Eduardo J. Padrón
President
Office of the President
300 N.E. Second Avenue
Miami, Florida 33132-2297
305-237-3316
epadron@mdc.edu
Message From the President
Friday, May 22, 2009
Notes on 'Responsibility in a Time of Crisis'
Dear Faculty,
Yesterday brought a prestigious crowd to Miami Dade College to launch a dialogue about one of the most pressing issues of our time: personal responsibility and ethics. Behind today’s headlines about financial scandals and student cheating is a problem of ethics that needs to be addressed more seriously by higher education. One major step already taken by Miami Dade College was including “Personal, Civic and Social Responsibility” and “Ethical Thinking" in our 10 learning outcomes.
Yesterday’s conference brought together college presidents, civic leaders and researchers who debated the challenges and opportunities before us. The plenary address was delivered by a very noteworthy scholar from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Thomas Ehrlich. The Harvard Law School graduate has been the president of Indiana University, provost of the University of Pennsylvania and dean of Stanford Law School. His insightful comments from yesterday, “Ethical and Engaged Citizens: Whose Responsibility?,” are attached for your review. (Members of the School of Business will find them especially interesting.)
Co-hosted by Miami Dade College, the conference “Responsibility in a Time of Crisis” was a forum of LEAP (Liberal Education & America’s Promise), a 10-year initiative of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Special thanks go to Provost Norma Goonen and to all the other MDC staff and faculty who made this event possible.
Thank you.
Eduardo