The Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum

Pre-conference Workshop on “Ethics in Social Work”

November 13, 2008 (1:00pm – 5:00pm)

Hosted by Towson University at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel

Contact hours: 4 contact hours of instruction time. CEU credits: participants will earn .4 category 1 CEU credits.

Participants will study problematic cases encountered by social workers and learn a method for analyzing and resolving ethical issues in such cases. They will learn how moral problems can arise in a variety of different social work settings—from concerns about the just distribution of resources to relations with clients, to relations with fellow social workers. All the workshop cases are real cases, drawn from practicing social workers. Participants will learn an approach that will (a) help them gain a rich understanding of the issues in the cases and (b) put them in a position to decide what the social worker in each case ought to do and articulate reasons for believing that this course of action is ethically justified. Disagreement is possible, of course, but the focus of attention will be on the reasons provided for each option. Each participant will leave the workshop with an understanding of the kind of moral problems that can arise for social work practitioners, an understanding of the situations in which such problems can arise, and a method for analyzing such problems and resolving them when possible. Participant will also be provided with information about how to access resources on social work ethics, drawn wholly from real cases, which they may use for themselves or with students, should they teach. Towson University is approved by the Maryland State Board of Social Work Examiners to offer category 1 CEUs.

Workshop Director: Dr. Wade L. Robison

Wade L. Robison is the Ezra A. Hale Professor of Applied Ethics at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has published extensively in philosophy of law, David Hume, and practical and professional ethics. His book Decisions in Doubt: The Environment and Public Policy (University Press of New England, 1994) won the Nelson A. Rockefeller Prize in Social Science and Public Policy. He has co-edited anthologies in medical ethics, business and professional ethics, and Hume, and his most recent book, with L. Reeser, is on Ethical Decision Making in Social Work (Allyn & Bacon, 2000).

Registration form: Please fill out the form below and send it with your registration check to the address below.

Name: _________________________________________

Street and number:___________________________________________________________________

City: ______________________________________________________________________________

State: ____________ Zip: _____________ Country if not from the United States: _______________

Institutional affiliation: _______________________________________________________________

Phone: __________________________________ E-mail address: __________________________________________

Check here to receive CEU credits for this workshop_______ SS# (required for CEU credits)________________________

Workshop Registration Fee: $50.00. Please make check payable to The Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum and mail to:

Dr Stephen Scales

Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

Towson University

8000 York Road

Towson, MD 21252

Questions about the pre-conference workshop (or about the 2008 SEAC conference on “The Ethics of the Family”) may be directed to: Dr. Stephen Scales: sscales@towson.edu: Conference Website: http://pages.towson.edu/scales/conference.html