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.

Food and Agriculture

Health

Global Issues

Race

Public Life

Sustainability

Technology

Gender and Sexuality

Food and Agriculture

Health

Global Issues

Race

Public Life

Sustainability

Technology

Gender and Sexuality

Food and Agriculture

Health

Global Issues

Race
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Upcoming Rock Ethics Institute Events

A team of students from the Penn State Smeal College of Business placed first among 66 teams in the annual Business with Integrity Case Competition.

The Rock Ethics Institute has announced its call for nominations for the institute’s 2025 Stand Up Awards. The Stand Up Awards recognize and celebrate Penn State undergraduate students who demonstrate exceptional ethical leadership by standing up for a cause, idea or belief.
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.

Philosopher Kate Manne will visit Penn State to give the 2025 Richard B. Lippin Lecture in Ethics hosted by the Rock Ethics Institute. Her lecture “Ordinary Cruelty: Explaining Misogyny without Dehumanization” is free and open to the public. The event will be on Thursday, April 3, from 6-7 p.m. in Foster Auditorium (Paterno Library).

The Penn State Smeal College of Business Tarriff Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility has announced the addition of alumnus Jeff Montgomery to its advisory board. Montgomery is a director of global revenue strategy and operations at Apple.

While scientific research can help inform how communities adapt to heightened risks from more extreme weather events, the process requires an alignment of academic resources and real-world needs and partnerships that can be challenging for scientists to navigate. A team led by researchers from Penn State have developed a new framework to help scientists identify and choose projects that may better address pressing societal needs, like climate adaptations.

A panel of faculty and administrators will hold a virtual workshop exploring innovative approaches to ethics education and assessment in graduate programs from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on March 4. This free, 90-minute session, titled "Enhancing Ethics Education and Assessment in Graduate Programs," is designed for graduate program leaders.

Penn State’s Consortium on Moral Decision-Making and Moral Psychology Research Group recently hosted a conference to highlight interdisciplinary research on moral and ethical decision-making.

As research has revealed the potential dangers of concussions and other head injuries, questions have been raised about the ethics of the game of tackle football. Francisco Javier López Frías, associate professor of kinesiology, of philosophy and of bioethics at Penn State, explores some of these questions.

Hil Malatino, associate professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies and of philosophy and Joyce L. and Douglas S. Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute, recently received a $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund the collaborative three-year project, “Widening the Arc of Trans History: Archival Research for Public Storytelling."

A team of students from the Penn State Smeal College of Business placed first among 66 teams in the annual Business with Integrity Case Competition.

The Rock Ethics Institute has announced its call for nominations for the institute’s 2025 Stand Up Awards. The Stand Up Awards recognize and celebrate Penn State undergraduate students who demonstrate exceptional ethical leadership by standing up for a cause, idea or belief.
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.

Philosopher Kate Manne will visit Penn State to give the 2025 Richard B. Lippin Lecture in Ethics hosted by the Rock Ethics Institute. Her lecture “Ordinary Cruelty: Explaining Misogyny without Dehumanization” is free and open to the public. The event will be on Thursday, April 3, from 6-7 p.m. in Foster Auditorium (Paterno Library).

The Penn State Smeal College of Business Tarriff Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility has announced the addition of alumnus Jeff Montgomery to its advisory board. Montgomery is a director of global revenue strategy and operations at Apple.

While scientific research can help inform how communities adapt to heightened risks from more extreme weather events, the process requires an alignment of academic resources and real-world needs and partnerships that can be challenging for scientists to navigate. A team led by researchers from Penn State have developed a new framework to help scientists identify and choose projects that may better address pressing societal needs, like climate adaptations.

A panel of faculty and administrators will hold a virtual workshop exploring innovative approaches to ethics education and assessment in graduate programs from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on March 4. This free, 90-minute session, titled "Enhancing Ethics Education and Assessment in Graduate Programs," is designed for graduate program leaders.

Penn State’s Consortium on Moral Decision-Making and Moral Psychology Research Group recently hosted a conference to highlight interdisciplinary research on moral and ethical decision-making.

As research has revealed the potential dangers of concussions and other head injuries, questions have been raised about the ethics of the game of tackle football. Francisco Javier López Frías, associate professor of kinesiology, of philosophy and of bioethics at Penn State, explores some of these questions.

Hil Malatino, associate professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies and of philosophy and Joyce L. and Douglas S. Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute, recently received a $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund the collaborative three-year project, “Widening the Arc of Trans History: Archival Research for Public Storytelling."

A team of students from the Penn State Smeal College of Business placed first among 66 teams in the annual Business with Integrity Case Competition.

The Rock Ethics Institute has announced its call for nominations for the institute’s 2025 Stand Up Awards. The Stand Up Awards recognize and celebrate Penn State undergraduate students who demonstrate exceptional ethical leadership by standing up for a cause, idea or belief.
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.
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Media Highlights
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