Dr. Charlotte Stinson Presents on Ethics at International Conference

The Kegley Institute of Ethics (KIE) at California State University, Bakersfield provided travel support to Dr. Charlotte Stinson from the Department of Biology to attend and present at the annual international meeting of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology in Tampa, Florida in January 2019. While at the conference, Dr. Stinson addressed matters previously discussed in the KIE Ethics Across the Curriculum workshops and presented how she has been able to incorporate ethics into her introductory biology and human physiology courses at CSUB. Through the use of case studies and “sticky” situations, Dr. Stinson has introduced the students in her courses to dilemmas they may encounter in their future professional lives. Following the introduction of these situations, students work in groups to identify what the major ethical issues are, why these are ethical issues, as well as determine what they may do when presented with the same situations and justify their hypothetical actions.

While at the conference, Dr. Stinson was able to share the ideals of the Ethics Across the Curriculum program and her lesson plans. The Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology annual conference is attended by professionals from multiple disciplines and a variety of academic positions. The materials presented at the conference received a great amount of attention and will help faculty members looking to incorporate ethics in their own courses. Additionally, the society’s lead education coordinators showed interest in continuing such discussions for including ethics across biology curriculum at future meetings.