What Does the Ethics Center Do?

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics marshals the resources of a University long devoted to the study of ethics and puts them at the service of people trying to do the right thing. We work with members of the campus and broader communities to address ethical questions more effectively and to put values into practice.

As one of the largest and most active ethics centers in the country, we have developed major programs in:

Bioethics
Business Ethics
Campus Ethics
Character Education
Government Ethics

Because we work closely with health care professionals, businesspeople, public officials, educators, and students, we know the ethical dilemmas they face. Because we are backed by the resources of more than 50 affiliated scholars, we can bring rigorous analysis to these issues: How have others dealt with the dilemma? What does the philosophical tradition-the study of consequences or rights or the common good-have to say about this kind of issue? What have corporations or schools or hospitals or municipalities done to promote ethics in their organizational culture?

What we have learned about ethics through research, we teach in a multitude of classes, workshops, presentations and training seminars. SCU faculty and students, K-12 teachers, newly elected public officials, attorney groups, business executives, nurses and doctors have all received practical tools for addressing moral problems through their work with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

As a Jesuit University, SCU is dedicated to bringing an ethical perspective to students' lives and instilling in them a commitment to help build a more just and humane world. In addition to supporting ethics across the curriculum, the Center sponsors peer-led co-curricular programs for undergraduates in areas from ethics in sports to the ethics of friendship.

Whatever issues the Center takes on, we don't tell people how to think; rather we suggest what to think about and how to think it through.