Kenan professor takes research – and music – on the road as visiting scholar

Wayne Norman, the Mike and Ruth Mackowski Professor of Ethics in the Kenan Institute for Ethics and Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, is visiting Massachusetts’ Bentley University this week as its 2017 Valente Center Distinguished Visiting Scholar.

During his time on the Bentley campus – located just outside Boston – Norman is taking part in special events for students, faculty and the public, each focusing on aspects of business and adversarial ethics. On March 29, he’ll present the public talk “How to be an Ethical Adversary Without Tying One Hand Behind Your Back,” an exploration of the permissibility of “playing to win” among social and cultural institutions. A faculty seminar will take place March 30, in which Norman will discuss the question of “Why would anybody voluntarily take a course in business ethics?”

In addition to these standard modes of academic communication, Norman is also sharing his academic and teaching interests through song. On March 29, he’ll perform a set of “Ivory Tower Rock!” songs he has written about famous ethical arguments by Plato, Confucius, and MIT philosophy professor Judith Jarvis Thompson in a pub at the Bentley Student Center.

For more information about Norman’s time at Bentley University, visit the Valente Center for Arts & Sciences website.