USD Magazine, Winter/Spring 1997

ALCALA

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PROMOTING ETHICS ACROSS THE CURRICULUM E thi~s: It isn't just for philosophy maJors anymore. That's what philosophy professors discovered last year when they of ethics in areas as diverse as philosophy, nursing, education, law, political science and business."

Wealher or Nol D espite its national reputation for being the land of perpetual sun, San Diego experiences definite changes in temperature, humidity, cloud cover and rainfall throughout the seasons. Details of those constant changes will be avail– able soon from a rooftop weather station being designed and constructed by four undergraduate engineering students. As their senior engineering project, Thomas Mack, Brandon Knaggs, Romeo Rodriguez and Dorothy Sze spent the final two semesters of their engineering studies using theoretical knowledge to build the station, which will collect data around the clock. LEWIS (a Local Environmental Weather Information System) is designed with federal specifi– cations and will be installed on the Loma Hall roof. Wiring from the station's sensors will feed information to a micro-controller in the second floor engineering lab, accord– ing to Sze. A digital panel, also designed by the students, will display temperature, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall, humidity and levels of ultraviolet radia– tion B. Plans also call for a public display of the measurements to be set up in the Loma Hall lobby near the campus book– store. "We are especially glad to provide ultraviolet radiation measurements because most weather stations won't, including the National Weather Service," Rodriguez notes. The ultraviolet calculations, how– ever, are proving the trickiest to collect. The students, who all are seniors, hope to pass any unfinished work to younger engineers. While providing the students with a transition from classroom studies to real-life engineering, the LEWIS project also has a lasting benefit for the univer– sity. For one, Gerald Estberg, a professor of physics who conducts weather-related research, hopes to use the data generated by the station in future studies.

The grant also provides funds to bring a prominent scholar of ethics to campus each year. The first of these scholars, nationally renowned author and Harvard professor Carol Gilligan, visited USD for one week in January. During her visit, Gilligan con– ducted a two-day curriculum workshop, met with small groups of students and pro– fessors, and delivered a public lecture titled "Voice and Relationship: Rethinking the Foundations of Ethics." As the Ethics Across the Curriculum initiative develops, Hinman, who has developed a comprehensive and heavily vis– ited World Wide Web site on ethics - http://www.ethics.acusd.edu - hopes to provide more resources for professors to bring ethics to their courses and facilitate campus-wide communication of ideas and projects related to ethics. "Ethics is an area in which people throughout the campus have overlapping interests," he says. "The more they talk with one another, the stronger the ethical components of our curriculum become." THUMBS UP FOR THE MASTER PLAN The University of San Diego Master Plan cleared its final hurdle on Oct. 29 when the San Diego City Council voted unani– mously to approve the proposal. The plan outlines 26 building and development proj– ects at USD over the next 25 years. USD was required to obtain approval of the entire plan before proceeding with any new construction. The first construction project, which broke ground in February, is a 376-space parking lot on the west end of campus. Because funding for each of the projects outlined in the master plan will come from private gifts and grants, a time line for the entire plan cannot be developed yet.

offered a one-day workshop for faculty and administrators interested in expanding the study of ethics in their courses and programs. Professors from across the campus respond– ed to the invitation and spent the day talk– ing about how to introduce or increase dis– cussion about moral issues in the classroom.

Carol Gilligan, nationally renowned author and Harvard professor, spent a week al USD lec– turing on ethics.

"The overwhelming participation said a lot about the widespread interest in ethics in all areas of the university," says philoso– phy professor Lawrence Hinman. "The response to the workshop was so positive that we decided to pursue and encourage a more pervasive discussion of ethics and moral issues." The workshop grew into the new "Ethics Across the Curriculum" initiative launched this academic year and funded with a two– year, $138,000 grant from the E.L. Wiegand Foundation. Professors can use the grant monies to further their own education and understanding of ethics in the curriculum and to purchase instructional materials related to ethics for their classes. "Our goals are to develop a stronger communication among faculty interested in issues of ethics, to introduce more discus– sion of ethics in courses, and to create a cohesive study of ethics throughout the curriculum," says Hinman, who is the grant administrator. "We can tie together the study

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