Association for Practical and Professional Ethics selects Prindle Institute as new home

Friday, March 31, 2017
Sarah Pfatteicher, Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) executive board chairman, and Andrew Cullison, director of the Prindle Institute at DePauw University, toast the announcement that DePauw’s Prindle Institute for Ethics will be the new institutional home of the APPE.
Courtesy photo

DePauw University’s Prindle Institute for Ethics will be the new institutional home for the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE), the largest practical and professional ethics association in the nation with more than 100 institutional members and 858 individual members.

APPE is an international, multidisciplinary membership association of professionals focused on the practical application of ethics in the classroom, the workplace, government and local communities.

Founded in 1991, the association is a national leader in advancing scholarship, stimulating new research in practical ethics and promoting innovative teaching methods.

Sarah Pfatteicher, APPE executive board chairman, made the announcement at the opening reception of the APPE annual meeting in Dallas, Texas, this month. During a toast, Pffateicher announced that the APPE has reached an agreement in principle to move its headquarters to the Prindle Institute at DPU, effective July 1.

“I’m thrilled about this collaborative partnership,” Andrew Cullison, director of the Prindle Institute and 2001 DePauw graduate, said. “Having the APPE headquartered at Prindle is going to enrich all of our core program areas. Our online media, campus events, education and research initiatives and community engagement projects will all be strengthened by APPE’s presence.”

Pfatteicher says the APPE board “was particularly drawn to Andy’s infectious enthusiasm and his forward-thinking vision for our partnership. The array of social media activities he has initiated at Prindle are excellent fits for an association seeking to attract a new generation of scholars as we enter our second quarter century as an association.”

APPE began the search for a new institutional home last year when it announced an open call for proposals from new potential host institutions. Nine proposals were submitted from institutions around the country. The APPE board narrowed it down to two finalists for campus visits.

“In addition to a strong financial partnership, we were looking for close alignment of mission, a record of engagement with APPE, evidence of ongoing commitment by campus leaders, and an energetic and visionary director with whom to partner,” Pfatteicher said, “At DePauw we found all of those things in spades.”

The association organizes an annual international conference with leading ethics educators, researchers and professionals in practical ethics. The conference is a global marketplace for exchanging state-of-the-art practices in teaching ethics to undergraduates, David Cameron at Prindle Institute graduates, professionals and executives. Its location is selected with an eye to ensuring exposure and visibility in key cities throughout the United States.

APPE national office staff will begin moving into the Prindle Institute in late June, and some transition work is already underway.

“It’s going to be wonderful to have that team, with that kind of energy and vision right down the hall,” Cullison said. “I’m really excited to see what the future holds for Prindle, APPE and the entire field of practical and professional ethics.”

The Prindle Institute for Ethics -- where students and faculty engage in critical and constructive reflection about right and wrong, justice and injustice and good and evil -- recently received a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for Humanities to conduct a comprehensive study as part of a new “Value of Ethics and Moral Reasoning in Business” research project.

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