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From current policy debates about the ethics of migration, cyber-security, or artificial intelligence to historical interrogations of the rise of a post-secular society and nature of genocide to philosophical puzzles about the limits of individual responsibility or foundations of happiness, the Kenan Institute for Ethics takes seriously the notion that ethical questions and problems are indeed everywhere.

Consistent with the vision outlined in Duke University’s 2017 strategic plan, Together Duke, the Kenan Institute for Ethics partners with faculty and students, schools, and departments across the entire university to 1) promote innovative faculty scholarship in ethics, 2) provide transformative educational experiences for both graduate and undergraduate students through the integration of curricular and co-curricular opportunities and a focus on experiential teaching and learning, 3) create and nurture a distinctly Duke community ethos founded on principles respect, empathy and integrity, and 4) collaborate with organizations and communities beyond Duke to address global ethical challenges through the integration of research and practice.

Kenan Institute for Ethics in the Arts

Graduate Arts Fellowship

The Graduate Arts Fellowship supports the generation and exhibition of ethics-oriented work at the leading edge of documentary practice. Offered to one student entering their second year of Duke’s MFA|EDA program, the fellowship offers resources, mentorship, and opportunities for engagement with the faculty, fellows, staff, and students at the Kenan Institute for Ethics over the course of an academic year.

Responsibilities for the fellowship include curation of an exhibition and associated programming during the spring semester, engagement with undergraduates during the fall and spring semesters, and serving as a judge for Team Kenan’s annual What Is Good Art? visual art competition in late spring.

What is Good Art?

The Kenan Institute for Ethics’ annual What Is Good Art? exhibition was begun as a means to explore how visual art and ethics are intertwined. Every year, students across the Duke campus are invited by Team Kenan, the student branch of the KIE, to submit original works of art that explore ideas of how we should live, the role that art plays in our lives, and its impact on how we see the world.