Philosophy Chair Vincent Luizzi lands Fulbright to South Africa

By Jayme Blaschke
February 14, 2007

Vincent L. Luizzi

Vincent L. Luizzi, chair of the Department of Philosophy at Texas State University-San Marcos, has received a Fulbright award to South Africa to assist with the creation of the Centre for Leadership Ethics in Africa, at the University of Fort Hare.

Luizzi will spend six weeks at the university, the alma mater of former South African President Nelson Mandela and the oldest historically black university in southern Africa (founded 1916). Considered one of the continent's most prestigious institutions of higher education, the university draws students from many African nations. The Centre's purpose will be to conduct strategic research in leadership ethics and to develop moral decision-making qualities in students who will become the next generation of Africa's leaders.

Luizzi, a Fulbright senior specialist in law, will assist the directors of the Centre for Leadership Ethics in developing the coursework for a master of philosophy degree in applied ethics, with emphasis on leadership, public sector, environmental, development, economic, and business ethics. He will also help to develop a set of undergraduate courses in applied ethics for all university students. Luizzi also plans to give lectures, visit classrooms, and participate in discussion groups, "to get a working sense of the faculty's and students' interests and values, and to be able to build on these interests as the program develops," he said.

"It is exciting to be invited to assist in the creation of the Centre's programs," Luizzi said. "The directors see the Centre as serving all of Africa, as having an impact on the continent.

"In creating the master's degree in applied ethics, the Centre is at the forefront of universities," he said, explaining that the department of philosophy at Texas State has proposed a similar master's degree program, in applied philosophy, which it hopes to begin offering in 2008. The program will be the first of its kind in Texas.

In developing the master's program in applied ethics, Luizzi will draw on his deep background of relevant experience. In addition to writing the proposal for the master's degree in applied philosophy at Texas State, he developed a graduate minor in philosophy based on the department's courses in applied philosophy, an undergraduate minor in values studies that includes an internship in applied ethics, and the Department's graduate certificate program in professional ethics, which includes a course about business ethics and ethics in the workplace. He also helped to develop a philosophy course now required for all Texas State undergraduate students which includes the study of critical thinking and ethics. The Philosophy Department is now proposing a course, "contemporary moral and ethical problems," as an alternative to the more general introductory course. Luizzi, who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and a J.D. degree in law, serves as a municipal court judge in San Marcos and wrote the code of professional conduct for the clerks of the municipal courts of the state of Texas. He also wrote the current honor code for students, faculty, and administrators at Texas State, and he specializes in the principles of codes of ethics in the workplace. He is the author of A Case for Legal Ethics: Legal Ethics as a Source for a Universal Ethic.

The Fulbright Senior Specialist program, sponsored by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars in the U.S. Department of State, provides short-term grants for U.S. scholars to travel to overseas academic institutions requesting assistance from experts in curriculum development, faculty development, institutional planning, and the delivery of lectures. In addition to Luizzi, two other members of the College of Liberal Arts faculty at Texas State are on the Fulbright Senior Specialist Roster--Benjamin Zhan, senior specialist in geographic information science, and Steve Wilson, senior specialist in American studies.