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Prindle Institute Summer Fellows Program

Developing compelling ethics resources

Prindle Institute Summer Fellows are DePauw faculty members given a $3,000 summer stipend to develop undergraduate educational resources on a topic of ethical concern related to their regular disciplinary teaching. Fellows will have access to office space at the Prindle Institute over the summer. The work culminates with a workshop where Fellows present the product of their summer work. Please contact Jeff Dunn (jeffreydunn@depauw.edu) with any questions about the program.

Summer Fellow Program Information

Each summer, the Prindle Institute will award a number of DePauw faculty members a $3,000 summer stipend to develop undergraduate educational resources on a topic of ethical concern. Fellows will have access to office space at the Prindle Institute over the summer. The work culminates with a workshop where Fellows present the product of their summer stipend. As you prepare your proposal for acceptance into the program, here are some example projects to consider:

  • A faculty member in Economics & Management develops a module about whether there are any moral limits on what can be bought and sold on the market.
  • A faculty member in Computer Science develops a module on algorithmic bias, examining how it can come about, different perspectives about the scope of the problem, and proposals about how to improve algorithms along this dimension.
  • A faculty member in Psychology & Neuroscience develops a module on moral decision making that looks at the situational and cognitive factors that can influence how we resolve ethically-loaded situations.
  • A faculty member in Classical Studies develops a module about the ethical concerns with archaeology, and the tension between wanting to study, preserve, and present information about the past and the need to respect land and artifacts.
  • A faculty member in Mathematics & Actuarial Sciences develops a module on statistics and the graphical presentation of statistical information. The focus is on how different values can be exemplified based on the method used to gather data and calculate the statistics and decisions about how to present the data.
  • A faculty member in History or Political Science develops a module where students role-play the 1787 Constitutional Convention and then discuss the moral dimensions of the negotiations and decisions being made.
  • A faculty member in Art & Art history develops materials about famous artists who have done morally questionable things in their private or professional lives. This includes resources and discussion guides about how and whether these actions of artists are relevant to their art.

Guidelines for Proposals

  • It is important that the proposed module or resource project genuinely engages with an ethical issue in your discipline. This will usually require that multiple perspectives on that issue are considered so that students can wrestle with the complexity of the issue you have chosen to highlight.
  • In planning your proposal, keep in mind that a summer stipend is the equivalent of 1 month full-time or 2 months half-time work.
  • It is important that your project yields a shareable project. A course module, for instance, should include readings, discussion guides/notes, and associated assignments. The goal is not only to add some aspect of ethics to a single class (though that is important!), but to also make such resources freely available online (probably through the Prindle Institute’s website) to other faculty and educators both within and outside DePauw.
  • It is important that faculty members reasonably expect to be able to use the module or resources in the next academic year. (Fellows will be asked to reconvene at the end of the 2024-25 academic year to report on how the new module/resources were received with the new summer 2025 class of Fellows.)
  • We encourage you to think how your proposal may contribute to the academic renewal part of DePauw’s strategic plan, whether that is by “deepen[ing] DePauw’s commitment to the liberal arts”, “preparing ethical leaders the world needs”, or “encourag[ing] new disciplinary connections…in the creative and performative arts”.
  • A faculty member can receive both an FDC summer stipend and a Prindle Institute Fellow stipend, but those who do not have an FDC award are given preference.

Prindle Institute Fellow Proposal Submission Deadline: March 15, 2024

Prindle Institute Summer Fellow Application

Name(Required)
Do you expect to be able to use the product of your summer work in the 2024-25 academic year?(Required)
Do you have an FDC award for summer 2024 or have you applied for one?(Required)
It is important that your project yields a shareable project. A course module, for instance, should include readings, discussion guides/notes, and associated assignments. The goal is not only to add some aspect of ethics to a single class (though that is important!), but to also make such resources freely available online (probably through the Prindle Institute's website) to other faculty and educators both within and outside DePauw. Do you agree to freely share your project online and/or with other educators?(Required)

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