Newsroom
Newsroom Collection
Stand Up Award Winner Bernicker Spearheads National Mask Distribution Effort
by
David Price
May 06, 2020
2018 Rock Ethics Institute Stand Up Award winner Brendan Bernicker has teamed up with a fellow Paterno Fellow to create the non-profit COVID Response Network with the motto “Every Hero Needs a Mask.”
The organization raises funds to distribute masks across the country to those in need who may not have existing connections to a medical supplier, such as homeless shelters, food pantries, and county jails, as well as those who volunteer and work at those organizations.
‘Expanding Empathy’ Lecture Series Moves Online, Panel Discussion on Empathy in the Time of COVID-19 Added
by
David Price
Apr 27, 2020
In early March, Penn State’s “Expanding Empathy” 2020 lecture series kicked off with Jesse Graham discussing expanding and contracting circles of care. Such considerations have become ever more relevant, as soon after Graham’s lecture, COVID-19 began to directly impact the Penn State community and the world. As a result of this increasing importance, the convener of “Expanding Empathy” — Daryl Cameron, assistant professor of psychology in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts and research associate in the Rock Ethics Institute — is moving the remaining lectures online and adding a panel discussion on empathy in the time of COVID-19.
Closing Polling Places Is the 21st Century’s Version of a Poll Tax, Writes REI Research Associate Joshua Inwood
by
David Price
Mar 25, 2020
Penn State Geographer and Rock Ethics Institute Research Associate Joshua Inwood Writes in the Conversation That Closing Polling Places Is Tantamount to a Poll Tax.
Unlike past poll taxes, the modern poll tax isn’t paid in money, but in time – how long it takes a person to get to a polling place, and, once there, how long it takes for them to actually cast their ballot.
Penn State Events Canceled until Further Notice
by
David Price
Mar 24, 2020
Please consider all events listed on our website to have been canceled in response to the concerns about spreading the novel coronavirus. Like you, we are hoping for a return to more normal day-to-day life as quickly as possible, and as we begin rescheduling our events, we will make note of it here and through our various other means of notification and publicity.
Jesse Graham lecture stream now available
by
David Price
Mar 24, 2020
Ethicist Jesse Graham of the University of Utah delivered his much anticipated lecture in the Expanding Empathy series March 19. The stream of the event is now available.
March 5 lecture to examine the forces that expand — and contract — our moral circles
by
David Price
Mar 24, 2020
Jesse Graham of the University of Utah to open 2020 "Expanding Empathy" lecture series at Foster Auditorium at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 5.
Graham — George S. Eccles Professor of Business Ethics and associate professor of management — will examine the tensions brought about by how we manage our moral regard for others.
2020 Expanding Empathy Lecture Series Schedule Finalized—Canceled
by
David Price
Mar 24, 2020
The Rock Ethics Institute's Moral Agency and Moral Development Initiative announces its slate of speakers for the 2020 Expanding Empathy lecture series.
Philosophy as a Transitional Genre: On Richard Rorty’s Intellectual Bequest
by
David Price
Mar 24, 2020
The Richard Rorty Society held its second international conference at Penn State's Nittany Lion Inn November 22–24, 2019. The blog of the American Philosophical Association (APA) featured the conference, which focused on Rorty's Ethics, and discussed it in detail with the Rock Ethics Institute's former associate director Eduardo Mendieta.
Hil Malatino Featured on Talks at Google
by
David Price
Mar 24, 2020
In this presentation of Talks at Google, Rock Ethics Institute research associate and assistant professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Hil Malatino discusses the research in their book Queer Embodiment: Monstrosity, Medical Violence, and Intersex Experience. They have spent their career dismantling the idea that biological sex is binary. In this talk, they explore the trauma and dehumanization that stems from our collective cultural insistence that it is – and what we can do to change that.
The Empathy Option: The Science of How and Why We Choose to be Empathetic
by
Betsy VanNoy
Mar 24, 2020
We can choose to put ourselves in situations where we will feel empathy—the experience of understanding and actually sharing the feelings of someone else—or we can choose to avoid such situations.
Penn State psychologist and Rock Ethics Institute research associate C. Daryl Cameron is studying how we make that decision and whether we can be encouraged to be more empathetic.
CBC Radio One's IDEAS episode features Eduardo Mendieta on philosopher Richard Rorty
by
Betsy VanNoy
Mar 24, 2020
Check out CBC Radio One’s episode of IDEAS on Richard Rorty, recorded at the second meeting of the Richard Rorty Society at Penn State. It features many of the Richard Rorty Society's members, including Eduardo Mendieta, Marianne Janack, Christopher Voparil, Susan Dieleman, Richard J. Bernstein, and Mary V. Rorty, among others.
Eduardo Mendieta quoted in On The Media "Sticks and Stones" episode
by
Betsy VanNoy
Mar 24, 2020
Check out On the Media’s recent story, where Andrew Marantz speaks about Rorty and quotes Dr. Eduardo Mendieta. You can listen here.
Lippin Lecture to Focus on Technology and Inequality
by
David Price
Mar 20, 2020
How new technology exacerbates inequality will be the focus of the Rock Ethics Institute’s coming Richard B. Lippin Lectureship in Ethics. Scholar and author Virginia Eubanks’ speak on Thursday, April 2, 2020.
New HEEP Initiative Makes First Faculty Hire
by
David Price
Mar 20, 2020
The Rock Ethics Institute has hired the first researcher for its new HEEP initiative. HEEP is an effort to look at the ethical issues surrounding human health comprehensively. Christine Costello, whose PhD is in civil and environmental engineering, will join Penn State in December.
"Author Meets Critic" Events Held
by
David Price
Mar 23, 2020
The Rock Ethics Institute recently conducted the first two events in its Author Meets Critics series.
Featuring critical analyses of new books by REI Core Faculty Jonathan H. Marks and Hilary Malatino, Author Meets Critic allows authors to receive critical commentary about their work from experts in their fields in front of a live audience.
Elizabeth Ransom Publishes Global Meat
by
David Price
Mar 20, 2020
Elizabeth Ransom is Associate Professor of International Affairs and Senior Research Associate at Rock Ethics Institute at Penn State. Her book, Global Meat: Social and Environmental Consequences of the Expanding Meat Industry, was published in October 2019.
Ethics Alone Can’t Fix Big Tech
by
David Price
Mar 24, 2020
Daniel Susser, assistant professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology and research associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, recently published an article on big tech, ethics, and compliance in Slate.
Take Note: Lawyer And Author Bryan Stevenson On What Justice Requires
by
Betsy VanNoy
Apr 19, 2019
We talked with Stevenson about our criminal justice system, his book and the work of the Equal Justice Initiative.
Click here to listen to the podcast.
The Clinic and Elsewhere: Critical Conversations on Trans and Intersex Wellness
by
Betsy VanNoy
Jan 29, 2019
The Clinic and Elsewhere speaker series is sponsored by the Gender and Sex Equity Initiative of the Rock Ethics Institute (REI) and is convened by Hilary Malatino, a core faculty member of the REI and Assistant Professor in the Department of Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State.
See press release here
Grady named inaugural Faculty Fellow of Security Center
by
Betsy VanNoy
Dec 14, 2018
Through the fellowship, Grady plans to examine how security threats to U.S. shipping ports affect the flow of commodity goods to U.S. consumers and how ports influence geopolitics throughout the world.