Ethics Week

About Ethics Week

Ethics Week strives to actively involve students, staff and faculty in meaningful ethics conversations, encouraging a campus-wide engagement with contemporary moral challenges. Each day is dedicated to exploring different aspects of ethics, focusing on issues that resonate with our current societal context, such as Freedom of Speech, Artificial Intelligence, and other pertinent themes.

Throughout the week, participants had the opportunity to engage with various themes through an array of formats, including panel discussions, workshops, and interactive sessions, all aimed at stimulating dialogue, critical thinking, and collaboration across disciplines.

The 2025 event marked the inaugural Ethics Week for the campus community. Thank you to everyone who came together to explore the key roles that ethics plays in our professional and personal lives. We look forward to next year's lineup of engaging topics and sessions.

The first Ethics Week hosted by MSU was held Feb. 17-21, 2025. Below is a list of the array of topics covered throughout the week. Keep an eye out for information on our 2026 programming!

• Ethics on the Move - focused on how to move forward when making large or small ethical decisions
• The Intersection of Ethics, Morality and the Military - explored ethical and moral decision-making through a military lens
• KPMG Ethics of AI and Accounting Panel - discussed the ethics of AI and accounting in today’s market
• Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom Learning Community - explored how instructors’ academic freedom and free speech intersect in the classroom context
• Judicial Ethics and Journalism - recent investigatory work on judicial ethics in Michigan
• “The Good Place” Community Ethics Discussion - explored ethical dilemmas college students face (e.g., academic integrity, health and safety concerns)
• Lunch and Learn: Global Ethics - discussed how to approach making business decisions with global ethical considerations
• Classification, Inequality, and Expertise: The Case of Epilepsy - examined how classification amplifies or alleviates the exclusion of marginalized people in healthcare
• The Warrington Lecture featuring Kara Goucher - two-time Olympian Kara Goucher shared her story and how she turned experience into action
• AI and Ethics Symposium – Digital Humanities - two-day event focused on student-centered approaches to the use of AI in pedagogical practice and reassessed assumptions about AI
• Punishment and Protection: A Conversation on the Past and Future of Family Regulation - discussed historical, critical, and practical perspectives on the state's regulation of parents, children, and families
• What's at Stake? When Ethics and Activism Intersect - discussed the ethics behind activism, including considerations before taking action
• Schmidgall Ethics Hospitality Lecture - highlighted the importance of leadership, ethics and current trends within the business sector
• Leadership Panel - MSU leaders discussed the impacts and outcomes of ethics and leadership on a university campus
• Understanding Moral Injury: Awareness and Support - discussed what moral injury is, how to recognize symptoms and how to support those in need
• Brews and Views – Genetic Research on Autism: Danger or Discovery? - discussed the implications of biomedical innovations, the forefront of scientific investigation, and the edge of science