People

Director's Team

Nancy Tuana Director of the Rock Ethics Institute
Associate Professor of Philosophy

Ted Toadvine is Nancy Tuana Director of the Rock Ethics Institute and Associate Professor of Philosophy. He joined Penn State in 2017 after holding the position of Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon, where he served as Head of Philosophy in 2011-2014. He has held the posts of Visiting Researcher at Kingston University’s Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Resident Scholar at the University of Oregon’s Wayne Morse Center for Law & Politics, Visiting Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Oberlin College, Robert F. and Evelyn Nelson Wulf Professor in the Humanities at the Oregon Humanities Center, Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Kalamazoo College, and William F. Dietrich Research Fellow in Philosophy at Florida Atlantic University.

Associate Director of the Rock Ethics Institute (On Sabbatical Leave 2021–22)
Associate Professor of Political Science and Women's Studies
2018-20 Sherwin Early Career Professorship

Erin Heidt-Forsythe received a PhD in Political Science, with a focus on Women and Politics, from Rutgers University. Her work examines the intersections of gender, political science, and bioethics. Employing mixed quantitative and qualitative methods, she studies US state legislation and policymaking about assisted reproductive technologies. She has published on assisted reproductive technologies, feminist bioethics, and social policy. Her areas of specialization include science, medicine, and health; reproduction and the body; American state politics and policy; interest groups and representation.

Assistant Director of the Rock Ethics Institute
Associate Research Professor of Philosophy

Ben joined the Rock Ethics Institute as its Assistant Director in 2017. He does work in political philosophy and applied ethics, with a focus on criminal justice, political ethics, ideal theory, and religion’s role in politics. His research appears in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, the Journal of Applied Philosophy, the European Journal of Political Theory, the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, and other venues.

Current projects include The Ethics of Policing: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, a volume he is co-editing with Eduardo Mendieta, and Apocalypse without God: Apocalyptic Thought, Ideal Politics, and the Limits of Utopian Hope, which examines the relationship between utopian theorizing and apocalyptic thought in political philosophy.

Core Faculty

Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, and Philosophy
Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Career Chair in Neuroethics
Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Associate Professor of Psychology
Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Associate Professor of Rural Sociology
Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Assistant Professor of Industrial Ecology
Senior Scientist in the Rock Ethics Institute
Professor of Geography
Director of Penn State Lab for Analysis of Culture and Environment (PLACE)
Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Associate Professor of Kinesiology
Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Assistant Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Philosophy
Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Assistant Professor of Information Sciences and Technology
Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Associate Professor of International Affairs
Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Assistant Professor of Information Sciences and Technology and Philosophy
Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering
Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Assistant Professor of Telecommunications and Media Industries

Affiliated Faculty

Assistant Professor of Sociology
2017-18 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Associate Professor of Values and Experiential Learning, Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management
Managing Director of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy
Associate Research Professor in the Department of Political Science
Associate Professor of Philosophy and African American Studies
Founding Director of the Collegium of Black Women Philosophers
2018-19 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy and African American Studies
Sherwin-Whitmore Professor of Liberal Arts
Professor of Public Policy and Political Science
Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature
Evan Pugh Professor of Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies
Director of the Child Study Center
Associate Professor of Psychology and Linguistics, Penn State Brandywine
2020–21 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Professor of Management
Frank & Mary Jean Smeal Research Fellow
2018-19 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Professor of History, Religious Studies, and Philosophy
Affiliate Professor of Rock Ethics
Psychology Department Head
Tracy Winfree and Ted H. McCourtney Professor in Children, Work, and Families and Professor of Psychology & Human Development and Family Studies
Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Director, Graduate Studies
2016-17 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Professor of Philosophy and Political Science
Director of Penn State Humanities Institute
Associate Clinical Professor of Management and Organization
Director of the Tarriff Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Director of Honor and Integrity
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
2016–17 Joyce and Doug Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute
Barry Director of the Paterno Fellows Program
Assistant Clinical Professor of Management and Organization
Associate Teaching Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Penn State Brandywine
2020–21 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology
2019-20 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Associate Professor of Film Production
Donald P. Bellisario Career Advancement Professor
Assistant Research Professor at the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute
Associate Professor of English, Penn State Greater Allegheny
Weiss Chair of the Humanities in Literature and Human Rights
Director of Graduate Studies, Comparative Literature
2016-17 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Brill Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Associate Teaching Professor in Communication Arts and Sciences
Director of the Intensive English Communication Program
Associate Teaching Professor of Applied Linguistics
Director, Institutes of Energy and the Environment
Evan Pugh University Professor and Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Associate Professor of English and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Faculty-in-charge, Disability Studies Minor
Director of Graduate Studies
Assistant Professor of Education
Director of the Social Justice Fellowship
Director, Restorative Justice Initiative
Professor of Bioethics, Humanities, Law, and Philosophy
Director, Bioethics Program
Affiliate Faculty of Public Policy and International Affairs
2022-23 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Associate Teaching Professor of Bioethics and Humanities
Associate Director, Bioethics Program
Affiliate Law Faculty
Joint Appointment, Penn State College of Medicine Humanities Department
Professor of Philosophy and Latina/o Studies
Assistant Professor of History
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Bioethics, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
2015-16 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Professor of Education, Educational Theory & Policy
Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Psychological, and Social Sciences, Penn State Abington
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Penn State Altoona
Gregory H. Wolf Professor of Health Policy & Administration
Professor of Civil Engineering
2017-18 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Don Davis Professor of Ethics in Communications and Journalism
Associate Professor of Film/Video and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Assistant Professor of Geography
2021-22 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Associate Professor of Education
Professor of Hospitality Finance
Director, Food Decisions Research Laboratory
Director, Research, I-CHRIE
Editor, ICHRIE Penn State Research Reports
2016-17 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, African Studies, and History
Associate Professor of Psychology
2018–20 Sherwin Early Career Professorship
Professor of Architecture
2019-20 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Professor Emeritus of Food Science
DuPont/Class of 1949 Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies
Assistant Professor of Communication Arts and Science and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Associate Director of Center for Humanities and Information
2020–23 Joyce and Doug Sherwin Early Career Professor
Assistant Professor of Education
Assistant Professor of Law, Policy, and Engineering
Professor of History, Anthropology and Religious Studies
Assistant Professor of Veterinary Medicine and Dairy and Animal Science
Attending Veterinarian for Agricultural Animals and Wildlife
Assistant Professor of Law, Medicine, and Sociology
Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Geography
Associate Professor of African American Studies, English, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Assistant Dean for Teaching and Learning, College of Engineering
Director of the Leonhard Center

Staff

Administrative Support Coordinator
Public Relations Specialist
Administrative Support Assistant

Faculty Fellows

Assistant Professor of Sociology and Public Policy
2022-23 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow
Professor of Bioethics, Humanities, Law, and Philosophy
Director, Bioethics Program
Affiliate Faculty of Public Policy and International Affairs
2022-23 Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellow

Graduate Fellows

Forrest S. Crawford Fellow in Ethical Inquiry
PhD candidate in Psychology
Center and Institute Fellow
PhD candidate in Philosophy and African American and Diaspora Studies
Center and Institute Fellow
PhD candidate in Philosophy
Center and Institute Fellow
PhD candidate in Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese
No data was found

Board of Visitors

1978 General Arts and Sciences
Senior Director, Medical Affairs & Strategic Development, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Retired)
1987 Political Science
Ethics Counsel
1966 Political Science
Commissioner of Family Court, Delaware (Retired)
1991 East Asian Studies
President and CEO, Phillips Graphic Finishing, LLC
1977 Health and Human Development
President, Reach Research
1976 Sociology
Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, CSL Behring (Retired)
Friend
Emerita Professor of the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy
1968 Psychology
Chairman, Founder, and CEO of the Lippin Group
1972 Political Science
Partner with Wilmer, Cutler, and Pickering
Chair, Rock Ethics Institute Board of Visitors
1968 Psychology
Special Advisory Member
Chairman and CEO, Smith International (Retired)
Friend
1960 Engineering
Director of Product Development, Air Products and Chemicals (Retired)
1990 English
Teacher, Palmer Trinity School

Dean's Executive Committee

Dean, Penn State College of Nursing
Susan Welch Dean, College of the Liberal Arts
Professor of African American Studies
Raymond E. and Erin Stuart Schultz Dean, College of Health and Human Development
Professor of Biobehavioral Health
Harold and Inge Marcus Dean, College of Engineering
No data was found
No data was found
Forrest S. Crawford Fellow in Ethical Inquiry
PhD candidate in Psychology
Center and Institute Fellow
PhD candidate in Philosophy and African American and Diaspora Studies
Center and Institute Fellow
PhD candidate in Philosophy
Center and Institute Fellow
PhD candidate in Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese

Contents