Other ethics-related centers at U.Va.

Center for Biomedical Ethics
Jonathan D. Moreno, director

The School of Medicine has had a long-standing commitment to medical ethics and studies. In 1970, Dr. Thomas D. Hunter, then dean of the Medical School, and Joseph F. Fletcher, who was U.Va.'s first professor of medical ethics, founded the Program in Biology and Society and soon after, the weekly Medical Center Hour, which still continues. Fletcher was regarded by many as a pioneer in bioethics, a field that drew on his wide-ranging work in the 1950s, including his book Morals and Medicine.

The center was founded in 1988 and directed by another man named Fletcher -- John Fletcher, who served until partial retirement in 1997. The center offered a master's in clinical ethics that was revised two years ago and broadened into bioethics, with courses offered by faculty throughout the University. In addition, undergraduates can minor in the bioethics program.

Jonathan D. Moreno became director in 1998. He identified three areas for new research projects: the ethics of human subjects research, ethics and genetics, and ethical aspects of outcome studies in the delivery of health care.

The center also organizes conferences, including an annual intensive bioethics course called "Developing Healthcare Ethics Programs" which attracts health care professionals from all over the country and addresses the ethical issues that may arise in the care of patients. Another conference, on "Spirtuality in Healthcare: A Training Program for Professionals," will be held in May.

The center's quarterly newsletter, Bioethics Matters, includes a column called "Ethical Conundrums."

The Olsson Center for Applied Ethics
R. Edward Freeman, director

The Olsson Center, founded in the Darden School in 1966, focuses efforts on improving standards of behavior in both public and private business. Darden is the only business school in the nation with two endowed chairs in business ethics and a Ph.D. degree program in management with an emphasis on business ethics.

The center's Visiting Scholar's Program chooses Olsson Fellows from around the world to spend from one week to one semester at the center working on joint research projects with other faculty. The center also developed joint ethics programs with the schools of Medicine, Engineering and Commerce. Grants and proposals received include three NSF grants with engineering faculty on ethical issues on environmental design, and a program in technology and ethics.

Other programs include the Ruffin Lecture Series on Ethics in Business, a nationally recognized, two-day academic seminar held biannually and published as The Ruffin Series In Business Ethics by the Oxford University Press and Business Ethics Quarterly.

The center also offers monograph publication for scholars and practitioners on the relationship between ethics and business; the environment; engineering and science; and articles and cases in environmental ethics.

Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy
Richard Bonnie, Director

Since the late 1970s, the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy has developed interdisciplinary programs in mental health law, forensic psychiatry and forensic psychology. Institute activities include academic programs, forensic clinical evaluations, professional training, empirical and theoretical research, and public policy consultation and review.

Through the expertise of its faculty of attorneys, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, the institute brings an integrated approach to a wide variety of interdisciplinary programs pertinent to mental health practice, social policy and the law. For instance, through a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, John Monahan, the Henry and Grace Doherty Professor of Law and associate director of the institute, established the Research Network on Mental Health and the Law. The project aims to further the relatively new field of mental health law, to provide a foundation for the next generation of laws that will assure the rights and the safety of individuals and of society.

The institute, which recently relocated from the old Blue Ridge Hospital to West Main Street, is affiliated with the Law and Medical schools, the Curry School of Education Programs in Clinical and School Psychology, and the U.Va. Health System. It is supported in part by the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, and the Office of the Virginia Attorney General.

Institute for Environmental Negotiation
Franklin Dukes, director

The Institute for Environmental Negotiation, affiliated with the department of urban and environmental planning in the School of Architecture, was established in 1980 by architecture professor Richard C. Collins with a grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment. Its goal is to make mediation and consensus-building services available to governments, citizen organizations and businesses dealing with conflicts and complex policy choices related to land use and the natural and built environments.

The institute utilizes mediation and other conflict-management techniques to bring stakeholding parties together to structure and conduct negotiations. It also facilitates discussions in other controversies and helps groups devise ways to avoid conflict by dealing with issues at an early stage in their development.

The Institute's mission is to:

• Advance the principles and practices of sustainability through the use of a variety of dispute resolution and consensus building processes, as well as education, training, research and publication.

• Enhance the capacity of agencies, communities and citizens' organizations to resolve environmental, natural resource and public policy disputes.

• Assist community design and planning professionals to incorporate stakeholder involvement in their projects and practices and to enhance their deliberation and conflict resolution skills. Its overriding goal is to help people create and agree upon solutions that are sustainable.