About APPE

Established in 1991, the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to advancing scholarship, education, and practice in practical and professional ethics. APPE fosters moral reasoning skill development, works to promote ethical conduct in all sectors of our daily lives, nurtures the next generation of ethical leaders, and seeks to advance civil public discourse on diverse ethical issues.  

Strategic Plan

Our current strategic plan was adopted on December 1, 2022. Read it here.

Signature Programs

  • APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl (IEB)®: For more than 25 years, student teams from institutions of higher learning across the country have held a national ethics bowl competition. During each competition match, a case is selected from a set of prepared cases and a moderator poses questions based on that case. Cases are drawn from all areas of ethics such as: education ethics (e.g., cheating or plagiarism), personal relationships (e.g., dating or friendship), professional ethics (e.g., engineering, law, medicine), or social and political ethics (e.g., free speech, gun control). Teams delve into the multiple ethical dimensions of the case and present their ethical analysis. A panel of judges probes the teams for further justifications and evaluates team responses. Rating criteria are based on intelligibility, focus on ethically relevant considerations, avoidance of ethical irrelevance, and deliberative thoughtfulness.
  • APPE Research Integrity Scholars and Educators (RISE)sm: The APPE RISEsm consortium, created from a long-standing special interest section of APPE members, promotes education and research on research ethics, research integrity, and the responsible conduct of research. In support of this mission, the APPE RISEsm Consortium serves as a forum for academics, practitioners, and other stakeholders to share experience, expertise, and scholarship. The Consortium collaborates with external partners on matters pertaining to research ethics pedagogy, research, and policy.
  • Ethics Center Directors Consortium: The directors of ethics centers and institutions also formed a Special Interest Section that has evolved into a signature program. They regularly meet and connect virtually and in person, including at an in-person pre-conference summit at APPE’s annual conference to discuss a variety of topics related to their work using roundtables, guest speakers and other resources.

If you are interested in serving on a committee for one of the signature programs, please contact Kristen Fuhs Wells, executive director of APPE, at [email protected].

Other Programs and Services

    • Annual International Conference offering over 100 sessions and bringing together more than 400 students, academic faculty, researchers, and other professionals for a 3-day educational and networking event

    • Summer APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl® Workshop

    • Connection to colleagues within Affinity Groups (bioethics, business, education, law/government/military, social and societal, and STEM)

    • Listserv of nearly 2,000 colleagues interested in ethics

    • Support for early career faculty and researchers

 

Mission Statement

The Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) is an interdisciplinary, international organization dedicated to advancing scholarship, education, and practice in practical and professional ethics.  

APPE works to improve ethical conduct in our communities and workplaces, support and develop the next generation of ethics faculty and professionals, and advance public dialogue in ethics and values.

Vision Statement

Inspiring ethical practice in communities and workplaces.

Our Commitment to Racial Justice and Equity

The Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) is committed to furthering public dialogue in ethics and advancing ethical conduct among all professions. Following the killings of Black Americans George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the many, many others, APPE reaffirms these commitments and acknowledges its moral obligation to be a voice for the values of equity, solidarity, and social justice.

To that end, we call upon every individual to stand firmly against the entrenched and unethical systems of racial oppression and discrimination.

We ask professional organizations, businesses, and employers to actively move beyond a written code of ethical conduct and engage in the hard work to institutionalize the cultural shirts needed to transform those words into daily professional behavior. We implore the law enforcement community, especially, to take immediate and visible action to inculcate the highest ethical standards among all of its professionals to stop police violence.

Our deepest sympathy to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives to structural racism.