Waide Center for Applied Ethics

Our Mission

The mission of the Center is to work with ��Ƶ University students and faculty, as well as regional, national, and international leaders in a wide variety of fields, to develop strategies for managing ethical challenges in professional and applied ethics—including ethical issues in business, healthcare, science, law, engineering, computing, education, environmental policy, criminal justice, and artificial intelligence.

Standing in the Jesuit tradition of preparing men and women for others, the Waide Center seeks to develop and strengthen the capacities of persons to engage ethical issues in a reflective and pragmatic way.

The Waide Center Pursues Three Strategic Directions

The Waide Center offers courses across the University on ethical issues in various professions and fields, including business, nursing and health studies, engineering and computing, education, communications, and environmental studies.

The Center supports research conducted by students, faculty, and practitioners, primarily through competitively awarded stipends.

At the Waide Center, there is work to develop and facilitate a variety of programs – speakers’ series, panel discussions, workshops, conferences, and mentored relationships – to serve constituents beyond the University campus.

Ethics in Action

Discover how the Patrick J. Waide Center for Applied Ethics at the Dolan School of Business is shaping ethical leadership and decision-making in the business world.

Our History

Established in 1980 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an applied ethics program was developed at ��Ƶ University aimed at advancing learning, research, and dialogue about the leading ethical issues of our time. In 2018, with a generous donation by Patrick J. Waide Jr., it was renamed the Patrick J. Waide Center for Applied Ethics. The Center now operates as a university-wide center in close coordination with the deans of the Dolan School of Business, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering, the Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies, and the School of Education and Human Development.

The Waide Center integrates interdisciplinary courses, seminars, lectures, colloquia, and workshops in the fields of professional ethics (business, healthcare, science, law, engineering, computing, education, and artificial intelligence), ethics for the citizen (government, community, democracy, criminal justice, war, and peace), and global studies (ethical dimensions of global violence, global health, environmental policies, business practices, and humanitarian action). This unified approach to the theory and practice of ethical conduct in all fields raises student awareness of the moral dilemmas of their chosen fields of practice, of allied fields, and of society and the world. The Center
offers a series of core-level and elective courses and seminars in service to various academic and professional programs, and a 15-credit minor.

In 2002, Patrick J. Waide Jr. '59, a former University trustee and distinguished alumnus of ��Ƶ University, generously established a continuing fund to support invited speakers, course materials, and scheduled activities on topics of international affairs, global ethics, and public policy. In 2018, Mr. Waide made a major gift to endow Applied Ethics as a Center, which now bears his name.

Three professionals engage in conversation.

Two audience members engage in conversation.

Professionals laugh and talk with one another.

Climate Change Geoengineering and Risk

Hosted by Marion Hourdequin, Professor of Philosophy at Colorado College.

When is Nepotism Justified?

Hosted by Jeffrey Moriarty, Professor of Philosophy and Executive Director of the Hoffman Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University.

Enhance Your Education with an Applied Ethics Minor

��Ƶ University’s 15-credit minor in applied ethics allows you to learn the history, terminology, forms of reasoning that underlie the practice of ethical conduct and more.

Learn More

Joan L. Lee

Professor, Accounting

jlee@fairfield.edu

Eric Peterson

Assistant Professor of the Practice, Management

epeterson@fairfield.edu

David Schmidt

Associate Professor, Business Ethics

dschmidt@fairfield.edu

Scott Ventrella

Instructor of the Practice, Management

sventrella@fairfield.edu

Cyndi Palaia

Program Coordinator Dolan Centers

cpalaia@fairfield.edu

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