Union College’s Rapaport Everyday Ethics Across the Curriculum Initiative

Abstract

As of September 1st, 2009, Union College, a small private Northeastern liberal arts college, has a thriving “everyday” ethics across the curriculum program. In less than three years, the program was responsible for the introduction of 45 ethics segments by 43 faculty members in 21 subjects across the four divisions of the college (engineering, humanities, science, and social science). It had also sponsored or co-sponsored 10 lectures, symposia, 31 college ethics workshops and a national undergraduate conference. In this paper the program’s former director and chair describe its origins, the strategy and factors underlying its design and implementation, the elements conducive to its success, and the challenges it has yet to overcome.