Kenan Institute for Ethics
The Kenan Institute for Ethics is an interdisciplinary home for faculty, students, and staff dedicated to understanding and negotiating the moral challenges of our time through the energetic and capacious pursuit of good.
Good judgment, good character, good citizens, good government, the greatest good, the common good… We speak often of good, but in the absence of agreement about what we mean when we deploy the word. Good pursuits are passionate arguments about what it means to be human—about who we are, what we are doing, and what we ought to do.
Read more about good pursuits in this letter from our director, and explore stories about our programs below.
Good Life
Offering transformational educational experiences to students, alumni, and the public
Rebecca Vidra Wants to Bring Character Education into the Classroom
Kenan Institute for Ethics Senior Faculty Fellow Rebecca Vidra recently published an op-ed in Inside Higher Ed on her plans to incorporate character education into her courses — not only for her students, but also for herself.
This Senior is Embracing Life — While Helping Others Talk about Death
When Jenna Yeam T‘25 first stepped onto Duke’s campus her freshman year, she never would have imagined that she would graduate planning to become an end-of-life doula — a non-medical professional who provides support, companionship, and guidance to people facing a terminal illness or imminent death.
Good Community
Building bridges from classroom and campus to local and regional communities
Designing Healthcare Solutions with DukeEngage Uganda
Through DukeEngage Uganda, biomedical engineering students from Duke University and Makerere University collaborate on healthcare solutions. The students design prototypes of medical devices to meet the needs of local hospitals, using only low-cost materials that are available in Uganda.
For Students, a DukeEngage Program in a Small French Town Is a New Experience — but for the Faculty Director, It’s Home
During their summer in Saint-Avold, a former coal mining town in northeastern France, DukeEngage students worked with local organizations striving to improve economic and social conditions in the community. For them, it was a new experience — but for their faculty program director, Germain Choffart, it was a return home.
Good Society
Assessing and imagining institutions that meet the needs of our common life
Showcasing American Indian Cultures through Comic Books
In a recent Duke Today interview, Research for Indigenous Studies and Engagement in the United States (RISE-US) director Courtney Lewis talks about co-curating a Perkins Library exhibit on American Indian graphic art and what it can teach viewers about Indigenous peoples in the United States today.
Why Michael Sandel Thinks Universities Should Change Their Admissions Models
In an October event co-sponsored by the Kenan Institute for Ethics, leading political philosopher and Harvard professor Michael Sandel spoke about “The Tyranny of Merit: Can We Find the Common Good?” — his 2020 bestseller in which he offers different ways of thinking about success and who deserves it.
