Ethics Circle revived for Fall 2014

Emerson’s Ethics Circle, which has taken a sabbatical for the current academic year, has announced it will resume in the fall 2014 semester with a major new lecture series, to be held over the next three years, featuring key ethics thinkers from leading universities.

The series, titled “Leo Hindery Jr. Presents: Adventures in Ethics,” is named after media executive and Emerson Trustee Leo Hindery Jr., P ’16, who has been involved with numerous organizations that promote equality and social justice. Hindery, managing partner of InterMedia Partners, and his wife, Patti Wheeler Hindery, president and owner of Wheeler Television, Inc., are funding the series through annual gifts to the College.

The Hinderys are co-sponsoring the new ethics series, along with Emerson’s Office of Academic Affairs, School of Communication, and School of the Arts.

Professor Thomas Cooper of Visual and Media Arts, Associate Professor Pablo Muchnik of Communication Studies, and Assistant Professor David Kishik of Communication Studies will lead Ethics Circle.

The Ethics Circle began four years ago as a way for faculty who teach ethics in various academic departments to meet informally to talk about the teaching of ethics, leading works in the ethics field, research about ethics, and other similar topics.

The lecture series is expected to host panelists who are nationally recognized in their fields and address ethical issues that are presented in a wide range of academic fields taught at Emerson. Muchnik and Kishik are in the process of requesting experts to participate in the discussions.

“It will address big-picture questions that pertain to all disciplines,” Cooper said. “That could be asking whether Communication Sciences and Disorders students are treating patients with respect. Or if Visual and Media Arts students are violating a homeless person’s privacy when making a documentary. This is a chance for people to really think about critical questions in multidisciplinary ways.”