The Institute for Ethics and the Common Good (ECG) is proud to announce that Emily Grubert, associate professor of sustainable energy policy in the Keough School of Global Affairs, and Douglas Portmore, professor of philosophy, have been selected as Program Chairs for the institute.
As Program Chairs, these faculty will receive $100,000 per year to develop a research program in ethics. They will have access to programs, events, and community at ECG, and will serve renewable three-year terms. Both faculty will be working on research programs that align with and enhance the Ethics Initiative.
Grubert is a civil engineer and environmental sociologist who studies how we can make better decisions about large infrastructure systems, particularly related to justice-centering decarbonization of the U.S. energy system. As Program Chair, she will produce a series of research articles on the ethics of technology deployment and governance for decarbonization. She will also train postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. students, and undergraduates to contribute to this work and will convene a research workshop for scholars dedicated to building ethical, justice-focused governance structures for the energy transition.
Portmore’s research focuses on morality, rationality, and the interconnections between the two; he has also written on well-being, moral worth, posthumous harm, and moral responsibility. As Program Chair, he will launch a biannual workshop on book manuscripts in normative ethics—beginning with a workshop to complete the draft of his forthcoming book, Kantsequentialism: A Morality Ends. He will also establish an annual conference on normative ethics, with its inaugural meeting in Spring 2027.
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The Institute for Ethics and the Common Good is at the heart of the Ethics Initiative, a University-wide effort to establish Notre Dame as a premier global destination for the study of ethics. Under the leadership of Meghan Sullivan, Ethics Initiative director and Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy, the institute focuses on cross-disciplinary ethics research, undergraduate course development, the moral formation of its students and faculty, and engaging the public in meaningful dialogue around ethical issues.