Ethics Experts for Media

Don Heider: Ethics Center Executive Director Don Heider was formerly the director of the Center for Digital Ethics at Loyola University, Chicago, where he was dean of communications and associate provost.  He is a former TV journalist with research interests in communication, technology, virtual worlds, digital ethics, race, and social media.
E-mail: dheider@scu.edu

Margaret R. McLean: As Ethics Center senior scholar and former director of Bioethics, Margaret McLean can address a wide range of issues in applied ethics. She has her master's in divinity from Luther Theological Seminary, as well as two Ph.Ds, one in Pathology (Medical College of Wisconsin) and one in ethics (Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley).

David DeCosse: David DeCosse can address general questions in ethics, as well as Catholic moral teaching and social justice. He is director of campus ethics programs at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Previously, he worked at Doubleday Books, where he edited But Was It Just? Reflections on the Morality of the Persian Gulf War and Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children by Jason Berry.
Phone: 408-554-5715
E-mail: ddecosse@scu.edu

Charles E. Binkley, MD.: Building on his experience as a cancer surgeon, bioethicist, physician leader, and health care quality opinion leader, Charles directs the bioethics program at the Markkula Center. Charles attended Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed his surgery training at the University of Michigan where he was awarded an NIH fellowship in pancreatic cancer research. Charles has served on the Committee on Ethical, Legal, and Judicial Affairs of the California Medical Association, as well as on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Medical Society. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. His work is focused on medical professionalism, health care quality and access, and the ethical application of technology in health care. He also directs the Health Care Ethics Internship and Honzel Fellowship in Health Care Ethics at Santa Clara University. Charles’ background in basic science research, clinical practice, and health care administration, gives him unique insight into the dilemmas facing medicine and biotechnology.

Margaret R. McLean: Margaret McLean is a senior scholar at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. With her background in science and ethics--she holds a doctorate in clinical pathology from the Medical College of Wisconsin and a doctorate in ethics from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley--she was tapped as an advisor to the California Senate Select Committee on Genetics and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Project Consultation on Human Cloning.

Lawrence Nelson: Lawrence Nelson, associate professor of philosophy at SCU, is also an attorney and has provided bioethics consultation and education as an independent practitioner. He has published articles on ethics, law, and health care in journals such as Journal of the American Medical Association and Hastings Center Report. He was awarded a $100,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study the legal and ethical aspects of prenatal substance abuse.
Phone: 408-554-5093
E-mail: lnelson@scu.edu

Dale Larson: Dale Larson, professor of counseling psychology at SCU, is a national leader in psychosocial issues in bereavement and end-of-life care. A former Fulbright Scholar, Larson was a member of the Advisory Panel for the American Psychological Association Ad Hoc Committee on End-of-Life Issues, and was the senior editor of "Finding Our Way: Living With Dying in America," a 15-week newspaper series funded by the Robert Wood Johnson foundation.
Phone: 408-554-4320
E-mail: dlarson@scu.edu

Ann Skeet: Senior Director of Leadership Ethics Ann Skeet has leadership experience in both the business and nonprofit sectors. The former CEO of the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley, she also served as vice president of marketing for the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa News, as president of Notre Dame High School, and has served on numerous nonprofit boards for the past 26 years, including two chairmanships.  Her scholarship interests are in leadership ethics, social sector ethics, business ethics, media ethics, corporate governance, sports ethics, and the use of mission and dialogue to aid ethical-decision making.
Phone: 408-554-5466
E-mail: askeet@scu.edu

Hersh Shefrin: Hersh Shefrin, who holds the Mario L. Belotti Chair in the Department of Finance at the Leavey School of Business, is one of the pioneers of behavioral finance. His books include Beyond Greed and Fear: Understanding Behavioral Finance and the Psychology of Investing(Oxford University Press) and Ending the Management Illusion (McGraw-Hill).
Phone: 408-554-6893
E-mail: hshefrin@scu.edu

Manuel Velasquez: The Dirksen Professor of Business Ethics in the SCU Management Department, Manuel Velasquez is the author of one of the most popular textbooks in business ethics, Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases (Pearson). He was the founding director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and has a particular interest in the teaching of business ethics. His research is in international business ethics.
Phone: (408) 554-4848
E-mail: mvelasquez@scu.edu

Brian Green: Supervisor of the Center's Environmental Ethics Fellows, Brian Green, director of Technology Ethics, can comment on the ethics of climate change, conventional and renewable energy choices, and the ethics of geoengineering and climate engineering.
Phone: 408-554-7890
E-mail: bpgreen@scu.edu

Michelle Marvier: Michelle Marvier is a professor in the SCU Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences. Her research program has coalesced around the theme of informing environmental policy and strategy. This entails endangered species management, conservation investment, and environmental risk assessment for genetically modified crops. She is co-author of Conservation Science: Balancing the Needs of People and Nature. 2nd ed. (Roberts & Co.).
E-mail: mmarvier@scu.edu

Keith Warner: A Franciscan friar, Keith Warner is an associate adjunct lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University. He is an interdisciplinary environmental scholar who studies how values, ethics, institutions and the expansion of knowledge shape nature-society relations. His areas of expertise include California environmental issues, pesticides, water management, and agricultural science.
E-mail: kwarner@scu.edu

Chad Raphael: Professor of Communications Chad Raphael is an Ethics Center Scholar with an interest in public discourse on the environment. He has written on the problem of e-waste.
E-mail: craphael@scu.edu

Sara Garcia: Sara Garcia was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholar award to develop a collaborative model for teaching concepts related to drought in the Chihuahua desert. Garcia, a professor of education, has also consulted with the Center's Character Education Program on environmental education. She is also director of the MA program in Interdisciplinary Education with an emphasis on Environmental Literacy and Ethics in the SCU Education Department.
E-mail: sgarcia@scu.edu

John P. Pelissero, Ph.D.:  Pelissero is a senior scholar at the Ethics Center and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Loyola University Chicago, where he served on the faculty for 35 years until 2020. An accomplished researcher and teacher in various areas of American politics, he is a specialist in urban politics and public administration. He has published dozens of articles in political science journals and has published two books. He was chairperson of the Department of Political Science, served seven years as provost and chief academic officer, and led Loyola University Chicago as interim president for one year. Pelissero promotes the values of ethical awareness and social justice in education and community action.
E-mail: jpelissero@scu.edu

Don Heider: Center Executive Director Don Heider began his career as a TV journalist and went on to serve as professor and dean of the School of Communication and associate provost at Loyola University Chicago. His research interests are in communication, technology, virtual worlds, digital ethics, race, and social media.
E-mail: dheider@scu.edu

Subbu Vincent: Director of Journalism and Media Ethics Subbu Vincent brings applied ethics to decision making at the intersection of news, platforms and the public. He writes and synthesizes research towards advancing new norms in journalism practice, news and social product design and the public's processing of media. His current interests are bringing behavioral insights to journalism and media ethics. He was formerly Tech Lead for the Trust Project, and prior to that John S Knight Journalism fellow at Stanford University. He was publisher and editor-in-chief for two news magazines in Bangalore whose teams won 11 awards in 12 years.
E-mail: svincent@scu.edu

Ann Skeet: Senior Director of Leadership Ethics Ann Skeet has leadership experience in both the business and nonprofit sectors. The former CEO of the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley, she also served as vice president of marketing for the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa News, as president of Notre Dame High School, and has served on numerous nonprofit boards for the past 26 years, including two chairmanships.  Her scholarship interests are in leadership ethics, social sector ethics, business ethics, media ethics, corporate governance, sports ethics, and the use of mission and dialogue to aid ethical-decision making.
Phone: 408-554-5466
E-mail: askeet@scu.edu

David DeCosse: Center Director of Campus Ethics Programs David DeCosse specializes in Catholic social teaching with an emphasis on issues of free speech, and ethics and war. A Ph.D. from the Boston College-Westin Jesuit School of Philosophy, he was the Editor of Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children(Doubleday) by Jason Berry.
Phone: 408-554-5715
E-mail: ddecosse@scu.edu

Margaret R. McLean: Ethics Center Senior Scholar Margaret R. McLean has her master's in divinity from Luther Theological Seminary, as well as two Ph.Ds, one in Pathology (Medical College of Wisconsin) and one in ethics (Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley). She teaches in the Religious Studies Department and was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Project Consultation on Human Cloning.

Brian Green: Director of Technology Ethics Brian Green has expertise in Catholic ethics, particularly Catholic natural law, Catholic environmental ethics, the Catholic response to human genetic manipulation, and the Catholic understanding of conscience.
Phone: 408-554-7890
E-mail: bpgreen@scu.edu

Thomas Plante: SCU Professor of Psychology Thomas Plante is a nationally recognized commentator on the problem of clergy sexual abuse. He is the author of Sin Against the Innocent: Sexual Abuse by Priests and the Role of the Catholic Church (Greenwood) and Do the Right Thing: Living Ethically in an Unethical World (New Harbinger).
Phone: 408-554-4471 or 650-326-5930
E-mail: tplante@scu.edu

Ann Skeet: Senior Director of Leadership Ethics Ann Skeet has leadership experience in both the business and nonprofit sectors. The former CEO of the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley, she also served as vice president of marketing for the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa News, as president of Notre Dame High School, and has served on numerous nonprofit boards for the past 26 years, including two chairmanships.  Her scholarship interests are in leadership ethics, social sector ethics, business ethics, media ethics, corporate governance, sports ethics, and the use of mission and dialogue to aid ethical-decision making.
Phone: 408-554-5466
E-mail: askeet@scu.edu

Joan Harrington: Ethics Center Senior Scholar and former Director of Social Sector Ethics Joan Harrington has worked extensively in the social sector, including serving as general counsel of the international relief and development agency, Save the Children. She has consulted with nonprofits and philanthropists in such areas as strategic planning, program design, nonprofit formation, and fundraising.  She served as chair of the Board of Governors of Public Advocates and has counseled a number of boards on governance issues. She also taught the course “Law of Nonprofit Organizations,” and continues as a lecturer at the Santa Clara University School of Law.
E-mail: j1harrington@scu.edu

Ann Skeet: Senior Director of Leadership Ethics Ann Skeet has leadership experience in both the business and nonprofit sectors. The former CEO of the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley, she also served as vice president of marketing for the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa News, as president of Notre Dame High School, and has served on numerous nonprofit boards for the past 26 years, including two chairmanships.  Her scholarship interests are in leadership ethics, social sector ethics, business ethics, media ethics, corporate governance, sports ethics, and the use of mission and dialogue to aid ethical-decision making.
Phone: 408-554-5466
E-mail: askeet@scu.edu

Irina Raicu: Director of Internet Ethics Irina Raicu is the author of a teaching module on online privacy and ethics, as well as numerous articles on social media ethics, cybersecurity ethics, artificial intelligence, and data ethics. She is a certified information privacy professional, and has a particular interest in the international aspect of Internet ethics. She tweets @IEthics.
E-mail: iraicu@scu.edu

Brian Green: Director of Technology Ethics Brian Green teaches ethics in the SCU School of Engineering. His expertise is in bioengineering, genetic manipulation, human enhancement, ethical issues in space exploration, and the ethics of emerging technologies.
E-mail: bpgreen@scu.edu

Don Heider: Executive Director of Ethics Center Don Heider can speak on ethics and VR, virtual worlds, gaming, online communities, and social media.  Formerly, he was the founder of the Center for Digital Ethics.  He is the John Courtney Murray S.J. Professor of Social Ethics and professor of communication at SCU.
E-mail: dheider@scu.edu

Eric Goldman: Director of Santa Clara University's High Tech Law Institute, Eric Goldman is a law professor focusing on Internet law, IP, and advertising law. Previously he worked as general counsel of an Internet start-up and as a technology transactions lawyer at Cooley Godward.
E-mail: egoldman@gmail.com