Symposium to focus on public service

Discuss responsibilities, dilemmas and the value of public service during the Ethics of Public Service Symposium 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, March 7 at the East Carolina Heart Institute at ECU.

Topics will include the ethical responsibilities of public universities, the value of public service to campuses and communities, the ethical dilemmas arising from public service and the rewards to all involved. Participants will include ECU faculty, staff, students, area community colleges and universities and their community partners.

Thomas

The morning keynote speaker is Stephen B. Thomas, director of the Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland. Thomas is the principal investigator of the Research Center of Excellence on Minority Health Disparities, funded by the NIH-National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. He is also principal investigator, with Dr. Sandra Quinn, of the NIH National Bioethics Infrastructure Initiative: Building Trust Between Minorities and Researchers awarded in 2009.

Two sessions will focus on how service is rewarded by universities. The luncheon speaker is KerryAnn O’Meara, associate professor at the University of Maryland, who will also lead a workshop in the afternoon. She will talk about the University of Maryland’s ADVANCE Program for Inclusive Excellence, which aims to transform the institutional culture of the University by facilitating networks, offering individual mentoring and support, and offering information and strategic opportunities for women faculty in all areas of academia.

ECU’s Office of Public Service and Community Relations, the Office of Human Research Integrity, the Faculty Senate Service Learning Committee, the Office for Faculty Excellence, and the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center are working with North Carolina Campus Compact to offer the event.

Registration is $40 for individuals from NC Campus Compact member campuses and $50 for non-members. ECU is a member.

For more information, go to http://www.ecu.edu/cs-studentlife/volunteer/epss.cfm or contact Beth Velde at veldeb@ecu.edu or 252-737-1377, or Dennis McCunney at mccunneyw@ecu.edu or 252-328-2802.