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.
This year’s McCain Conference,
planned in collaboration with the prestigious Carnegie
Council on Ethics and International Affairs (New York),
featured an analysis of obedience and loyal dissent
within the military and civilian chain of command, and
the legal and moral responsibilities of officers both
for loyal obedience, and for providing sound
professional military advice to the chain of command,
even in dissent. Keynote speakers included General
Anthony C. Zinni (U.S. Marine Corps, retired), Major
General Paul D. Eaton (U.S. Army, retired), and
Lieutenant General John Altenburg (U.S. Army Judge
Adjutant General Corps, retired).
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 professional military ethics,
including ethics and the use of military force. These individuals, selected from the Naval Academy and a
national pool of applicants, participate in regular seminars and conduct independent, guided 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 2009-2010 academic year, please
click here for application information.
Fellows - Funded by
Class of
1958 and
1967
September 2007 - May
2008
LTCOL Guy
Jordan, USMC
LTCOL Jordan
taught a section of NE 203/ethics in the spring, served
as liaison and presenter on topics in ethics at
Quantico, and worked intensively toward his Master's
Degree at the Army War College (Carlisle).
Dr. Ed
Barrett
Dr. Ed Barrett has
served as the Naval Academy Class of 1958 Resident
Fellow for the past two years. Dr. Barrett has brought
a unique perspective to the Fellowship Program as both
an accomplished academic and a U.S. Air Force Reserve
Officer with combat experience. Because of his
background, his personal interest in the Naval Academy
and armed forces, and the new direction the Stockdale Center is
taking the Fellowship program, the Center desires to
retain Dr. Barrett for a one year period as a
Supervisory Senior Fellow.
Starting with the
Fellows class of 2008-09, the Center will be defining a
research topic for the Fellows to pursue during their
ten month residency—a topic relevant to the Academy or
broader Naval Service. The Fellows will pursue this
subject area and produce scholarly articles and white
papers that can be used by the Academy and the Naval
Service to better understand the topic and help shape
future policy and procedural decisions. Dr. Barrett
will facilitate the transition to a single research
topic, oversee the work done by the Fellows, and provide
the military perspective needed by the Fellows.
Dr. Clementine
Fujimura
As a fellow at the Stockdale Center, during the academic year 2007-2008, she
conducted ethnographic research on military concepts of
culture and how the military believes it is preparing
both officers and enlisted for their work abroad.
Specific questions beyond the culture concepts and
implementation of cultural training include:
-
In tandem with teaching culture to the military,
what ethical considerations and values must be in
place?
-
How do different components of the military define
culture?
-
How is culture taught?
-
How does one promote the ethical use of cultural
knowledge via study? That is what is the most
helpful pedagogy in this type of learning
environment?
-
What aspects of cultural study are most helpful to
the future officer?
This research
will directly benefit USNA in terms of curriculum
development. A study of US military culture offers
material for students to gain insight into their own
culture and into concepts including socialization and
enculturation, and will aid the USNA initiative to
diversify, encourage acceptance of otherness and improve
gender relations. Parts of this work will be published
next year in edited volumes supported by the Maxwell
Center at Syracuse University and the Society for
Advanced Research, Santa Fe.
This year she
piloted “Introduction to Intercultural Communication.”
As part of the course, students were immersed in various
communities. A field trip took them to Gallaudet
University to expose students to differences in culture
within the U.S. At the Stockdale Center she lead a
seminar on Military Anthropology for faculty. The works
read have been compiled in the Center’s library. As a
fellow, she represented the Center at a number of
invited organizations as a guest lecturer, speaker and
workshop participant.
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
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.
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
