From its inception, the Kenan institute for Ethics has sought to combine experience and analysis so that each informs the other and both provide opportunities for intellectual and moral growth. This combination requires a diverse community of faculty, students, and practitioners who encounter each other in and out of the classroom.

For students, entry into this community can begin at one of many points—including before they have formally become Duke students. in collaboration with the Duke Women’s center, we are about to begin the second year of Project change, an eight-day pre-matriculation program for incoming freshmen on ethical leadership. Last year, more than 300 students ap- plied for 20 spots.

Another key opportunity for students to join our community is through the Ethics certificate Program. We are pleased to have just graduated our first class of certificate holders—7 in all—and we are on track to graduate 23 next year. total program enrollment is up 43% and our Gateway course, Living an Ethical Life, has seen a 200% increase in enrollment. In short, there is a real hunger on the part of our students for rigorous courses and for a community that links passion and purpose.

There is also a hunger for teachers who care deeply about the minds and spirits of our students, and none has done more in this regard then Peter Euben, the Kenan Distinguished Faculty Fellow. Euben created the certificate Program’s Gateway course and manages to both profoundly unsettle and inspire students. Poorav Rohatgi, an Ethics certificate Program student, describes his experience with Peter Euben in the cover story.

Ethical issues are, of course, global in nature, and our students tackle thorny issues such as those at the intersection of immigration, race, and nationhood by working with the youth refugee community in Dublin through our DukeEngage Dublin program. We also recently offered an alternative Spring Break program that sent students to the historic leper colony on the barren island of Molokai to explore difficult issues in context.

Some students elect to try out one of these programs; many participate in several of them and go on to launch their own initiatives. In this way we are creating a real community of institute-affiliated students to complement our ongoing efforts to infuse ethics across the campus, from film series and speakers to work with the Honor council and athletics.

Equally important, we are extending our community of faculty through a series of joint appointments (see the interview with Kieran Healy on page 4), a network of senior fellows, and a robust array of seminars and conferences. For instance, Senior Fellow Dan Ariely led a seminar on moral decision-making this year called “Almost Honest,” which drew faculty from law, medicine, business, psychology, sociology, history, public policy, and philosophy; and Senior Fellow Ruth Grant convened a conference on “in Search of Goodness” in preparation for a forthcoming book. Read her reflections on goodness on page 3.

As these and other faculty and student programs grow, they will need a space where communities of inquiry can settle and cross-pollinate. Happily, even amidst the economic downturn, we are physically expanding to include new work, conference, and gathering spaces. to borrow from one definition of the Greek word for “ethos,” we seek to make the institute an “ac- customed place” in which faculty, students, and practitioners can thrive. I invite you to visit us as we grow and to join us in creating this community.

– Noah Pickus