Prindle Institute to host Maggie Schein in residence

Friday, May 17, 2019
Maggie Schein

Author and education consultant Maggie Schein is joining the Prindle Institute for Ethics as its first writer in residence.

Her two-year residency, which begins July 1, will be supported by a $100,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Schein comes to the Prindle Institute from Harvard University, where, for the past seven years, she has served as the research director for the Humanities & Liberal Arts Assessment Lab (HULA), which investigates and illuminates the impact of the humanities on civic engagement, vocational development, and development in personal and private domains.

She will use the residency to finish writing a book and to consult with the Prindle Institute on curriculum development and assessment tools for ethics education and training.

“This residency presents a unique opportunity for Maggie, the Prindle Institute, DePauw University and the community,” Prindle Institute Director Andrew Cullison said. “She gets the opportunity to focus on her book, and we get access to her knowledge of curriculum and humanities education at all levels.”

Schein previously worked as an ethics and philosophy instructor and as an independent education consultant, and has developed curriculum and humanities assessment tools. The former ballet dancer who also has published a work of fiction, she earned her PhD from The University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought. Her book, tentatively titled “Beyond Bad: Cruel,” seeks to better understand humanity by examining one of its most inhumane aspects, cruelty.

“From playground bullying and political rhetoric to human trafficking and torture, we seem to find that cruelty is a growing part of our lives, and yet we find it virtually impossible to talk about,” Schein said. “I’m delighted to have access to the resources of the Prindle Institute and DePauw University to complete what I hope will be a tool for supporting constructive conversations about cruelty and how we should address it.”

As one of the largest collegiate ethics institutes in the country, the Prindle Institute for Ethics’ robust national outreach mission serves DePauw students, faculty and staff; academics and scholars throughout the world; corporate leaders; life-long learners; and the Greencastle community.

For more information, visit www.prindleinstitute.org.

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