Symposia
Ethics and Artificial Intelligence, November 6, 2023, featuring David Boonin (Philosophy, University of Colorado), John Sullins (Philosophy, Sonoma State), and Alexander Tolbert (Emory, Quantitative Theory and Methods).
Symposium on gender: “Gender Identity, Then and Now”.
Friday April 15, 2022, featuring Christia Mercer (Columbia University), “Gender Deviance and Authority in the History of Philosophy”; and Robin Dembroff (Yale University), “Reimagining Transgender.” Cosponsored by Phi Sigma Tau, Center for Ethics Student Forum, and Minorities and Philosophy.
Ethics and elections: a fall 2020 virtual series.
This multi-part series fostered reflection and dialogue about how ethical issues shape policymaking and ballot choices. The series was supported by Georgia Humanities and campus partners at GSU including The Center for Human Rights and Democracy, The Office of Civic Engagement, The Center for Studies on Africa and its Diaspora, the Department of Philosophy, The Center for Ethics Student Forum, The Center for Law, Health & Society, and the GSU program in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.
September 2, 2020
Political protest and the 2020 Elections
- Candice Delmas, Northeastern University.
- Natasha Lennard, New School for Social Research, author (Violence: Humans in Dark Times; Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life), journalist, and contributor to publications including Vice, Dissent, Esquire, Salon, The Intercept, and other venues.
- Akinyele Umoja, Georgia State University
September 9, 2020
Health Care Access and the 2020 Elections
- Seema Mohapatra, Indiana University
- Yolonda Wilson, Howard University
- Ruqaiijah Yearby, Saint Louis University School of Law; Executive Director and Co-Founder, Institute for Healing Justice and Equity.
- Rodney Lyn, Georgia State University School of Public Health, Academic and Strategic Initiatives.
October 8, 2020
The (In)Significance of Voting: A Panel Discussion
- Jason Brennan, Georgetown University.
- Suzanne Dovi, University of Arizona.
- Wendy Smooth, The Ohio State University
October 13, 2020
Ballot Access, Voter Fraud and Voter Suppression:A Panel Discussion
- Enrijeta Shino, University of North Florida
- Thessalia Merivaki, Mississippi State University.
- Andrea Young ACLU of Georgia.
October 21, 2020
Is it OK to Ignore Politics?: A panel discussion
- Tom Crean, Georgia State University
- Sherry Masood, Georgia State University
October 29, 2020
Vote with your Hands or Your Feet?
- Andra Gillespie, The James Weldon Johnson Institute, Emory University
- Ilya Somin, George Mason University
Symposium on the Ethics of Public Commemoration – November 12, 2018
History generates plenty of controversy, especially about how to remember it publicly. Our speakers will discuss how to commemorate civilian or military events that mean different things to different people. Panel discussion featuring: Heidi Beirich, Director, Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project; Sheffield Hale, President of the Atlanta History Center; Richard Rose, President, NAACP Atlanta chapter; Richard Williams, USAF (ret.), United States Vietnam War Commemoration Office. Sponsored by Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics and the GSU University Auditing and Advising Services “Stateway to Excellence” project.
Symposium on US elections – October 24-25, 2018:
“How to Have a Fair[er] Election” – Featuring Prof. Michael Munger (Duke University, political science and economics) and Daniel Weiner (Senior Counsel for the Democracy Program at NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice). Discussants: Prof. H. Chip Carey (GSU, Political Science) and Prof. Andra Gillespie (Emory University, Political Science).
Screening and panel discussion: “Almost Sunrise”.
November 6, 2017: Featuring Maj. Gen. Maria Britt (Ret.), Dr. Sarah Cook (Associate Dean, GSU Honors College, and GSU Psychology Department), Mark Eister (GSU Director of Military Outreach at Georgia State University and Perimeter College at Georgia State), Rich Glickstein LCSW (Shepherd Center), and Nick Irving (author, Veteran).
War is hell. Coming home can be harder.
November 6, 2017: A panel discussion on the ethics of reintergrating warriors returning home after combat. Featuring author Nick Irving (The Reaper) and panelists Mark Eister (GSU Director of Military Outreach at Georgia State University and Perimeter College at Georgia State), Sue Verhoef (Atlanta History Center), and Rich Williams (US Vietnam War Commemoration Office).
Screening and panel discussion about global poverty relief.
October 26, 2017: A panel event featuring a screening of the documentary “Poverty, Inc.” Panelists: Magatte Wade (of Tiossan), Alex Perwich (Enactus USA), and Prof. Chris Brown (GSU Political Science).
Symposium on overcriminalization
April 6, 2017: A public event featuring speakers including Bernadette Rabuy (Prison Policy Initiative), Dekalb County (GA) DA Sherry Boston, and Michael Leo Owens (Political Science, Emory).
Symposium: “Stem Cell and Cloning Technologies: Danger or Opportunity?”
March 6, 2016
Featuring Greg Pence, Professor and Chair, University of Alabama-Birmingham, Department of Philosophy and Director, Early Medical Acceptance Program; Paul Wolpe Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics, Emory University and Raymond F. Schinazi, Distinguished Research Chair in Jewish Bioethics and Director, Center for Ethics.
Symposium, “Biometrics and Guns: Security Challenges on Campus
March 2, 2016
Featuring Michael Owens, Founder of South Cobb voter empowerment project and specialist in network and cyber security; Ed Stone, JD, A member of the Board of Director of GeorgiaCarry.org; Keith Sumas, Director of Emergency Management, GSU; Volkan Topalli, Professor of Criminal Justice and Acting Vice Provost for International Initiatives, GSU; Frank Vandall, Professor of Law at Emory University.
Symposium on Social Mobility in the 21st century: Is America Still the Land of Opportunity?
February 25, 2016
Featured speakers: Derrick Darby (University of Michigan, Philosophy) and John Roemar (Yale University, Economics and Political Science). Respondents: Stuart Andreason, the Atlanta Federal Reserve; Daiel Kreisman, GSU Economics; Tomeka M. David, GSU Sociology; Joseph Mole, Emmanus House. Cosponsored by the Department of Economics. Collaborated with Prof. Yongsheng Xu (GSU Economics)
Panel Discussion on “Sex Trafficking: Should Sex Work Be Legal?”
November 17, 2015
Featuring Prof. Jessica Flanigan, Jepson School of Leadership, University of Richmond, and Prof. Lori Watson, Department of Philosophy, University of San Diego.
Sponsored by the Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics with the contribution from the Center for Human Rights and Democracy and the Institute for Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies
Symposium: Housing, Homelessness, and Challenges for 21st Century Policymaking
March 24, 2015
Featuring panelists: Naomi Zack (Philosophy, University of Oregon), Protip Biswas (United Way of Greater Atlanta), David Jackson (The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta)
Respondents: Deirdre Oakley (Sociology, GSU), Edward Powers (HOPE Atlanta), David Sjoquist (Policy Studies, GSU)
Symposium: Perspectives on the Veterans’ Experience: Ethics, Religion, and Psychology
February 26, 2015
Featuring panelists Elizabeth Bounds (Candler School of Theology, Emory University), William Joshua Brooks (ROTC Program, Georgia State University), Steve Kershnar (Philosophy, SUNY-Fredonia), Rich Glickstein (Shepherd Center), and Rich Williams (U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration Office).
Symposium: Moral Justification of Police Tactics
November 10, 2014
Featuring panelists Jennifer Baker (philosophy, College of Charleston), Mary Finn (Criminology, GSU), Josh Hinkle (Criminology, GSU).
Symposium on Immigration: Who gets in? On what terms? Who gets to decide?
Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Video Clip 1 Video Clip 2
Cosponsored by the Department of Economics of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. Featured speakers: Richard Freeman (Harvard University) : “One World in What Matters: International Students, Immigration, and the Spread of Knowledge”; Christopher Heath Wellman (University of Washington in St. Louis) : “The Right to Exclude”. Commentators: Andy Altman (GSU); Barry Hirsch (GSU); Paula Stephan (GSU); Madeline Zavodny (Agnes Scott College).
Symposium: “Changing Marriages in the 21st Century: After the US Supreme Court Rulings”
Tuesday, Oct 22, 2013
A panel discussion by experts in marriage policy, featuring:
Elizabeth Brake, Associate Professor, Faculty of Philosophy, Arizona State University
Maxine Eichner, Reef C. Ivey II Professor of Law, UNC-Chapel Hill
Mark Aaron Goldfeder, adjunct professor of Law, GSU; Senior Lecturer, Emory Law School, and Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of Law and Religion
L. Lynn Hogue, Professor of Law Emeritus, GSU
Symposium on Disaster Ethics and Public Policy:
Tuesday, April 2, 2013, 1:00-2:15, University Center 485.
Prof. Robert Klein (risk management and insurance, Georgia State University)
Prof. Richard Olson (politics and international relations, Florida International University)
Prof. Daniel Smith, (economics, Troy University)
“Slavery and Freedom”
April 6, 2012
A One-day Faculty Seminar led by Orlando Patterson, Harvard University
Panel Discussion on the Health Impact Fund (HIF)
September 23, 2010
Co-sponsored by Center for Ethics Student Forum, Department of Economics, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. The HIF attempts to use market forces to increase incentives for research, development, and distribution of pharmaceuticals targeting the developing world. Panelists will include Prof. Thomas Pogge (philosophy, Yale), Dr. Harvey Rubin, MD (medicine, University of Pennsylvania), and Prof. Aidan Hollis (economics, University of Calgary).
Symposium: “The Economic Crisis: Lessons Learned”
April 20, 2010.
Featuring Roger Tutterow (Economics, Mercer College), C. Richard Long (Economics, Georgia State, emeritus), and Alan Essig (Georgia Budget and Policy Institute).
Symposium: “Criminal Justice with Lean Budgets: The Case of Georgia”
April 13, 2010
Panelists: Mary Margaret Lewis, Georgia Public Policy Foundation; Marc Levin, Director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation; Representative Jerry Madden, Texas House of Representatives.
Symposium on the Economy in Crisis: Causes and Cures
March 18, 2009
Panelists: Prof. Steven Horwitz, chair, economics, St. Lawrence University; Prof. Carol Osler, Program Director, Lemberg Masters in International Economics and Finance, Brandeis University.
Symposium: Human Rights in an Age of Insecurity
March 27, 2009
What are the challenges and opportunities for human rights today? In the post-9/11 world, new threats have persuaded many citizens in liberal democracies to endorse human rights restrictions and expanded government surveillance techniques. In this age of insecurity, advocates have encountered new obstacles to promoting, monitoring, and implementing rights protections. The United Nations has often seemed incapable of brokering and enforcing human rights agreements. Heightened public fear has decreased sympathy for rights like habeas corpus, the prohibition of torture, and privacy. The broadening sphere of state secrecy has restricted the public’s right to information.
What is the relative significance of the right to security among the panoply of rights? How can human rights monitors overcome public indifference in the face of security threats? What can human rights do in the second decade of the new millennium?
Our distinguished panelists will examine the obstacles to human rights monitoring and enforcement during periods of insecurity, and consider how to make the human rights system as effective as possible in this environment in the coming decade.
Keynote address: Michael Posner, President, Human Rights First
Cosponsored by the Middle East Institute and the Center for Democracy and Human Rights
“What Humanists Should Know About Science, Sex, Race, and Violence”
October 9 & 10, 2008
Seminar, October, 2008, Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Professor of Geography at UCLA.
Symposium on the Election and Voter Competence
October 4, 2008
Noted author James Bovard will speak on “The Perils of Attention Deficit Democracy.” Prof Dan Franklin of Political Science will comment. Their discussion will be a debate regarding whether the 2008 election – or any election – can adequately protect Americans’ rights and liberties.
Ethics in Traffic Symposiums
September 20, 2007 “Are we really addicted to cars?”, Sam Kazman, general counsel of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (Washington, D.C.). Respondent: Peter Lindsay (political science).
October 4, 2007 “Pavement, traffic, and ethics” – Panel discussion featuring Benita Dodd, Georgia Public Policy Foundation; Joel Peddle, http://www.itscarma.com/ ; and Lee Biola, Citizens for Progressive Transit
Panel: Religion, Globalization, and Public Health
September 27th 2006
Interfaith panel discussion featuring:
Plemon T. El-Amin, the Masjid Imam of the Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam
Rabbi Joshua Lesser of Congregation Bet Haverim and the Rainbow Center in Atlanta
Rev. H. Ray Newman, Sr., Specialist of the Ethics Public Affairs Ministry of the Georgia Baptist Convention
Kencho Tenzin, former Buddhist monk with the Drepung Loseling Monastery in India and graduate student, Department of Religious Studies, Georgia State University.
Ethics Panel: Globalizing the American Way
October 19, 2006
Panelists:
Maureen Kelley, University of Alabama – Birmingham
Scott Beaulier, Mercer University
Michael Eriksen, Georgia State University
Religion and Natural Disasters: An Interfaith Panel Discussion
November 8, 2005
Panelists:
Rev. E. Claiborne Jones: Director and Vicar, Emmaus House, Atlanta
Plemon T. El-Amin: Masjid Imman at Atlanta Masjid Of Al-Islam
Rabbi Alvin Sugarman: Rabbi Emeritus of The Temple
Kencho Tenzin: trained at Drepund Loseling Monastery; teacher at Drepung Loseling Institute in Atlanta
Symposium: Tsunami Relief Symposium
January 19, 2005
Panelists:
William Waugh, Jr., Prof. of Public Administration and Urban Studies/Political Science
Prof. Jennifer McCoy, Associate Professor of Political Science
Prof. Andrew I. Cohen, Associate Director, Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics
Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Symposia
cosponsored by Office of Student Life/Leadership & Intercultural Relations, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of African American Studies, Program in Religious Studies, Georgia State University Housing, Office of Undergraduate Studies:
Keynote Address, Raymond T. Diamond, Prof. of Law, Tulane University, November 5, 2004.
Colloquium: Andrew Valls, Political Science, Oregon State University: “The Broken Promise of Racial Integration.” November 1, 2004.
Screening and Discussion: “The Intolerable Burden.”
Panelists: filmmaker Connie Curry; Cliff Kuhn, History; Akinyele Umoja, African American Studies. November 3, 2004.
SYMPOSIA ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
March 23, 2004 Same-Sex Marriage and the Law
Panelists:
Clark Cunningham: W. Lee Burge Professor of Law & Ethics.
L. Lynn Hogue: Professor in the College of Law at Georgia State University and Executive Director of the Southeastern Legal Foundation in Atlanta.
Ellen Taylor: Associate Professor at Georgia State University’s College of Law.
March 24, 2004 Same-Sex Marriage and Religion
Panelists:
Richard A. Goode, Assoc. Prof. and Chair of Urban Studies, Beulah Heights Bible College
Rabbi Joshua Lesser: M.H. L. of Congregation Bet Haverim.
B. Wiley Stephens, Senior Pastor, Dunwoody United Methodist Church
The Reverend Canon Gray Temple: Rector of St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church.
March 25, 2004 Same Sex Marriage: Ethics and Public Policy
Panelists:
Prof. John Corvino: teaches philosophy at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
Randy Hicks: president of the Georgia Family Council (GFC), a non-partisan organization dedicated to strengthening marriages and families in the state of Georgia.
Professor Juliana Kubala: (PhD: Emory University) teaches with the Institute for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (PTI) at Georgia State University and at the English Department of Clark Atlanta University.
LIVING WAGE SYMPOSIUM
March 3, 2004
Panelists:
Coretta Brown, Organizer for 9to5, National Association of Working Women
Pierre Ferrari, President, “Hot Fudge” Venture Capital Fund
Rev. Debra Metzgar Shew, Emmaus House.
E. Frank Stephenson, Assoc. Prof. of Economics, Berry College
