Center for Ethics
Seeking to develop our capacities for ethical reflection, moral leadership, and responsible action by engaging community members in scholarly dialogue, intellectual analysis, and self-examination about contested ethical issues
About Us
Through thematic lectures and events, the Center for Ethics serves the teaching and study of the liberal arts at Muhlenberg College by providing opportunities for intensive conversation and thinking about the ethical dimensions of contemporary philosophical, political, economic, social, cultural, and scientific issues.
In service to its mission, the Center for Ethics hosts special events and programs, provides faculty development opportunities, and provides support for student programming.
Transform, Translate, Transcend
Spring 2026 Programming
Explore the continuation of the Center for Ethics theme, Transform, Translate, Transcend as our spring 2026 programming gets under way.
A Conversation with Amadou Diop
Amadou Diop
February 16, 7 p.m.
Miller Forum
Amadou Diop, founder and director of the Regenerative Agriculture Resource Center for Africa (CRARA), will discuss his work on transforming food production systems in Senegal, a nation itself undergoing a transition from a neocolonial government to a democracy.
Diop will be joined in conversation by Richard Niesenbaum, Professor of Biology and Director of Sustainability Studies at Muhlenberg College.
One-Way Tickets, Recommendation Algorithms, and Identity Transformation
James Brusseau, PhD
February 25, 7 p.m.
Miller Forum
Explore Our Past Programming
See the themes of previous years’ series as well as some of the speakers, screenings, and other events that took place related to those themes.
Transform, Translate, Transcend… (2025-2026)
Fall 2025 Programming
- A Guided Visit of Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens
- “On the Cisness of the Bourgeoisie: A Question of Politics,” with Emma Heaney, Ph.D.
- “Translanguage, Transnation: A Poetry Reading and Conversation with Safia Elhillo”
- “Transdisciplinary Approaches to Deradicalization,” the Wallenberg Tribute Lecture by Damon T. Berry, Ph.D.
The Ethics of Repair (2024-2025)
- “On the Right to Repair,” with Leah Chan Grinvald, J.D.
- Bike Repair Demonstration with Center for Appropriate Transportation
- “Farming While Black” Film Screening and Conversation
- “Mental Wellness, Mass Shootings, and the Politics of American Firearms,” with Jonathan Metzl, M.D., Ph.D.
The Ethics of Image (2023-2024)
- “Unpacking Photojournalism” with Erin Schaff, staff political photographer at The New York Times
- “Vision and Justice” with Harvard University’s Sarah Lewis, who holds a Doctorate in History of Art
- “AI Ethics and the Remixed Image” with Eduardo Navas, Ph.D.
- “Now You See Me: The Tangled Legacy of Selfies on Social Media” with Chelsea Butkowski, Ph.D.
Speculative Futures (2022-2023)
- “We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Südwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915” performances
- Campus visit by Mohsin Hamid, author of “Exit West”
- “The Struggle for Urban Climate Justice” with Joan Fitzgerald, Ph.D.
- “Ugly Freedoms” with Elisabeth Anker, Ph.D.
Pandemic: Response, Resilience, Reflection (2021-2022)
- “Finding Happiness in Times of COVID” with social scientist Arthur Brooks, Ph.D.
- “People and Microbes on the Move in the Era of Climate Change” with author Sonia Shah
- “Don’t We Die Too?: Race and Sexuality in the Early AIDS Crisis” with Dan Royles, Ph.D.
- “5B” documentary discussion with the film producers
Meet the Center for Ethics Co-Directors
Assistant Professor of English Joshua Barsczewski
Barsczewski’s primary research interests are in the teaching and learning of writing, but he also has a background in queer studies and queer theory. He serves as director of Muhlenberg’s Writing Center. He holds a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst
John and Fannie Saeger Chair of Comparative Literature Ioanna Chatzidimitriou
Chatzidimitriou teaches courses in Muhlenberg’s French and francophone studies program, with special emphasis on contemporary French urban culture and literature, francophone North Africa and Asia, and francophone cultural production in the age of globalization and writing. She holds a B.A. from the University of Athens, Greece, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.