own students to learn from.

"What we would like to develop is a true north for teachers when it comes to ethical decisions," Eifler said.