SMU’s Maguire Ethics Center sends students on missions of charity, compassion across the world

By Kenny Ryan
SMU News

DALLAS (SMU) — Eight SMU students, under the tutelage of the Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, have embarked on an array of community service projects that are taking them from the Trinity River to Brazil, Bolivia and beyond.

“The Maguire Center Public Service Fellows are an exceptional group of undergraduate and graduate students who have chosen to dedicate their summers to serving others,” says Rita Kirk, distinguished professor of communications and Maguire Center director.

“These eight students rose to the top of a highly-selective application process based on their ability to demonstrate the need for their public service projects and how their projects tie into their own academic trajectory and professional careers,” Kirk adds. “These students are an inspiration to their peers as well as those who teach and support them.”

Each Fellow is responsible for finding agencies to sponsor their projects, which are selected for their ethical and social justice merits. SMU art history student Delanie Linden is studying the impact Rococo art had on French society in the 18^th century.

“In a period when human rights, ethics and reason were flourishing, I am curious to know why Rococo art seems to turn against these social and political phenomenon, appearing, in many ways, to be void of morality,” Linden says. “In the field of art history, we write a lot about the human experience – how art impacts the soul and the mind – and we write about how it has the power to sway people politically and morally, ethically. I hope that my project will add to this story of the human experience.”

Megan Latoya, an SMU medical anthropology doctoral student, is spending her summer in Brazil – where it is currently winter – helping transnational health organizations prepare for the country’s next Zika outbreak, which is expected to arrive when the southern hemisphere warms later this year.

“When the Zika virus became an epidemic in Northeastern Brazil, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) released guidelines for ethical prevention efforts and care; however, these guidelines are much more easily said than done in areas with large affected populations,” Latoya says. “I hope to be able to provide a clearer understanding of the experiences of the Zika virus for Brazil’s low-income communities and work with those communities so they have the ability to decide their most-pressing issues themselves and provide clearer goals for public healthcare workers to align community disease responses with ethical goals outlined by transnational health organizations such as PAHO.”

The remaining six Fellows are: Angela Wang, Antoine Mellon, Maggie Inhofe, Jordan Goldstein, Megan Brown and Justin Barringer.

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A nationally ranked private university with seven degree-granting schools, SMU is a distinguished center for teaching and research located near the heart of Dallas. SMU's 11,000 students benefit from small classes, research opportunities, leadership development, international study and innovative programs. The University is strengthened by its partnership with the Dallas region, a global center of commerce and culture. SMU students, faculty and alumni are changing the world through their chosen fields, civic engagement and service to society.

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News Media Contact:

Kenny Ryan
214-768-7641
khryan@smu.edu