Graduate Awards

 
The Kenan Institute for Ethics offers an annual Graduate Award and Fellows program to support the ethics-related research and teaching of Duke graduate students.

The Kenan Instructorship in Ethics

The Kenan Instructorship in Ethics will be awarded to an advanced graduate or professional school student proposing to design and teach an ethics course in his or her area of expertise. All graduate and professional students at Duke are eligible to apply.

The Instructorship award is for nine months beginning in September. In addition to teaching a course in the spring, the Instructorship recipient will assist in a .5-credit fall course, “Discussions in Ethics,” for the Ethics Certificate program.

The Institute welcomes the Instructor as a full member of our community. As part of that community, the Instructor is provided an office where he or she is required to spend at least 20 hours per week during regular working hours (8am-6pm, Monday through Friday) in both the fall and spring. The Instructor is also expected to participate with Institute graduate fellows and faculty in regular Monday lunch discussions of works-in-progress, as well as in other Institute events and gatherings.

Only students who have successfully defended their dissertation proposal or comparable qualifying paper are eligible to apply. The application includes:

  • a one-page letter of interest
  • a one-paragraph description of your dissertation
  • a one-page overview of the course you propose including selected readings
  • a vita
  • two letters of reference NO LONGER than two pages each that can attest specifically to your ability to teach an interdisciplinary ethics course. The letters must be sent electronically directly from the faculty member to the email address below.

Applications or references exceeding length limits will not be accepted.
Contact Lou Brown with any questions.

There will be no graduate instructorship awarded for 2013-14. Please check back in late Fall 2013 for updates on this program.

 

Past Instructors and Courses

  • Dimitri Putilin (2012-13), Psychology and Neuroscience
  • Shana Starobin (2011-12), Nicholas School, “The Political and Ethical Economy of Food”
  • Amber Diaz (2010-11), Political Science, “Ethics in Global Politics”
  • Aaron Thornburg (2009-10), Cultural Anthropology, “Anthropology and Ethics: Cultural Caring or Colonial Collusion”
  • Alexander Loney (2008-09), Classical Studies, “The Poetics and Ethics of Revenge: Themes of Retributive Justice in Literature”
  • Laura Grattan (2007-08), Political Science, “Imagining Immigration: The Ethics and Politics of the Border”
  • Anne Gulick (2006-07), English, “Romancing the Law: Human Rights, Anti-colonialism, and Late 20th Century Narratives of Global Justice”
  • Sahar Akhtar (2005-06), Philosophy, “The Ethics and Practice of Altruism”
  • Marion Hourdequin (2004-05), Philosophy, “Pluralism, Relativism and Social Reform”
  • Tamler Sommers (2003-04), Philosophy, “Freedom and Moral Responsibility”
  • Craig Borowiak (2002-03), Political Science, “Democratic Possibilities in a Globalized World”
  • Andrew Terjesen (2001-02), Philosophy, “Sympathy, Empathy and Morality”
  • Brook Sadler (2000-01), Philosophy, “The Amoralist’s Challenge”
  • Johnny Goldfinger (1999-2000), Political Science, “Multiculturalism and Public Policy”
  • Gregg Behr and John Simpkins (1998-99), Public Policy Studies, “The Content of our Character: Civic Leadership and Participation”
  • Jennifer Doyle (1997-98), Literature, “Art and Ethics: U.S. Culture in Context”

Graduate Fellows

Our Graduate Fellows are an interdisciplinary group of advanced graduate students who participate in a monthly seminar with faculty discussing faculty and graduate student work in progress. The Graduate Fellowships are meant to encourage students with research interests in the area of ethics, broadly construed, to meet and discuss their research with other fellows, KIE faculty, and visiting speakers over the course of the year. Faculty and graduate fellows meet on Mondays for lunch and to discuss research presented from someone within the group or by a visiting speaker. Students from all relevant disciplines are eligible, and students in the earlier stages of their graduate careers are encouraged to apply. Attendance at the weekly Monday workshops is required; the fellowship comes with a $5,000 stipend that supplements any other funding a student already receives.