Levan Collaborative Projects 2009-2010

• Philosophical Stages

  Philosophical Stages (with JEP) taught by Professor James Collins of the Classics Department. James will teach a freshman seminar in which students study to perform a Greek tragedy on our annual theme. The Levan Institute will host and advertise a performance of the play at the outside amphitheater on campus. Student actors will talk about the ethical issues faced by their characters and their personal reflections on what they learned in the process. JEP will then arrange for the students to perform the play at USC community partner sites.

• Annual Ethics Cup Debate

  An annual debate competition between student teams from the professional schools and departments within the College.  The first debate is scheduled for Spring 2010. Student teams are given a bioethics case study 48 hours in advance and debate the ethical issues within the case. Judged by USC faculty members. The winning school or department will have their team’s name engraved on the Cup which will be displayed in the winning school or department until the next year’s competition

• Levan Campus Art Award

  A public art collaboration with USC Roski School of Fine Arts (FA 335 New Genres: Experimental Practices in Contemporary Art) and the Levan Learning Community students to create together a high-profile art project, mural or sculpture, on our annual theme. Students will work in an outside campus space under a large College banner asking the Levan annual question, "It May Be Legal, But Is It Right?" The Levan Institute will work with the university to have the project permanently installed on campus with a plaque with the year and theme. The selected art class will collaborate with College students at the conceptual stage of the project. We envision a broad discussion between art students and College students about what our annual question means to them and possibilities for artistic translation of philosophical themes. The Levan Institute will facilitate this early stage of planning. Our hope is that students from across the university will pause to see how the art piece is progressing over the course of the semester, and reflect on our question.

• Coffeehouse Conversations

  Levan Coffeehouse Conversations on Practical Ethics directed by Sharon Lloyd of Philosophy continue at three per semester. Coffeehouses are typically scheduled for the last Friday of the month. Initial topics on our 2009-2010 theme include:

  • The Ethics of Eating: sustainable agriculture, world hunger and the effects of increasing meat consumption, the ethics of animal farming, cooking methods and carbon production.

  • Does American society have a moral duty to ensure adequate health care for all its members?
  • Is the demise of investigative journalism a threat to democratic values?
  • Public takeover of corporate institutions: costs, benefits and public values.
• Workshop: Social Responsibility and Public Diplomacy

  Date TBA. We are working with the USC Center on Public Diplomacy and Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs to host a workshop on the importance of truth in public diplomacy. Invited participants will commit to preparing an original article for publication in a special issue of Ethics in International Affairs. 

• Collaboration with TIRP

  The Teaching International Relations Program sends 200 undergraduate volunteers to neighborhood high schools. USC students teach cases focused on international ethical questions and issues. The Levan Institute will edit teaching plans based on our university-level versions and fund these particular lesson plans for TIRP. TIRP is sponsored by the School of international Relations.

   

  The Teaching International Relations Program sends 200 undergraduate volunteers to neighborhood high schools. USC students teach cases focused on international ethical questions and issues. The Levan Institute will edit teaching plans based on our university-level versions and fund these particular lesson plans for TIRP. TIRP is sponsored by the School of international Relations.
• Spirit of the Law

  A monthly speaker series featuring legal professionals discussing how they find meaning and purpose in the law; how they use their law degrees in creative and innovative ways; and how they connect the personal and the professional in their lives.

  Co-sponsored with the Office of Religious Life.