Ethics Center


Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership

Programs

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Research and Fellowship


McCain Conference

The McCain Conference of federal service academies annually brings key representatives from the nation’s federal military academies to Annapolis to discuss emerging issues in ethics and character development.  The conference was endowed in 2001 through a gift from Mrs. Cindy McCain in honor of her husband, Senator John McCain (USNA Class of 1958).  Since 2007, the conference has been held in the late spring, and has been expanded to include the broader notion of military leadership, and to include participants from Command, Staff, and senior war colleges as well as undergraduate institutions.

The 2010 McCain Conference, will be held at the Naval Academy on Thursday and Friday, April 22-23, 2010, and will be the culmination of a year of research by a multi-university consortium (Naval Academy, Case Western, Arizona State, California Polytechnic, and the Naval Postgraduate School), this year's McCain Conference will assemble experts from academia, government, and industry to discuss the ethical and legal ramifications of emerging military technologies--especially robotics, nanotechnology, biomedical human enhancements, and information/communications systems.

The conference is by invitation only, and all invitees are strongly encouraged to register for the conference via the Stockdale Center's  registration web page (link here). The page can also be accessed via the navigation bar to the left of this page. Look for the McCain Conference link.

[More information on the conference, and the 2009-10 Fellows, can be found directly below. Information about previous McCain Conferences can be found at the McCain page linked above. ]

Ethics Fellows Program

The Stockdale Center sponsors a year long Resident Fellows Program in which selected military officers, academics, civil servants, and other professionals pursue an intensive year-long study of emerging issues in professional military ethics. These individuals, selected from a national pool of applicants, participate in regular seminars and conduct independent, innovative research in the field of professional military ethics, leadership, and character development. They also contribute to the life of the Naval Academy by teaching ethics and leadership classes, participating in the Department of Leadership, Ethics and Law - sponsored First Class Capstone Seminars, aiding Ethics Bowl participants, and supporting the Character Development program in various ways. If you are interested in applying for this opportunity during the 2010-2011 academic year, please click here.

Fellows - Funded by Class of 1958 and 1967

September 2009 - May 2010

Resident Fellows

Dr. Stephen Coleman  Funded by USNA Class of 1967)

Dr. Stephen Coleman is a Senior Lecturer in Ethics and Leadership at the Australian Defense Academy, Canberra, Australia. He holds a B.A. (Honors) from Macquarie University, Sydney and a Ph.D. from Monash University, Melbourne. Prior to his commencement at ADFA in January 2006 he worked for seven years for Charles Sturt University, as a Lecturer in Ethics in the School of Policing Studies and as a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (a position he still holds). He has served as Associate Editor of the international peer-reviewed journal Criminal Justice Ethics, and Guest Editor of special issues of Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics, Professional Ethics, and Business and Professional Ethics Journal, as well as the editor of conference proceedings for the Australian Association of Professional and Applied Ethics. He is the author of one book (The Ethics of Artificial Uteruses: Implications for Reproduction and Abortion, Ashgate, 2004) and many papers in academic journals and edited collections on a diverse range of topics in applied ethics, including military ethics, police ethics, medical ethics, and the practical applications of human rights. In addition to these published papers he has presented at conferences in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States. He currently serves as the Convenor of the ADFA Human Research Ethics Advisory Panel.

 

Brigadier General Richard O'Meara USA (Ret.) Funded by USNA Class of 1958

Richard O'Meara is a retired Brigadier General in the United States Army and a combat veteran of the War in Vietnam. Following his Vietnam service he earned a law degree and joined the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. For two decades, while serving in the U.S. Army Reserve, O’Meara acted as senior partner in the litigation firm, O’Meara & Hight.  He retired from the United States Army in 2002, after 35 years of service. Following his retirement he earned graduate degrees in History and International Relations and took up teaching posts at Rutgers University-Newark and Richard Stockton College where he has taught courses in Security Studies, Human Rights, Terrorism, Genocide, War Crimes, International Law and Criminal Justice. He holds a Research Fellowship at the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership, United States Naval Academy and continues to serve as Adjunct Faculty with the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies where he has taught rule of law, governance, and peacekeeping subjects in such diverse locations as El Salvador, Peru, Cambodia, Rwanda, Philippines, Chad, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ukraine, Moldova, and Iraq. He is a qualified Emergency Medical Technician and served at the World Trade Center Site in the months after 9/11.

Non-Resident Fellows

Dr. Patrick Lin , Ph.D. California Polytechnic State University

Dr. Patrick Lin is the director of the Ethics and Emerging Sciences Group, based at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Most recently, he has led research efforts that culminated in two major reports: Autonomous Military Robotics: Risk, Ethics, and Design (funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research) and Ethics of Human Enhancement: 25 Questions & Answers (funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation). He has published several books and papers in the field of technology ethics, including the anthology Nanoethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology. Dr. Lin earned his B.A. from University of California at Berkeley and M.A. and Ph.D. from University of California at Santa Barbara. He is currently an assistant professor in Cal Poly’s philosophy department and also holds academic appointments at Dartmouth College and Western Michigan University.

Dr. Brad Allenby, Ph.D, Arizona State University

Dr. Max Mehlman,  J.D. Ph.D, Case Western Reserve University

Maxwell J. Mehlman is Arthur E. Petersilge Professor of Law and Director of the Law-Medicine Center, Case School of Law, and Professor of Biomedical Ethics, Case School of Medicine. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1975, and holds two bachelors degrees, one from Reed College and one from Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar. Prior to joining the Case faculty in 1984, Professor Mehlman practiced law with Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in federal regulation of health care and medical technology. He is the co-author of Access to the Genome: The Challenge to Equality; co-editor, with Tom Murray, of the Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal and Policy Issues in Biotechnology; co-author of Genetics: Ethics, Law and Policy, the first casebook on genetics and law, now in its second edition; author of Wondergenes: Genetic Enhancement and the Future of Society, published in 2003 by the Indiana University Press; and most recently, the author of The Price of Perfection: Individualism and Society in the Era of Biomedical Enhancement, published in 2009 by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

 

September 2008 - May 2009

Dr. Susan Marble Barranca

Major Richard T. Higdon, USAF, MSC

CDR Joseph J. McInerney, USN

Dr. Thomas B. Grassey

September 2007 - May 2008

LTCOL Guy Jordan, USMC

Dr. Ed Barrett, Ph.D..

Dr. Clementine Fujimura, Ph.D


Consultation Services

Captain Elizabeth Holmes, USN, (Ret.) has presented the following items with the support of Mr. Steven Newberry

 Marine Corps Combat/Operational Stress Control Conference: “A Model for Ethical Decision Making”

New England Education Assessment Network, The College of the Holy Cross, "Moral Education Assessment: Development, Implementation, and Application"

Judge Advocate General for the Navy Commander Training Symposium, Washington Navy Yard. "Moral Decision Making Case Study"

 International Symposium on Military Ethics (formerly, JSCOPE) University of San Diego, Special Plenary: “Ethical Leadership” “Ethical Decision- Making Research and Application”

National Consortium for Character-Based Leadership: Center for the Study of the Presidency, Georgetown University “Trends in Higher Education: How to Teach Character and Leadership”

22nd Annual Conference on the Teaching of Psychology Ideas and Innovations, Farmingdale State College SUNY: “The 21st Century Student: Computer Simulations to Teach Moral Reasoning” Workshop on cutting edge pedagogy in the psychology classroom.

 Dept Health and Human Services, Office of Research Integrity: "Developing technology to teach research ethics."

United States Coast Guard Academy, Commandants Office for Education and Training: "Teaching Ethics Using “The Weekend” case simulation.

Naval War College, Dept of Leadership: "Developing Distance Education Ethics Modules



Innovation

 

Ethics Bowls - Funded by Class of 1964

Since 2001, the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership has fielded teams for the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl, sponsored by the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE), a Baltimore regional Ethics Bowl, and the annual Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles Business Ethics competition. The APPE and Baltimore regional competitions are similar to traditional debate competitions. In these competitions, teams discuss 15 cases involving moral dilemmas from public and private life and present solutions to panels of judges drawn from academia and the private sector.  In the Los Angeles competition, teams analyze an ethical dilemma faced by an organization and develop and present recommended solutions to judges from the senior management ranks of various companies.

In preparation for the competitions, team members, and other interested midshipmen, meet a minimum of twice a week with Stockdale Center staff member Dr. Shaun Baker to analyze cases, rehearse arguments, and polish presentation skills.  Annually, up to thirty midshipmen participate in the preparation sessions and competitions.  The Stockdale Center selects the Naval Academy representatives for these competitions, funds the participants, and sends Dr. Baker as accompanying coach for the competitions.

Through the Ethics Bowl competitions, midshipmen hone their ethical reasoning and presentation skills, compete in an intense environment, and represent both the Naval Academy and the military to a primarily civilian audience.  The Bowl teams’ repeated successes are a testament to the effectiveness of the Naval Academy’s ethics and leadership programs, as well as the mentorship of the Stockdale Center staff.

Ethics Simulations

The Stockdale Center has produced two ethical decision making simulations Last Call and The Weekend  in partnership with WILL Interactive Inc., thanks to the generous funding from the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, Mr. Stephen G. Newberry, U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1975, and Mr. Paul E. Tuttle Jr., U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1967.

Participants in the simulations are immersed in a realistic world that they see on the computer screen.  They are presented with a situation that has moral and ethical dimensions.  The participants are then faced with a series of decisions.  Because the simulation is interactive, every choice made leads the narrative in a different direction and brings ramifications and consequences. The decisions made affect the situation’s outcome. 

The simulations comes with a practical, step-by-step tool that walks the participant through a decision-making process, going from moral awareness through moral action.  Learning to apply an ethical leadership decision-making model assists students in developing the moral “muscle memory” that will be required in high-stress, morally ambiguous situations.  Difficult ethical decision making becomes easier when it is built on a foundation of ongoing practice.  Learning to walk the steps from moral awareness is an indispensable skill for an ethical leader.

The Stockdale Center aims to develop another simulation to teach ethical leadership decision making to collegiate athletes using a team sports scenario, because so many college students are involved in sports.  Sports experiences are often used as metaphors as a way to understand leadership.  Many situations that team captains and other athletes encounter have ethical dimensions, requiring a systematic, logical way to recognize them and think through the dilemmas.  Because the situations often involve universal issues—such as fairness, truth-telling, determining how to deal with inappropriate behavior—decision-making skills learned in a sports environment can be applied beyond the field of competition.

Low Ropes

The Stockdale Center supports the training of Navy and Marine Corps Faculty and Staff members to become qualified Low Ropes Facilitators.  Low Ropes is a portable system that provides facilitators an opportunity to engage midshipmen in alternative learning environments in order to stress different aspects of teamwork and leadership; this includes topics such as trust, communication, planning, and critical thinking.  Low Ropes combines tools and props such as steel beams, ropes, rubber mats, and balls with stories and scenarios to engage midshipmen in a fun and safe environment.



Dissemination

Lawrence Ethics Essay Award - Funded by Class of 1981

Each semester, the Stockdale Center organizes a competition to select the outstanding ethics essay written in the Academy's core ethics course for third class midshipmen, NE203, Ethics and Moral Reasoning for the Naval Leader. We give the 4-6 finalists' papers (usually 8-10 pages in length) to outside readers to review, asking them to provide a rank-order and brief comments.  The rankings determine a winner for each academic term.  The winner and all the finalist are honored at a dinner funded by the Class of 1981.

Annual Moral Courage lecture - Funded by Class of 1964

The Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership hosts an annual Moral Courage Lecture during the fall semester for all third class midshipmen.  The lecture complements NE203. In the past, the Moral Courage Lecture featured Mr. Hugh Thompson and Mr. Larry Colburn.  Mr. Thompson and Mr. Colburn were recognized as the unsung heroes who confronted those who perpetrated the My Lai massacre during the Vietnamese War.  With Mr. Thompson’s death in 2006, the Stockdale Center has diversified its search for speakers among military personnel from recent conflicts who have a compelling story to share. The moral courage lecture is also open to the entire Naval Academy community and the general public.

Spring Stutt Lecture - Funded by Mr. William C. Stutt

Endowed in honor of Mr. William C. Stutt and his wife Carolyn Stutt, the Stutt Lecture is delivered annually in the Spring semester to midshipmen third class enrolled in the Academy’s required core course NE203.  Lecturers in this series are distinguished civilian scholars from leading colleges and universities who present and discuss contemporary dilemmas in military ethics. This year’s Stutt Lecturer was presented by Professor Jeffrey McMahan, Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, and senior fellow at the Center for Ethics and Human Values at Princeton University.  McMahan has written extensively on international law, international relations, philosophy of law, and the law of war.  On March 25, 2008, McMahan spoke to the members of the Class of 2010 on the topic of “proportionality” in just war doctrine, and on the various ways in which this concept can be understood and applied to both decisions to go to war and the conduct of military operations during war. Transcripts of past lectures can be accessed on our publications page.

 Ethics for the Junior Officer  - Funded by Class of 1964

Since 1999, the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership has organized an annual event, sponsored by the Class of 1964 and the Class of 1984. Members of the classes of '64 and '84 travel from around the world to spend time with midshipmen, discussing their experiences and ethical challenges in the fleet or in the business world. In addition, each member of the graduating class is personally presented with a copy of the book Ethics for the Junior Officer, produced by the Stockdale Center. The 2009 and following editions will be in Portable Document Format (PDF) and will be made available on the Stockdale Center website. In addition, recipients and other interested readers will be able to submit cases for consideration and inclusion in subsequent editions.

On the evenings of April 15-17, 2008 the Classes of 1964 and 1984 presented their class gift, the book Ethics for the Junior Officer, to each member of the Class of 2008; efforts for the distribution were coordinated by the Stockdale Center.  Each ceremony was conducted inside the Naval Academy’s Memorial Hall and lasted approximately one hour.  The evening began with addresses to the midshipmen by Colonel Arthur Athens, USMC (Ret.), Director of the Stockdale Center, and Captain Dave Tuma, USN (Ret.), President of the Class of 1964; the gentlemen covered the history behind the book, its significance and value to all junior officers in the fleet, and encouraged the midshipmen to become familiar with the book prior to graduation in order to be better equipped for the issues they would soon face following their commissioning.  Overall, the books were very well received by the midshipmen, and various members of the Classes of ’64 and ’84 were able to share some of their experiences with midshipmen on a more personal level.

USD exchange - Funded by Class of 1964

The Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership sponsors an annual exchange program with the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) unit at the University of San Diego (USD).  During the fall semester, two to four USNA midshipmen and a Stockdale Center staff member travel from the Naval Academy to San Diego to participate in the Stockdale Leadership and Ethics Symposium at USD.  This three-day event enables midshipmen to gain an appreciation for the activities of an NROTC unit, compare ethics and leadership instruction between an NROTC unit and USNA, and actively participate in a well-established and well-recognized symposium.  Past speakers at the Stockdale Symposium have included Dr. Albert Pierce, Admiral Leon A. Edney, Colonel H. R. McMaster, Mr. Joe Galloway, Admiral Stanley R. Arthur, Senator James Webb and Mr. Richard L. Armitage. In reciprocation with USD, the Stockdale Center hosts two to four USD midshipmen and an NROTC staff member in Annapolis, typically during the USNA Leadership Conference held each winter at USNA.

Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation program - Funded by the Class of 1964

The Auschwitz Jewish Center, a Polish-based organization committed to the study of the Holocaust and the life that preceded it, along with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, works with each of the U.S. Service Academies to bring outstanding midshipmen and cadets to Poland each summer. The chosen four to five Academy representatives spend three weeks meeting with scholars, high-level government officials, students from Eastern Europe, and citizens of Poland. They also engage in intensive workshops designed to educate and immerse them in Polish culture, both before and after WWII.

The purpose of the Service Academy Program is to display in vivid terms what can happen in the absence of free, open, and democratic governing institutions. Through learning in detail about the Holocaust and events leading up to it, the Academy representatives understand what can happen when evil is given free reign, when democratic ideals are not defended, and when ordinary citizens choose compliance over action. Highlights include: trips to Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz, and Galicia; private receptions at various embassies; meetings with Polish and U.S. military personnel; lectures from leading scholars and Holocaust survivors about the rise of the Third Reich and the world’s response to the Holocaust; and in-depth discussions of current events in the light of these historical events. The trip gives Academy representatives a chance to interact not only with cadets from USMA and USAFA, but with students from Eastern Europe, who are hungry for contacts with young people in the United States.

Past participants report that the trip is a life changing experience.  Many of them maintain contact with friends they make on the trip.  Midshipmen have also used what they learn by sharing their experiences with other midshipmen in various settings and acting as guides for Plebe Summer trips to the American Museum of the Holocaust in Washington D.C. These trips are sponsored annually by the Levy Center.

Faculty/Staff Ethics Roundtables - Funded by Class of 1964 

During spring semester, the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership hosted two roundtables led by distinguished visiting scholars.  The 20 March roundtable was led by Dr. John Kelsay, Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Religion at Florida State University and one of the nation’s experts on Islamic perspectives on the ethics of war.   Drawing on his latest book, Arguing the Just War in Islam, Dr. Kelsay discussed the sources of Islamic law, the evolution of the Islamic just war tradition, and Muslim critiques of bin Laden’s interpretation of the just war criteria of right authority and discrimination. The 1 April session was led by Dr. Michael J. Perry, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory Law School and an expert on the relationship of morality to law.  His latest book, Toward a Theory of Human Rights: Religion, Law, Courts, was published in 2006 by Cambridge University Press.  The roundtable debate focused on two issues: the metaphysical foundations of human rights, and the respective merits of secular and religious defenses of these foundations.



Other Notable Events in 2007-2008

 

The Dreyfus Affair: Voices of Honor, Exhibition and Reception - Funded by Friends of Jewish Chapel/USNA

The facsimile exhibit of the Lorraine Beitler Collection of the Dreyfus Affair was housed in Mitscher Hall of the Naval Academy from September 15 to March 25.   In honor and gratitude of  Mr. and Mrs. Beitler, the Friends of the Jewish Chapel, and the Stockdale Center held a reception on March 26. There was a brief program of speakers in Mitscher Hall, followed by a catered reception in the Ottenstein Hallway of the Uriah P. Levy Center.  U.S. Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Admiral Jeffrey L. Fowler, Colonel Art Athens, Director of the Stockdale Center as well as Doctor Beitler herself, spoke at this event.

Captain Alfred Dreyfus was a Jewish-French Captain accused of espionage in 1894.  Dreyfus’s family, friends, notables around the world, including President Theodore Roosevelt and French military, political and cultural leaders worked for his eventual exoneration.  The scandal was exposed in an article by French journalist Emile Zola, famously titled “J’Accuse . . .!” published in 1898.  The exhibit documents the history of the Dreyfus Affair and has traveled the world, educating people on the event itself and its impact on art, society, and politics of France and the modern world.  The facsimile exhibit contains artifacts and printed media, brought to the academy because of its connection to military ethics.  The case raises issues of civil military relations with regard to judicial matters, media responsibility and press freedom, and presents stirring examples of moral courage by persons involved.

A PDF file of the program especially created for the exhibition by the U.S. Naval Academy Publications Office, the Stockdale Center, and Dr. Beitler can be viewed here: The Dreyfus Affair: Voices of Honor

 

Dr. Phil Zimbardo Lecture - Nazi Germany, Armenia, Darfur, Abu Ghraib (How could they happen?)

The Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership sponsored and funded a special lecture presented to all second class midshipmen in April 2008 by Dr. Philip Zimbardo, a world-renowned psychologist.  Dr. Zimbardo has been a Stanford University professor since 1968, having taught previously at Yale, NYU and Columbia.  Zimbardo's career is noted for popularizing psychology through his PBS-TV series, Discovering Psychology, along with many text and trade books, among his 300 publications.  He is also well-known for the Stanford Prison Experiment that he conducted in 1971 to study the effect of prison environments on both inmates and correction officers. During the presentation, Zimbardo referenced his recently published book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil and described his study of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal to offer the second class midshipmen a unique perspective on leadership, training, command climate, and moral courage.  Dr. Zimbardo was very well received by the midshipmen and the Center is looking at opportunities to have him return to the Academy on a regular basis. You can view or listen to Dr. Zimbardo's lecture here: Psychology of Evil: The Lucifer Effect in Action

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