Honoring Our Students

As another class of SCU students graduates, the Ethics Center salutes the seniors who have won awards and fellowships in 2008-09:

Markkula Prize

Anna Kozas, who served this year as the Honzel Fellow in Health Care Ethics, won the Markkula Prize for outstanding work in Applied Ethics. Kozas started working with the Center as a health care ethics intern in 2007-08 and was the first student to intern at Seton Medical Center in Daly City. This year, she served as a mentor to the new group of interns. She also created a case study on a recent college graduate who suffers from a chronic illness but has no medical insurance. Established by the Center's Advisory Board, the prize is named for A.C. "Mike" Markkula Jr., seed funder and first Advisory Board chairman of the Center.

Engineering Ethics Prize

For best ethical analysis in a senior design project, SCU students Karen Chapski, Lauren-Ashly Tojo, and Frances Zelaya won the 2009 Santa Clara University Engineering Ethics Prize. Their project, Nephelometer: An Aerosol Detection Device, received the award, which is sponsored by the Ethics Center through the generosity of William Knopf and John Casey.

2008-09 Hackworth Fellows

Noelle Lopez engaged her fellow undergraduates in a discussion on the question, "What do we mean when we talk about social justice?" She wrote on the topic for the student newspaper and is working on a journal article, as well. She also created a set of questions to spur reflection on social justice among SCU students who are preparing for immersion experiences. Lopez won a Rhodes Scholarship this year.

Nicholas Obradovich, a double major in business and environmental studies, created a series of panel discussions in these interest areas. Events such as "Drill Baby, Drill," "Is Environmentalism Dead?" and "SCU Students in Tough Economic Times" brought undergraduates together to discuss topical issues as they related to students' lives.

Elizabeth Tellman first became involved with the Center when she won a Hackworth Grant to study coffee production in El Salvador, an interest she will continue to pursue in the coming year with a Fulbright Grant: "Beyond Fair Trade: Alternative Coffee Markets for Alleviating Food Insecurity in El Salvador." Tellman involved her fellow students in discussions on the ethics of food.

Environmental Ethics Fellow

Sophie Asmar completed a study on the culture of sustainability at Santa Clara University. Her goal was "to better understand students' values, how they view sustainability and already carry out sustainable behaviors, so that programs to educate and promote sustainability can be more effective." The fellowship is supported by a grant from John and Joan Casey.