Team Kenan at the Kenan Institute for Ethics » Events

Do Lunch with Michael Ignatieff, Apr. 19

Team Kenan — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:00:29 +0000

Join us April 19^th at noon for a wide-ranging discussion on politics and globalization with this year’s Kenan Distinguished Lecturer in Ethics, Michael Ignatieff. Dr. Michael Ignatieff is a Canadian scholar, author, television and radio broadcaster, and former leader of Canada’s Liberal Party (2008-2011). Dr. Ignatieff has published on subjects such as the English penal system, the human need for community, modern warfare, and human rights. His more recent work has also addressed the ethics of waging wars against terrorism. In addition to his non-fiction work, Ignatieff wrote a television play, Dialogue in the Dark, and his second novel Scar Tissue (1993) was short-listed for both the Booker Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread Novel Award. He currently holds joint appointments at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, and is also the Chair for the Carnegie Council Centennial Project, “Ethics for a Connected World,” meant to stimulate current and future generations to consider the role of ethics in an increasingly interconnected world.

When: April 19^th at noon
Where: West Duke 107F
RSVP: Via this link by April 17^th

The Science of Success, Apr. 2

Team Kenan — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:02:06 +0000

How do students’ backgrounds impact their experiences and performance before Duke, at Duke, and beyond? To what extent does preparation affect student success academically and otherwise? How do racial/ethnic and economic differences affect the challenges and opportunities students face during and after their undergraduate experience? Does diversity of experience create more opportunities or more challenges?

Join us for a dinner discussion on being successful at Duke, what we know about students’ preparation for life at Duke, and what happens after students graduate from the university. The conversation will feature Peter Arcidiacono, Professor of Economics, Jason Mendez, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Program in Education, and Baishakhi Taylor, Assistant Dean for Trinity College.

Dinner will be provided for those who RSVP by Friday, March 29^th.

When: April 2^nd from 6:30pm to 8pm
Where: Gothic Reading Room, Perkins Library
RSVP: Here

Do Lunch with Marc Dreyfors, Mar. 27

Team Kenan — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:06:17 +0000

Come join a lively discussion on the increasing dilemma of biofuels vs. food production in a resource-constraining world. Drought, flood, heat and fires caused by greenhouse gases are affecting land-use and global climate. How will we feed ourselves, much less fuel our growth-dependent economies? Can we lift the 2 billion developing country poor out of poverty while the impacts of climate disruption unfold? We are facing fewer and harder choices, but the answers may lie within the choices we make daily.

Marc Dreyfors is a graduate from the School of Foresty and Environmental Studies at Duke. He has tested all aspects of our market economy, willingness-to-pay and decision-making processes through the operations of several green businesses, including fair trade handicrafts focusing on areas of high biodiversity, the construction of a biodiesel plant and fuel distribution company and a green transportation business.

When: Wednesday, March 27^th at noon
Where: 101 West Duke Building
RSVP: Here.

Big Questions: Cultural Preservation and Government, Mar. 25

Team Kenan — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:11:55 +0000

In France, the L’Académie française decides what qualifies as appropriate French language. In Iceland, a panel of experts passes judgment on which names are “Icelandic enough” to be allowed on official documents. In Canada, a percentage of all media broadcasted must be natively produced. These kinds of government-mandated attempts at cultural preservation are relatively common, but what sorts of ethical dilemmas do they create? Should parents really only be able to name their children based on an official registry of names? Is slang language really not language if it isn’t recognized by the appropriate board of experts? Does “culture” require government protections in order to sustain it? Should culture thrive without state intervention?

Join us Monday, March 25^th in 103 West Duke Building from 3:30 to 5 for a student-led discussion about the ethics of cultural preservation. This topic was chosen in part due to arguments we’ve been having in response to Nihir’s recent blog post on Icelandic naming restrictions.

Do Lunch with Theresa Newman, Mar. 6

Team Kenan — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:32:57 +0000

Team Kenan invites you to Do Lunch with Theresa Newman, Clinical Professor of Law and faculty advisor to the student-led Innocence Project.

Prof. Newman has dedicated her life to bringing justice to those who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes. As the co-director of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic and the associate director of the Duke Law School Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility, Newman has extensive experience tackling the ethical obligations of the legal system to the people it serves. As the advisor to the Innocence Project, Newman oversees a group of students at Duke Law who work to exonerate victims of wrongful convictions, engage in policy reform, and help exonerees in their reintegration to society. She also sits on the board of the international Innocence Network, of which the Innocence Project is a part.

Join us for a conversation on the strengths and flaws of the legal system and how we can work to improve it.

When: March 6^th at noon
Where: 101 West Duke Building, East Campus

Lunch will be catered by Parker & Otis. Registration is limited to 25 students, so sign up now!

Edit: Registration is full at this time

Big Questions: Internet Vigilanteism, Mar. 4

Christian — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:16:10 +0000

Is it possible to crowdsource justice? Do movements to shame bad behavior represent some sort of twenty-first century reputational lynching? Join us on Monday, March 4^th at 3:30pm in West Duke 103 for a wide-ranging discussion of the ways we harness the power of the Internet to take justice into our own hands. Are tools to bring attention to bad behavior empowering or terrifying? Can we have justice without due process? Is the threat of shame a better deterrent than the punishments available through the justice system? This week’s topic is inspired by Grace’s recent Devil’s Dilemma post rounding up recent examples of people taking to the Internet to exact justice (or revenge?) on various others. See you Monday!

The Science of Selection, Feb. 21

Team Kenan — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:09:55 +0000

Selection processes aren’t just for the admissions office; they happen all the time across campus and beyond. Rush season spurs all kinds of group decision-making within campus organizations, but the way we form social groups has implications for student life—and life after college. Are you intrigued by student-run selective processes and how they impact students and campus as a whole? What social and psychological factors contribute to the ways students (and people more generally) make decisions about the groups with which they affiliate? When is group diversity desirable and when might it be problematic? Join Team Kenan for a panel discussion over dinner in the Gothic Reading Room. Panelists include Donna Lisker (Office of Undergraduate Education), and Gary Glass (CAPS).

Be sure to RSVP to guarantee a free and delicious dinner of your choice from NOSH restaurant!

What: The Science of Selection
When: February 21^st at 7:30pm
Where: Gothic Reading Room, Perkins Library
RSVP: Here

Dinner guaranteed for those who RSVP by Feb. 19^th at noon.

Big Questions: Animal Ethics, Feb. 18

Team Kenan — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 16:36:21 +0000

This week’s Big Questions session tackles issues surrounding animal ethics. Do animals have any rights that we should recognize as universal? Should we value wildlife and pets according to different rubrics? Is it okay to eat animals? Under what circumstances is not acceptable to eat them? This topic was inspired by Nihir’s recent Devil’s Dilemma post about a New Zealand economist who has recommended a on ban cats in order to protect the many endemic and endangered species of birds in his country.

Join us in West Duke 103 for snacks and conversation Monday, February 18^th from 3:30 until 5pm. No RSVP is necessary; this event is free and open to everyone.

TK Food Challenge, Feb. 17

Team Kenan — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:02:17 +0000

Preparing meals is more complicated than just adding water. Food is a luxury for some, a scarcity for others, and political no matter who is eating at the table. Join Team Kenan for an afternoon of experiential learning to explore the factors that influence people’s food decisions. For this Challenge, we will be getting out of the lecture hall, into the grocery store and the kitchen. Whether you are sent to Dollar General, Whole Foods, given a car or set off by foot, you and the rest of your family of five for the afternoon will be expected to have dinner on table that evening. Each family’s financial situation will be different, so you will have to budget your time, energy and funds wisely. Over dinner, Kenan Graduate Fellow and Nicholas School Ph.D candidate Shana Starobin will help us better understand what food politics and food insecurities look like in our neighborhoods and neighborhoods that look very different from ours.

No cost to participate. Challenge by food choice. Are you up for it?

When: Sunday, February 17^th, starting at 3pm
Where: Meet at the Kenan Institute for Ethics
RSVP: Here

Do Lunch with Kevin Trapani, Nov. 29

Team Kenan — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 15:57:49 +0000

Think business and ethics should intersect? Meet a business leader who argues that the key to his company’s success is doing the right thing. Kevin Trapani is president and chief executive officer of The Redwoods Group, an insurance provider specializing in YMCAs, Jewish Community Centers and nonprofit resident camps around the nation. The Redwoods Group is renowned as a leader in corporate social responsibility and was recently named one of the best companies for the world in terms of overall impact by B Lab.

A 1979 Duke University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in political science, Trapani is a regular speaker on sustainability and corporate social responsibility at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. He is currently participating in a year-long Latino Initiatives study group for the University of North Carolina’s Center for International Understanding to help Triangle leaders better serve the needs of Mexican immigrants.

Prior to forming The Redwoods Group in 1997, Trapani was executive vice president of Burlington Insurance Group, senior vice president and chief underwriting officer of Coregis Insurance Group and held senior leadership positions at Great American Insurance Companies and the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. Trapani also started the first statewide health maintenance organization in New Jersey.

When: November 29^th from noon to 1:30pm
Where: 101 West Duke Building

Lunch will be provided for the first 25 to RSVP by November 27^th. Click here to RSVP.