The Rock Ethics Institute promotes engaged ethics research and ethical leadership from its home in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts.
The Rock Ethics Institute promotes engaged ethics research and ethical leadership from its home in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts.
Topics
The Institute’s research topic areas integrate ethical considerations into interdisciplinary scholarship at Penn State. Select a topic below to learn more or view all topics.
Public Life
Sustainability
Technology
Gender and Sexuality
Food and Agriculture
Health
Global Issues
Race
Upcoming Rock Ethics Institute Events
The Rock Ethics Institute invites applications for its 2025–26 Faculty Fellows program. The program offers a one-course release from teaching during a single academic year to support ethics-related research projects by Penn State faculty.
The six-year-old Centre Film Festival returns this year to screen more than 200 films in a variety of genres at Centre County theaters and online. The festival, which runs Nov. 11-17, continues to provide impactful films under the guidance of artistic director and driving force Pearl Gluck, associate professor of film production in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, with strong support from many Penn State units.
Penn State’s Consortium on Moral Decision-Making and Moral Psychology Research Group are co-hosting a conference Nov. 15-17 to highlight interdisciplinary research on moral and ethical decision-making.
Laura Cabrera, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, received a four-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to research and develop a patient-centered decision aid to help guide patients, providers and caregivers navigating the benefits and risks of a novel neurotechnology treatment known as deep brain stimulation.
Penn State Sustainability kicked off the semester and its "Intersections" film series by hosting an in-person event focused on democracy and civic engagement.
Ted Toadvine, Nancy Tuana Director of the Rock Ethics Institute and professor of philosophy in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts, is the author of the new book, “The Memory of the World: Deep Time, Animality, and Eschatology,” published by the University of Minnesota Press.
The Rock Ethics Institute has announced the 2024 PIKSI-Rock — "Philosophy in an Inclusive Key" — summer conference lecture speakers: Ásta of Duke University (June 4), Tyrone S. Palmer of Wesleyan University (June 7) and Vrinda Dalmiya of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (June 10). All lectures are free and open to the public.
The Rock Ethics Institute has announced the 2024 PIKSI-Rock — "Philosophy in an Inclusive Key" — summer conference lecture speakers: Ásta of Duke University (June 4), Tyrone S. Palmer of Wesleyan University (June 7) and Vrinda Dalmiya of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (June 10). All lectures are free and open to the public.
The Rock Ethics Institute has announced the 2024 PIKSI-Rock — "Philosophy in an Inclusive Key" — summer conference lecture speakers: Ásta of Duke University (June 4), Tyrone S. Palmer of Wesleyan University (June 7) and Vrinda Dalmiya of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (June 10). All lectures are free and open to the public.
Three members of the Business Ethics Case Team at the Penn State Smeal College of Business collaborated to place first in two competitions and second in the third at the 2024 International Business Ethics Case Competition, held in late April at the University of Massachusetts.
