(BALTIMORE, Md.) – Notre Dame of Maryland University’s Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl student team is heading to the national competition for the first time after advancing to the semifinals in last month’s regional bowl held on campus. The students will compete against 35 top regional teams in the national bowl Feb. 26-27, 2022 at the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics Conference (APPE) in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Made up of first-time participants, the NDMU team explored the practical and professional ethics of a variety of cases involving contemporary issues, such as vaccine mandates, teaching critical race theory in schools, defunding the police, cryptocurrency, and DC statehood.
“The team was not only well prepared, but was also an inspiration to watch,” said Dr. Pamela O’Brien, dean of the School of Arts, Sciences & Business. “The students were intellectual and well spoken, while demonstrating the height of teamwork and sportsmanship. In other words, they were everything that we hope an NDMU woman will be.”
The team members are:
NDMU’s School of Arts, Sciences & Business and Philosophy Department hosted 16 schools for last month’s daylong regional competition. Team coach, Assistant Professor Jessica Davis of the Philosophy Department, prepared the students to analyze each case thoroughly and present their arguments, with support from department Chairperson Nancy Tarr Hart and Assistant Professor Jina Fast.
Every year, the top 36 teams from 12 regional competitions compete in the APPE’s National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl, taking place as part of the APPE’s international conference. Before the competition, each team prepares an analysis of several case sets developed by the APPE IEB® Case Writing Committees. During the competition, a case is selected from the set, and a moderator poses questions on its multiple ethical dimensions. A panel of judges evaluates the responses based on intelligibility, focus on ethically relevant considerations, avoidance of ethical irrelevance, and deliberative thoughtfulness.
Established in 1895, Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) is a private, Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland, with the mission to educate leaders to transform the world. Notre Dame has been named one of the best "Regional Universities North" by U.S. News & World Report.
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