This post is part of an ongoing reflection series featuring the 2024–2025 Maguire Public Service Fellows. In his contribution, Ph.D. student Collin Yarbrough shares insights from his Fellowship work—detailing the projects he supported, the communities he worked alongside, and the impact of that work on the ground. Last summer, through the Maguire Public Service Fellowship, […]
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Here, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. calls out silence as a moral failure in moments of injustice—when not speaking becomes a way of allowing harm to continue. But other traditions see silence […]
Southern Methodist University (SMU) has been selected as one of 42 colleges and universities nationwide to receive a 2025 Capacity Building Grant from the Educating Character Initiative (ECI), a national program led by the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. The $40,400 grant will support SMU’s project, From Nodes to Networks: Defining, […]
The Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility at Southern Methodist University is pleased to recognize the 2024-2025 Graduate and Undergraduate Ethics Essay Prize recipients. This distinguished competition is designed to encourage SMU students to thoughtfully engage with challenging ethical questions and develop their capacity for careful moral analysis. By participating, students are […]
Artificial intelligence is reshaping political power in ways we barely understand, embedding itself into economic and governance structures that shape human behavior—often without our explicit consent. That was the stark warning delivered by Dr. Brian Brock, a theologian and ethicist from Aberdeen University, during the 2025 Scott Hawkins Lecture at SMU. In a talk that […]
What began as a day to reflect upon the heroism of those who died during the Great War, we now honor veterans who participated in all wars for their patriotism, love of country, and service and sacrifice for the common good on November 11, Veterans Day. Here are a few ways you can celebrate U.S. […]
Looking to learn more about the intersection of bioethics, moral reasoning, and political philosophy, the Maguire Ethics Center along with other participants from SMU, Houston Methodist Hospital, and SMU’s Perkins School of Theology convened the interdisciplinary research cluster and reading group, “Healthcare and Human Flourishing.” Funded in part by the Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute, the […]
The Maguire Ethics Center welcomes you to our second 2021 Maguire Public Service Fellow spotlight. This week’s post features Public Service Fellow Brady Martin and his work with All Wheels Up advocating for wheelchair space on aircrafts. While catching a flight remains a simple part of life for most people, those flying as a wheelchair […]
The Maguire Ethics Center welcomes you to our first 2021 Maguire Public Service Fellow spotlight. This week’s post features Public Service Fellow Rachel Morrow and her efforts to address vaccine inequity among elderly and homebound individuals in Dallas. Vaccinating as many Americans as possible against COVID-19 is no easy feat. Challenges such as vaccine hesitancy, […]
On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas. He informed the enslaved African Americans of their freedom and that the Civil War had ended. This momentous occasion has been celebrated as Juneteenth — a combination of June and 19 — for more than 150 years. As we celebrate this newly recognized […]