Outreach and Service
I am committed to two important programs in our discipline. The first is Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE). The second is the High School and Collegiate Ethics Bowls. Let me say something about each program and what I have done to foster it.
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PPE
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I have for the past several years served with Geoff Sayre-McCord as a co-organizer for the international Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Society Meetings in New Orleans. In this role, I have assisted in producing the program and other organizational aspects of the conference.
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Moreover, I have participated in UNC's PPE program and Dartmouth's Political Economy Project, which is very similar in focus to PPE. When I was in graduate school, I served as graduate representative for the PPE program. In addition, I ran two PPE reading groups for undergraduates, one on the moral and political philosophy of John Stuart Mill and one on Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments. I have continued running reading groups for undergraduates through the Political Economy Project, once on Michael Huemer's The Problem of Political Authority and once on Elizabeth Anderson's Private Government.
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It is my view that we can't get an adequate understanding of social, political, and economic institutions without seeing them through the lens of each of the three disciplines (philosophy, political science, and economics). I am committed to the advancement of PPE as an intellectual enterprise, and to fostering the growth of PPE programs wherever feasible.
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The Ethics Bowl
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The Ethics Bowl is a debate-style competition designed to get students to think deeply and have productive discussions about challenging ethical issues. I served as a judge for the North Carolina and National High School Ethics Bowls throughout graduate school. I also wrote cases and, in my role as RA for the Parr Center for Ethics, helped to organize the competition. In addition, I coached both the High School Ethics Bowl team from the Durham School of the Arts and UNC's Collegiate Ethics Bowl teams.
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The Ethics Bowl is an excellent opportunity to get students from diverse backgrounds to wrestle with difficult ethical issues while at the same time instilling in them a commitment to the importance of philosophical ethics as an area of study and ethics itself as an important dimension along which to evaluate issues of public concern. I hope to continue the mission of the Parr Center for Ethics of expanding the Ethics Bowl across the country.
