Deborah S. Mower

is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University. She received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. She is the President of the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum and an active presenter and member of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. She co-edited Civility in Politics and Education (Routledge 2012, with Wade L. Robison) and Developing Moral Sensitivity (Routledge, 2015, with Phyllis Vandenberg and Wade L. Robison). She has been a participant of a NEH Summer Seminar and served as a reviewer for National Endowment for the Humanities programs. Her research interests include social cognition; moral education, development, and assessment; the evolution of moral faculties; and eastern and western approaches to virtue ethics. Her most recent publication is “Situationism and Confucian Virtue Ethics” in a 2013 issue of Ethical Theory and Moral Practice.

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 330.941.3449
 

Phyllis Vandenberg

is a Professor of Philosophy at Grand Valley State University. She received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Utah. She is a member of the Executive Committee for the Society for Ethics across the Curriculum and an active member of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. She co-edited Developing Moral Sensitivity (Routledge, 2015 with Deborah S. Mower and Wade L. Robison) and co-directed (with Deborah S. Mower) the 14th International Conference of the Society for Ethics across the Curriculum at Grand Valley State University in 2012. She is a contributor and reviewer for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Her presentations and publications are primarily on the ethical theories of the 18th century Scots: Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Thomas Reid. Her latest pieces are “Relationships and the Spectator Perspectives in Hutcheson, Hume, and Smith” in Cultura: International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology, “Reid and Hume in Agreement on Moral Foundations” in Journal of Scottish Thought (University of Aberdeen Press 2011), and “A Humean Look at Feminist’s Ethics” Special European Legacy Edition on Hume (Routledge, June 2013).

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: (616) 331-2496

Kathryn Smidstra

is Institute Coordinator and Website Designer. She completed her MA at the University of Chicago and her BA at Grand Valley State University where she was presented the Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies award for outstanding senior thesis. Her research interests include the intersection between learning and mindfulness, particularly the neurological mechanisms that determine long term potentiation of memory, as well as the epistemological dialogue between private quest and public ritual. She is author of "Commitment to Consciousness: Cultivating the Capability of Mindfulness in Learning" in the liberal studies reader Reflect, Connect, Engage (XanEdu, 2013). She is also a twenty-year veteran of designing and developing systems that communicate, inform, engage, and sustain relevant content that is user-centered, context-dependent, and social change-oriented.