Kenan Institute for Ethics
Executive Summary
The Kenan Institute for Ethics (KIE) is uniquely positioned to lead Duke's efforts to aim high by making ethics a cornerstone. KIE has already had a significant impact both at Duke and beyond as an ethics “think and do tank” and has served the university in many ways as a consultant, facilitator, and convener for ethics-related activities across the curriculum and in campus life. More recently, in accordance with its 2003 Strategic Plan, KIE has strengthened faculty engagement in its work and has begun developing a scholarly research agenda, launching three interdisciplinary research initiatives on “good and evil,” “debating moral education,” and “changing institutional cultures,” the first two of which are nearing completion as edited volumes. We have also expanded our efforts to promote ethics across the Duke curriculum and in our business and K-12 initiatives. This Strategic Plan seeks to take the Institute to a new level by focusing on four goals:
Goal #1: Leadership
- To make Duke a national model by leading an integrated, university-wide initiative to promote ethics in research, teaching, and practice.
Goal #2: Research & Scholarship
- To make the Kenan Institute for Ethics an internationally recognized center for innovative, interdisciplinary research in three areas: organizational ethics, moral education & development, and civic & global ethics, with particular emphasis on scholarship that bridges theory and practical application.
Goal #3: Teaching & Practice
- To shape an institutional culture at Duke that promotes ethical reflection, deliberation, and commitment through expanded opportunities across the curriculum and in campus life.
- To develop and provide innovative resources for promoting ethics in K-12, higher education, and business.
Goal #4: Evaluation
- To develop approaches to evaluating and improving ethics teaching and practice that set clear benchmarks grounded in research while respecting the complexity of moral development, organizational change, and civic engagement.
In the course of our strategic planning process, we have identified three key strategic opportunities that the Institute must seize in order to reach these goals. The Institute must (1) establish a focused intellectual agenda, (2) develop a strategic effort to infuse ethics into campus life, and (3) formalize its university-wide leadership role in service to ethics at Duke. The strategies to achieve these goals are presented in detail in the plan.