2008 Woodie Awards
Biomedical ethics not accepting new concentrators
Program will be reviewed by CCC in 3 years
Tsvetina Kamenova
Issue date: 3/16/05 Section: Campus News
Starting this spring semester, the University is no longer accepting declarations for the Biomedical Ethics concentration.
In the 1970s, Brown was the first higher learning institution to offer a separate concentration in this interdisciplinary field that draws on biology, philosophy and religious studies. Though Biomedical Ethics has since become an established concentration at other colleges, Brown is suspending the program due to a lack of funding and available faculty.
The concentration will continue to be listed in University concentration materials, but will not accept new concentrators for at least three years, at which point the College Curriculum Council will discuss the question again, said Dean of the College Paul Armstrong.
There is continued student interest in the program. For many of the prospective and current concentrators, it was the main reason for choosing to attend Brown. "I just can't believe that it's about the faculty and not the students," said Emily Katz '05, who has been at the forefront of the student initiative to keep the concentration in existence.
As with many small interdisciplinary concentrations, biomedical ethics is not its own department and has no official physical "home," but is pulled together by interested faculty members.
Professor of Religious Studies Rosaline Ladd has sustained the concentration since its founder, Dan Brock, left to teach at Harvard. She has taught in the program for more than 20 years and served as a concentration adviser for the past several years. She describes the biomedical ethics program as providing "a strong interdisciplinary background and skills in critical analysis for students who are preparing for careers in medicine, law, public policy, etc."
"As I understand it, the official policy is not to support concentrations that rely on adjunct faculty appointments," Ladd wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
"A concentration needs to be taught by regular, tenured faculty that can be depended on," Armstrong said in support of the decision to cancel the concentration. Armstrong also pointed out that the concentration wouldn't be "officially" closed, as the CCC will reexamine the program in three years.
In the 1970s, Brown was the first higher learning institution to offer a separate concentration in this interdisciplinary field that draws on biology, philosophy and religious studies. Though Biomedical Ethics has since become an established concentration at other colleges, Brown is suspending the program due to a lack of funding and available faculty.
The concentration will continue to be listed in University concentration materials, but will not accept new concentrators for at least three years, at which point the College Curriculum Council will discuss the question again, said Dean of the College Paul Armstrong.
There is continued student interest in the program. For many of the prospective and current concentrators, it was the main reason for choosing to attend Brown. "I just can't believe that it's about the faculty and not the students," said Emily Katz '05, who has been at the forefront of the student initiative to keep the concentration in existence.
As with many small interdisciplinary concentrations, biomedical ethics is not its own department and has no official physical "home," but is pulled together by interested faculty members.
Professor of Religious Studies Rosaline Ladd has sustained the concentration since its founder, Dan Brock, left to teach at Harvard. She has taught in the program for more than 20 years and served as a concentration adviser for the past several years. She describes the biomedical ethics program as providing "a strong interdisciplinary background and skills in critical analysis for students who are preparing for careers in medicine, law, public policy, etc."
"As I understand it, the official policy is not to support concentrations that rely on adjunct faculty appointments," Ladd wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
"A concentration needs to be taught by regular, tenured faculty that can be depended on," Armstrong said in support of the decision to cancel the concentration. Armstrong also pointed out that the concentration wouldn't be "officially" closed, as the CCC will reexamine the program in three years.