RS 6/7/3
Iowa State University, 
Vice Provost for Research and Advanced Studies,
Bioethics Program

Records, 1988 – [ongoing]

Special Collections Department
 403 Parks Library
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-2140

Descriptive summary

creator:

Iowa State University. Vice Provost for Research and Advanced Studies. Bioethics Program.

title:

Records

dates:

1988 – [ongoing]

extent:

 4.74 linear feet (3 records center cartons and 2 document boxes)

collection number:

RS 6/7/3

repository:

 University Archives, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University.

   

Administrative information

access:

Open for research

publication rights:

Consult Head, Special Collections Department

preferred citation:

 Iowa State University Bioethics Program Records, RS 6/7/3, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library.  

  

Historical note


The Iowa State University Bioethics Advisory Committee was first established at Iowa State University by legislative statute in 1986. The Committee was to discuss and monitor the ethical, social, economic, and environmental implications of agricultural biotechnology. Initially, the Committee funded research, and sponsored symposiums, faculty retreats, and the newsletter The Ag Bioethics Forum. Then, in 1991 the committee was disbanded and the Bioethics Program begun.  

Philosophy and religious studies professor Gary L. Comstock assumed leadership duties as coordinator and began the ISU Bioethics Institute, a weeklong course for faculty from any discipline interested in ethical issues. The primary goal of the Institute was to train faculty to use discussions on ethics in their classes, thereby introducing the subject to their students. Within three years, by 1994, Comstock estimated that the 75 participants of the Institutes had reached 5,500 students in more than 100 courses.  The Institutes are partially funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Agriculture.  

Comstock left Iowa State University in 2001, and Dr. Kristen Hessler, a lecturer in the Philosophy Department, replaced him as the Bioethics Outreach Coordinator. The Bioethics Program continues to organize Bioethics Institutes, sponsor on-campus events, and to offer courses in bioethics.

 

Collection Description


The collection includes minutes from the Iowa State University Bioethics Advisory Committee, drafts of the Ag Bioethics Forum, materials related to symposiums, and articles, correspondence, and planning materials for the Bioethics Institutes. In addition, it includes articles and presentations written and presented by Gary Comstock, as well as materials pertaining to conferences he planned and attended. The videos included in this collection, of programs on various bioethical issues and of speakers at the 1995 Iowa State University Bioethics Institute, are housed separately in the vault.

 

 Organization


The collection is arranged alphabetically, with the exception of video and audiocassette tapes, which are listed separately at the end.

 

 Container list  

Box

Folder

Title

Dates

1

1

Activities Report: Bioethics Program

1991-1995

1

2

Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society (AFHVS) meeting

1994

1

3

American Chemical Society (ACS) Speakers Tour: Presentations by Gary Comstock 

2000

1

4

Articles with citations for Gary Comstock

1988-2000

1

5

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University

1994

1

6

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University

1995

5

4

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University (Summer)

1995

1

7

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University

1996

1

8

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University: evaluations

1996

1

9

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University: evaluations

1997

1

10

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University

1998

1

11

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University

1999

1

12

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University: evaluations

1999

1

13

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University

2000

1

14

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University

2001

1

15

Bioethics Faculty Retreat, Iowa State University

2002

1

16

Bioethics Institute, Iowa State University: Budgets

1990-1997

1

17

Bioethics Institute, Iowa State University

1991

1

18

Bioethics Institute, Iowa State University

1991

1

19

Bioethics Institute, Iowa State University: evaluations

1991

1

20

Bioethics Institute, Iowa State University: speakers and correspondence 

1991

1

21

Bioethics Institute, Iowa State University

1998

1

22

Bioethics Institute, Iowa State University

1998

1

23

Bioethics Institute, Iowa State University

1999

1

24

Bioethics Institute, Iowa State University

2001

1

25

Bioethics Institute, Oregon State University

1998-1999

1

26

Bioethics Institute, University of Illinois

1993-1994

1

27

Bioethics Institute, University of Illinois

1994

1

28

Bioethics Institute, University of Illinois

1995

1

29

Bioethics Institute, University of Nebraska

1992

1

30

Bioethics Leader Program

1994-1996

1

31

Bioethics Model Institute Survey

1994-1995

2

1

Bioethics Model Institute Survey

1997

2

2

Bioethics Program Report

1988-1991

2

3

Bioethics Program Report

1992

2

4

Bioethics Program Report

1992

2

5

Bioethics Program Report

1993

2

6

Bioethics Program Report

1994-1995

2

7

Bioethics Program Report

1995-1996

2

8

Bioethics Program Report

1996-1997

2

9

Bioethics Program Report

1997-1998

2

10

Bioethics Program Report

1998-1999

2

11

Bioethics Program Report

2000

2

12

Bioethics Retreat, Iowa Lakeside Lab

1995

2

13

Bioethics Research Fellowship

2000-2001

2

14

Bioethics Seminar Series

1997-1999

2

15

Biotechnology Institute, Iowa State University

1992

2

16

Biotechnology Institute, Iowa State University

1993

2

17

College Student Survey on Issues and Values in Agriculture

1990-1993

2

18

Colloquium: “Is Biotechnology Compatible With Sustainable Agriculture?” 

1991

2

19

Colloquium: “Should We Patent Life?”

1990

2

20

Conference: “Biotechnology in the Global Economy: Science and the Precautionary Principle,” Harvard University 

2000

2

21

Conference: “Biotechnology and the Human Environment,” George Washington University 

2000

2

22

Conference: “East-West Philosophers’ Conference,” University of Hawaii 

2000

2

23

Conference: “Ethics and Biotechnology: a Blueprint for the Future,” Northwestern University, Chicago 

1996

2

24

Conference: “Fourth Annual Conference on Religious Ethics and Technological Change: Is There a Conspiracy Against Family Farmers?” Iowa State University 

1987

2

25

Conference: “Moral and Political Reasoning in Environmental Practice,” a joint conference of the Society for Applied Philosophy and the International Society for Environmental Ethics, Oxford, England 

1999

2

26

Conference: “The Responsibility of the World’s Religions: Realizing the Ideal,” by the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace 

1994

2

27

Conference: “Third Annual Conference on Religious Ethics and Technological Change: Is there a Moral Obligation to Save the Family Farm?” Iowa State University 

1986

2

28

Conference: “Transatlantic Platform for Consumer Concerns and International Trade,” Lelystad, the Netherlands 

2000

2

29

Correspondence: General

1992-1995

2

30

Correspondence: Gary Comstock

1992-1996

2

31

Correspondence: Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics (JAEE) 

1991-1992

2

32

Ethics and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute: Readings

1992

2

33

Faculty Position Search

1990

2

34

Fall Bioethics Colloquium: “Can Animals Feel Pain?”

1991

2

35

Fall Bioethics Colloquium: “Is Bioethics Compatible with Sustainable Agriculture?” 

1991

2

36

Fall Bioethics Colloquium

1992

2

37

Fall Bioethics Colloquium: “Population, Poverty, and the Environmental Resource Base” 

1994

2

38

Fall Bioethics Colloquium

1995

2

39

Fall Bioethics Colloquium: “Population, Development, and Human Rights” 

1996

2

40

Fall Bioethics Colloquium: “Who Owns the World?”

1997

2

41

Fall Bioethics Colloquium, University of Illinois

1993

2

42

Fundaçăo Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento (FLAD) and National Science Foundation (NSF) International Bioethics Institute: Correspondence 

1998-1999

2

43

FLAD and NSF International Bioethics Institute, Lisbon, Portugal

1999

2

44

FLAD and NSF International Bioethics Institute: Correspondence

2000

2

45

FLAD and NSF International Bioethics Institute: Presentation on Genetically Modified Foods, by Gary Comstock, Lisbon, Portugal 

2000

2

46

Grant Proposal: National Science Foundation (NSF), Addendum, Life Sciences Faculty Institute on Ethics and Agricultural Biotechnology 

1993-1994

3

1

Grant: NSF, Final Project Report for Model Ethics Institute

1998-1999

3

2

Grant: NSF, Grant Progress Report

1995

3

3

Grant: NSF, Model Ethics Institute, Budget and Correspondence

1994-1997

3

4

Grant: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Higher Education Challenge Grant 

1993

3

5

Grant: USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant, Final Report 

1996

3

6

Grant: NSF, “Life Sciences Faculty Institute on Ethics and Agricultural Biotechnology” 

1992

3

7

Grant Proposal: National Science Foundation

1993

3

8

Grant Proposal: USDA, “Model Ethics Institute”

1993

3

9

Grant Subcontract: NSF, Oregon State University Bioethics Program 

1997-1999

3

10

ISU Bioethics Program Activities Report

1991-1995

3

11

ISU Bioethics Advisory Committee, Meeting Minutes

1988

3

12

ISU Bioethics Advisory Committee, Meeting Minutes

1991

3

13

ISU Bioethics Advisory Committee, Correspondence

1987-1988

3

14

ISU Bioethics Advisory Committee, Meeting Minutes

1991-1992

3

15

ISU Bioethics Advisory Committee, Meeting Minutes

1994-1997

3

16

ISU Bioethics Advisory Committee, Meeting Minutes

1998-2000

3

17

ISU Bioethics Advisory Committee, Meeting Minutes

1999-2000

3

18

ISU Bioethics Advisory Committee, Proposals

1987-1988

3

19

ISU Bioethics Institute, Alumni Reunions

1991-1994

3

20

ISU Bioethics Program Strategic Plan

1999

3

21

ISU Bioethics Program Survey

1994

3

22

ISU Bioethics Symposium

1995

5

5

ISU Bioethics Symposium, “Ethics and Animals in Agriculture”

1996

3

23

ISU Bioethics Symposium, “Is it Ethical to Increase World Food Production?” 

1999

3

24

Manuscript: Articles for the Journal for Agricultural and Environmental Ethics (JAEE), special issue on vegetarians and veganism 

1994

3

25

Manuscript: Articles for JAEE, volume 8, number 2, various authors

1995

3

26

Manuscript: Articles for JAEE, volume 8, number 2, various authors

1995

3

27

Manuscript: “Introduction” for JAEE, volume 8, number 2, by Gary Comstock 

1995

3

28

Manuscript: “Is there a conspiracy against family farmers?: Agricultural Economics, Public Policy, and Catholic Theology,” edited by Gary Comstock 

1990

3

29

Miscellaneous events sponsored by the ISU Bioethics Program

1994-1995

3

30

National Agricultural Biotechnology Council (NABC) Institute, Correspondence and Planning 

1996-1998

3