2018-19

Toni Shapiro-Phim
June 1, 2019
Toni Shapiro-Phim has joined the Ethics Center as associate professor of Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation (CAST) and assistant director of the center's Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts. With a PhD in cultural anthropology from Cornell University, Shapiro-Phim is a leading scholar and practitioner analyzing and building the role of the arts in conflict/post-conflict situations and in response to mass violence and sudden traumatic loss. Beginning in fall 2019, she will support the program in Peacebuilding and the Arts, co-chair the CAST minor, offer its core course, Introduction to Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation (CAST 150b) and develop two new CAST-designated courses.

ENACT students Madeline Bisgyer ’20, left, and Noaem Shurin ’19.
May 28, 2019
Social justice runs in nearly every Brandeisian's blood stream. It permeates into many aspects of academics and daily life, and in many cases it spreads beyond the boundaries of campus. One example is ENACT: The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation.
April 8, 2019
Massachusetts state Sens. Diana DiZoglio and Cindy Friedman and Kentucky state Rep. Attica Scott discussed their careers in politics and political advocacy, as well as their perspectives on political engagement, particularly at the state level, in conversation with the students from ENACT courses around the United States.

Anna Deavere Smith
March 21, 2019
Playwright, actor and educator Anna Deavere Smith performed segments of her award-winning one woman show, "Notes from the Field," and reflected on her approach to her work during her Richman Fellowship presentation in Sherman Function Hall.

Terris, rights, interviews Goldstone at book event
March 18, 2019
The Ethics Center today hosted a reading, discussion and reception featuring Richard Goldstone, member and former chair of the Ethics Center International Advisory Board, and Daniel Terris, director emeritus of the Ethics Center. In "The Trials of Richard Goldstone" (Rutgers University Press, 2018), Terris tells the story of this extraordinary individual and the price he paid for his convictions. Goldstone's dramatic life story reveals that even in a world rife with prejudice, nationalism and contempt for human rights, one courageous man can advance the cause of justice.
February 9, 2019
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the Student Union, supported by the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice and the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, presented Brandeis University's eighth annual Deis Impact, a weeklong festival of social justice, Feb. 3-9. Students, professors, clubs and academic departments hosted dozens of events, featuring talks, art-making workshops, performances, exhibits and discussions.
January 6, 2019
Leigh Swigart appeared on an episode of the Curiosity Foundation's "New England Authors," hosted by Kameel Nasr, to discuss her book "The International Judge: An Introduction to the Men and Women Who Decide the World's Cases" (Brandeis University Press, 2007), co-written by Daniel Terris and Cesare P. Romano.
October 30, 2018
Cohen, director of the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts, spoke on behalf of the Ethics Center at a Brandeis campus vigil in memory of the victims of the Oct. 27, 2018, shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

October 22, 2018
The 2018 edition of "Advocacy for Policy Change: Brandeis Students Work to Reform Massachusetts Law" is now available. Advocacy for Policy Change (LGLS 161b) is taught by Professor Melissa Stimell as part of the national program ENACT: The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation.
September 4, 2018
The Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation (CAST) program and Brandeis' Imagining Together Platform of Arts, Culture and Conflict Transformation (IMPACT) brought together peacemakers, cultural artists and Brandeis students for a multiday workshop in September. Guests spoke about how arts can create social transformation.

Melissa Stimell
September 1, 2018
Melissa Stimell, professor of the practice in the legal studies program, has been named interim director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, effective Sept. 1. She succeeds Daniel Terris, who earlier this summer became dean of the Al-Quds Bard College of Arts and Sciences at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem.