|
Media
Contacts:
Suzanne Jacovec, 919/513-1829 or suzanne_jacovec@ncsu.edu
Aug.
15, 2002
NC State
Names Research Ethics Initiative Director
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
|
Dr.
Gary L. Comstock will join North Carolina State
University on Aug. 15 as director of the university's
Research Ethics Initiative and professor of philosophy
in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
The
appointment was announced by NC State Chancellor
Marye Anne Fox and recently was approved by the
university's Board of Trustees and the University
of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Governors.
Comstock
was the coordinator of the bioethics program at
Iowa State University and professor of philosophy
and religious studies. He is best known as the
founder of the ISU Bioethics Institute, a faculty
development workshop that has helped hundreds
of life scientists from around the world to integrate
discussions of ethics into their courses. In addition
to teaching courses in the Department of Philosophy
and Religion at NC State, Comstock will serve
as director of the university's Research Ethics
Initiative. The program is designed to encourage
open discussion among faculty, students and the
community of difficult ethical issues on research.
|
Dr.
Gary L. Comstock
|
Comstock
is a popular speaker who has lectured in Asia, Europe,
Central America, the Middle East and Canada. In 1998
he won his college's Award for Excellence in Outreach.
He
has published more than fifty articles and book chapters
in his areas of interest, life science ethics and philosophy
of religion. Comstock's most recent work, Vexing
Nature? On the Ethical Case Against Agricultural Biotechnology,
explains how, after writing essays against genetic engineering,
he changed his mind to become a "cautious proponent"
of genetically modified foods. The book has been hailed
by critics, with one reviewer writing that Vexing
Nature is "the most complete and philosophically
rigorous overview of the arguments for and against agricultural
biotechnology currently available."
Comstock
has served as principal investigator or project director
on more than 15 grants totaling more than $1 million,
including major awards from the National Science Foundation.
Comstock
earned a master's degree in divinity and a doctoral
degree in religion and literature from the University
of Chicago Divinity School. He has bachelor's degrees
in religious studies and English literature from Wheaton
College.
-
jacovec -
|
Raleigh,
NC 27695
