Bioethics@

Volume 2, Issue 3

In The December 2000 Issue:

• Participants Sought for Bioethics Institute to Be Held in Ames
  • Introduction
  • Rationale
  • Objectives
  • Eligibility
  • Travel and development awards
  • Deadline
  • Application form
  • Additional information

Introduction

The Iowa State University Bioethics Institute is a unique, five-day workshop to assist faculty in the agricultural and environmental sciences in integrating discussions of ethics into their courses. The eighteenth in a series of Institutes that have been held around the world, this outstanding workshop will be hosted at ISU in Ames, Iowa, May 29 - June 2, 2001. Institute sessions are devoted to ethical theory, pedagogy, and policy, with particular attention to ethical issues in agricultural biotechnology

Rationale

Students in the life sciences face a variety of important ethical issues, including questions about the social implications of new techniques in food production and processing; whether the economic impact of new biotechnologies will be just; who should decide questions about the safety of genetically modified foods; the welfare and rights of animals; and our duties to the environment. Many faculty want to help their students address these questions, but few have the background, knowledge, or pedagogical skills to do so. The Bioethics Institute has helped more than 400 faculty members learn to lead discussions of ethical issues in all manner of food, agricultural, environmental, and animal science classes.

Objectives

The primary purpose of the Institute is to help participants learn to help their students analyze moral arguments. To accomplish this end, the Institute provides experience in evaluating arguments, understanding ethical theory and method, and using key moral concepts. Participants also work through case studies they may adopt for their classes. Cases discussed in past Institutes include meat and dairy production systems, transgenic and cloned animals, vitamin A-enhanced transgenic rice, over-fishing, and risk assessment.

Eligibility

Tenured or tenure-track life science faculty members at the U.S. colleges and universities specified in the next section are eligible to apply for admission and stipends.

Travel and Development Awards

As the Institute is funded by several sources, eligibility and stipends vary. Please find the appropriate category below to determine your eligibility.

1. Life science faculty at NABC member institutions.* Go to www.cals.cornell.edu/extension/nabc/memb_list.html (or see below*) to determine if your institution is a member of the National Agricultural Biotechnology Council (NABC) and to find the name of your NABC representative. You may be eligible to apply to your NABC representative for a travel grant to cover the costs of your airfare, hotel, and meals. Furthermore, if you are a nine-month employee, you are also encouraged to inquire whether your institution will provide a $425 professional development award, in addition to your travel expenses, to facilitate subsequent efforts to include ethics discussions in their courses.
2. Life science faculty at the eight institutions in the USDA Consortium to Address Social, Economic, and Ethical Aspects of Biotechnology (including Cankdeska Cikana Community College, Lac Courte Oreilles Community College, Leech Lake Tribal College, North Dakota State, Si Tanka Tribal College, South Dakota State, University of Minnesota, and University of Wisconsin) will receive a flat stipend of $875 to cover travel expenses and to facilitate subsequent efforts to include ethics discussions in their courses.
3. Life science faculty from any other college or university in the five-state region covered by the USDA Biotechnology research consortium will receive a flat stipend of $875 to cover travel expenses and to facilitate subsequent efforts to include ethics discussions in their courses.
4. Life science faculty at Iowa State University will receive a $425 stipend.

In addition, all participants will receive books, case studies, classroom exercises, bibliographies, four lunches and a banquet. Teams of applicants from a single institution are encouraged. Because of the terms of our grants, applicants from NABC member institutions and USDA Consortium institutions will be favored over others.

The Institute is funded by major grants from the USDA and the NABC. Also providing support are the ISU Bioethics Program, Office of Biotechnology, and Plant Sciences Institute.

* NABC member institutions include: Clemson, Cornell, Kansas State, Michigan State, Mississippi State, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Penn State, Purdue, Texas A&M, Arizona, UC Davis, Florida, Georgia, Guelph, Hawaii, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Saskatchewan, Washington State, and California Community Colleges

Deadline

Deadline for applications is March 15, 2001. For more details, contact Lynette Edsall, 402 Catt, ISU, Ames, IA 50011-1306, Phone: 515-294-5400, E-mail: bioethics@iastate.edu.

Application Form

Applications are available on the bioethics web site: www.biotech.iastate.edu/Bioethics/Institute/ISU_Institute/ethicsapplication.html

Additional Information

Information on the Bioethics Institute to be held in Ames is available at: www.biotech.iastate.edu/Bioethics/Institute/ISU_Institute/ISU_description.html.

Information on the Bioethics Institute to be held in Lisbon, Portugal, in summer 2001 is available at: www.biotech.iastate.edu/Bioethics/Institute/flad.html.

Here's what people are saying about the Bioethics Institute

"WOW! Great workshop. I came in knowing very little about moral philosophy and left with enough background and confidence to incorporate ethical discussions in my soils class."

- Professor Jim Doolittle, Plant Science Department, South Dakota State University

"I attended a Bioethics Institute in 1995 and my life has been changed ever since. Both personally and professionally, the Institute helped me to see things in a whole different perspective."

- Professor Stephen L. Davis, Animal Science Department, Oregon State University

"Provided me with exactly the kind of guidance I was looking for . . . . The teaching was uniformly excellent, and the faculty were without exception approachable, patient and appropriately critical. I returned to work feeling renewed and inspired."

- Professor James Serpell, Marie A. Moore Chair of Human Ethics and Animal Welfare, University of Pennsylvania

Published six times per year by the ISU Office of Biotechnology and the Bioethics Program.

To subscribe, send an e-mail to: bioethics@iastate.edu or call 515-294-7356.

Editor: Dena Huisman

Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Vietnam Era Veteran. Any persons having inquiries concerning this may contact the Director of Affirmative Action, 318 Beardshear Hall, 515-294-7612.

Published by: Office of Biotechnology, Bioethics Outreach
Ames, Iowa 50011-3260, (515) 294-9818, biotech@iastate.edu
Questions about the site?  E-mail biotech@www.biotech.iastate.edu
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Last Update 05/23/03