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Daily Collegian interviews REI's Daniel Susser about TikTok app, social media insights

by David Price Aug 10, 2020
Daniel Susser As the drama intertwining the Trump administration, the social media platform TikTok and its suitors for a potential sale evolves, Penn State's Daily Collegian turned to Rock Ethics Institute research associate Daniel Susser — an expert information technology ethics — for his insight on the app.

REI affiliate faculty Pearl Gluck's award-winning film screening for charity

by David Price Aug 07, 2020
Pearl Gluck Rock Ethics Institute affiliate faculty member Pearl Gluck's film The Turn Out is premiering virtually to benefit several organizations that support survivors of sex trafficking in the United States.

Lack of departmental diversity may challenge police trust and legitimacy, REI assistant director Ben Jones tells the Centre Daily Times

by David Price Aug 05, 2020
Ben Jones With no Black officers and otherwise limited diversity on police departments in Centre County, Pennsylvania, (home to Penn State's University Park campus) assistant director of the Rock Ethics Institute Ben Jones says those departments can face significant challenges.

Joshua Inwood: Lack of grassroots could be problematic for commissions pursuing racial justice

by David Price Aug 03, 2020
Joshua Inwood In the Generocity of Philadelphia, Rock Ethics Institute senior research associate Joshua F.J. Inwood questions whether the top-down structure of two commissions pursuing racial justice will only serve the tension-breaking interests of elected officials, or whether they can reach their objectives without a grassroots mandate.

REI's Ben Jones and Eleanor Brown interviewed on WPSU radio's Take Note about barriers to police reform

by David Price Jul 28, 2020
Ben Jones and Eleanor Brown The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an OpEd by the Rock Ethics Institute's Eleanor Brown and Ben Jones about barriers to police reform and the Osaze Osagie case in State College, Pennsylvania. Osagie -- a Black man with schizophrenia -- was shot and killed by police as they attempted to serve a mental health warrant on him in March 2019. Ben Jones is the assistant director of the Rock Ethics Institute. Eleanor Brown is a professor of law and international affairs and a senior scientist in the Rock Ethics Institute.

Ethics Now, Friday, 6/12/20 at 10am: Pandemic Justice

by David Price Aug 07, 2020
Jonathan Marks

Stand Up Award Winner Bernicker Spearheads National Mask Distribution Effort

by David Price May 06, 2020
Brendan Bernicker CHOP 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
EE2020 Webinars 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
Joshua Inwood 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
Hand Wash 400x400 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
Jesse Graham 44 400x586 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 2 400x600 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
e-e-2020 16x9 final 400x225 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
APA Blog 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
Queer Embodiment coverHilary Malatino 2 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
Daryl Cameron desk 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
Rorty Society mtg 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
Eduardo Mendieta 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
Virginia Eubanks 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
Chris Costello 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.