NEW Opportunity for Involvement: Engineering Ethics Slam

Angelina Oberdan

On April 10^th at 6:30 pm in the Self Auditorium of the Strom Thurmond Institute, technical writing students held an Engineering Ethics Slam. The first of its kind, this event hopes to establish a campus series of ethics slams focused on varied student populations.

Inspired by Ann Arbor’s “Big Questions Ethics Slam,” the Rutland Institute for Ethics partnered with the Pearce Center for Professional Communication’s Client Based Program to create a similar series at Clemson. This first ethics slam was organized by Angelina Oberdan’s technical writing students. These students organized the event based on their research and proposed plan for the event. Not only were they responsible for self-managing and executing a professional event, they have also been asked to provide analysis and instructions so that other student groups can hold similar slams in future semesters.

The Engineering Ethics Slam is a debate-style event wherein teams of students will be tasked with ethical dilemmas and their responses will be judged by professors and industry professionals. The dilemmas engage the teams of students, as well as their supportive audience, in real world scenarios as they are assessed on how they critically examine the situation and establish a model to act ethically.

This event presents opportunities for students, professors, and community professionals.

• Students who participate in the event will have the chance to win prizes and as well show off their ethics before their peers and professionals. Student attendants will be able to show their support for ethics, learned from the discussed dilemmas, and network with professionals.

• Professors can participate as judges or just come out to promote ethics at Clemson and the Rutland Institute for Ethics. They can also help support this event by encouraging their students to attend.

• Professionals can just attend or participate as judges, and this is also a great opportunity to see Clemson’s best in a way that challenges the students and couldn’t be observed in a traditional career fair or interview. 

--Angelina Oberdan

 If you would like further details, please contact Angelina Oberdan at angelio@clemson.edu.