The Communication Ethics Center (CEC) in the Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies at Duquesne University supports research, teaching, publications, and public presentations in Communication Ethics.  Members serve the local and national community with workshops and information sharing.  The Center discusses questions about contending narrative backgrounds and communicative social practices which guide communication ethics in civic life and the marketplace. 

The CEC will host the Tenth National Communication Ethics Conference from June 12-15, 2008 at Duquesne University.

More about the Communication Ethics Center

The CEC was founded in 1996 to consider theoretical and practical issues regarding ethical decision making in interpersonal, organizational, and media contexts. 

The Center connects with other institutes that emphasize ethics while limiting its project to Communication Ethics, defined within the CEC as follows:

Communication ethics is informed by principles and narrative structures, dialectically tempered by the particulars of human relationship and the historical situation, and implemented by persons situated within a social context.

Communication ethics requires the interplay of a guiding story, the historical situation, and embedded agency.  Philosophical ethics that works to judge behavior against a public standard must also engage the particulars of human relationships and the demands of the historical situation if the aim is to address communication ethics.

The CEC discusses questions about contending narrative backgrounds and communicative social practices in civic life and the marketplace.

Communication Ethics Center Activities

The CEC presents annual awards for communication ethics, hosts the bi-annual National Communication Ethics conference, encourages graduate student research in communication ethics by offering Duquesne University Graduate Student Fellowships, and provides speakers to the university community.

Annual Communication Ethics Awards

The CEC presents two annual awards for communication ethics: (1) The Anthony L. Bucci Excellence in Communication Ethics Award; and (2) The Scholarly Award for Communication Excellence in Ethics Education for the Mind, Heart, and Spirit.  Both of these awards, presented at the spring Communication honors societies banquet, embrace the Duquesne University Mission of “Education for the Mind, Heart, and Spirit.” 

Past winners of the The Anthony L. Bucci Excellence in Communication Ethics Award include:
2005 - David W. Brown
2004 - David J. Murphy
2003 - Lawrence R. Werner
2002 - Sheila Tate
2001 - Edward V. Fritzky
2000 - David Brugger

Past winners of The Scholarly Award for Communication Excellence in Ethics Education for the Mind, Heart, and Spirit include:
2005 - Walter Fisher
2004 - Kenneth Andersen
2003 - Michael Hyde
2002 - Josina Makau
2001 - Richard Johannesen
2000 - Julia Wood
1999 - Clifford Christians

National Communication Ethics Conference Host 

The CEC hosts the bi-annual National Communication Ethics Conference at Duquesne University.  The conference is supported by the Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies, the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts at Duquesne University, and the National Communication Association.

The conference promotes research and teaching related to communication ethics in all aspects of human communication, encourages the development of academic programs in communication ethics, and facilitates the collaboration of colleagues who have significant interest in communication ethics.

Duquesne University Graduate Student Fellowship in Communication Ethics

The CEC offers fellowships to the National Communication Ethics Conference to support graduate student research.

Graduate students are invited to submit papers for the Duquesne University Graduate Student Fellowship in Communication Ethics competition.  As many as three student authors will be chosen as fellows and will have their registration fees, housing, and meals for the conference paid by a contribution of the Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies at Duquesne University.

For Additional Information

For additional information on the Communication Ethics Center, please contact the Director:

Janie Harden Fritz and S. Alyssa Groom, Co-Directors,
Communication Ethics Center
Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies
Duquesne University
600 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh , PA 15282
P: 412-396-6446
F: 412-396-4792
harden@duq.edu ; grooms@duq.edu