Focusing on its home community–the Santa Clara University campus–the Markkula Center continued its engagement with students through numerous fellowship and internship opportunities. As these students worked towards completion of their individual projects, Markkula Center ethicists served as mentors, guiding each cohort and helping them apply ethical decision making to their areas of focus.

Read on for highlights from this year’s Student Project Showcase, an overview of projects completed by students over the course of the 2023-24 academic year. 

 

Business Ethics Internship

Interns are placed in ethics and compliance divisions of Silicon Valley companies.

Josie Collier '24 was a Business Ethics Intern at Intel in the Ethics, Legal, and Compliance department. 

Her work and research involved crafting a research analysis report for yearly training metrics related to ethical issues and risks at Intel’s operations, consulting and implementing Intel policies to share with employees, collaborating with different teams to produce The Global Ethics and Compliance Summit website, and conducting research on different Ethics and Compliance metrics. 

Watch Josie's Showcase presentation.

 

Ethics Bowl

A debate group on ethical issues,the Ethics Bowl team competes regionally and nationally.

The Santa Clara University Ethics Bowl Team, co-sponsored by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and the SCU Philosophy Department, has a strong history of competing in the California Regional of the APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl (IEB) and the National IEB Tournament. 

In the 2023-24 season, the SCU team—including Suzan Amiri, Dylan Cahill, Noah Cross, Daniel Hipon, Davis Robertson, Edward Sorensen, Kendall Schrohe, Kailai Shen, and Caroline Smith—performed impressively at the California Regional competition on December 2nd, held at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. One team finished with two wins and one loss, while the other had one win and two losses.

Government Ethics Interns

Fellows work on projects at the intersection of policy and ethics.

Sebastian Falabella ’25 examined the actions of the Colombian government in 2016 (guided by President Santos) through the ethical lenses of Utilitarianism, Justice, and Virtue.

Kimber Wood ‘24 wrote on the struggle for survival faced by individuals experiencing cycles of incarceration and homelessness in America. 

 

 

 

 

Hackworth Fellowships

Students create programs for their peers on ethical issues.

Armando Abarca '24 was on the Campus Ethics Team and helped to launch and develop a program to foster belonging among Santa Clara students. 

Ben Shiverdaker '24 and Sparsh Garg '25 explored educational scenarios through VR, and the use of VR in education and ethics. 

Blaise Burbank ’24 hosted a panel discussing college dating culture, misconceptions about dating standards, and ethical approaches to relationship building. 

Chisomaga Nlemigbo ’25 examined homelessness of indigenous communities via indigenous and non-indigenous legal cases. 

Daisy Halaszyn '25 examined the ethics of cryptocurrency in emerging economies.

Francis Lai ‘24 researched the extent to which SCU students were aware of and correctly understood SCU's medical amnesty and good samaritan policies.

Justin Sun ‘25 researched the ethics of the United Nations space treaties. 

Kendal Schrohe ‘24 and Hydeia Wysinger ’25 developed a podcast exploring fundamental questions about belonging and their findings on students’ experiences at SCU. 

Laura Clark ‘24 examined AI as it intersects with the understanding of what it means to be human, have intelligence, and love.

Tatum Diemer '24, explored several case studies involving sustainability policy at SCU.

Willa Weinsheimer ‘24 researched the ethics of crime portrayed in media and journalism, by exploring media coverage of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. 

Xiomara Quinonez ‘24  wrote on the ethics of facial recognition and risk of exacerbating racial biases.  

 

Health Care Ethics Interns

Designed for students interested in health care, health policy, biotechnology, bioengineering, health law, and health care administration, the Health Care Ethics Internship program places SCU undergraduates in community-based experiences with various units in local hospitals and other health care facilities, or with ethics departments in pharmaceutical, biotech, and technology companies.

The Honzel Fellowship in Health Care Ethics is awarded to an outstanding (rising) senior with a passion for ethics as it relates to health care. The Fellow serves as a peer mentor to students in the Health Care Ethics Internship and develops an ethics project with particular relevance to students and alumni.

 

2023-24 Honzel Fellow Project:

Shelby Jennett ‘24:  Transformative Experiences: Redefining the Challenge of Informed Consent in Modern Medicine

2023-24 Health Care Ethics Intern Projects: 

Allen Dao ‘24: “Boarding” Emergency Department Patients Leads to Unethical Outcomes

Haley Kerr ‘24: Guilty Until Proven Innocent: The Misdiagnosis of Child Abuse in Health Care

Sophia Bouzid ‘24: Eggs Are a Hot Commodity: A Bioethical Perspective on Egg Donation

Nicholas Truong ‘24: Pay for Play in Prescription Medications

Joy Peters ‘25: Realities of the Fitness Industry: Ethical Dilemmas and Their Impacts on Health

Bilal Arshadullah ‘24: The Ethics of Brain Death: An Islamic Perspective

Michael Nguyen ‘24: Forced Organ Harvesting: A Decades-long Injustice in Need of International Accountability and Action

Isa Montes ‘25: Through a Care Ethics Lens: Fostering Compassionate Concern for the Health of the Incarcerated

Tatyana Lum ‘24: Hawai‘i is no Paradise for Health Care

Kathryn Rickwa ‘24: Transitions in Turmoil: The Impact of Gender-Affirming Care Restrictions on Healthcare Providers

Addison Lewis ‘26: Denial of Tubal Ligations in Catholic Hospitals: A Right to Religious Freedom or an Infringement of Patient Autonomy?

Sydney Shelby ‘25: Lost in Translation: Ethics of Translation Services in Healthcare

Anna Ketchum ‘25: Balancing Act: Navigating Privacy and Care in Substance Use Disorder Treatments Amid Policy Shifts

Caroline Barbar Askar ‘25: Xenotransplantation: The Future of Organ Transplants?

Neeve Esfahani ‘25: Long Term Care: Addressing the Shortage of Primary Care Physicians

The work of the 2023-24 Health Care Ethics Intern Cohort and Honzel Fellow was highlighted during the end-of year spring Symposium and is available to view here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsRVuSreQog