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Andrew Piker, A&M-CC Professor, Selected as
Summer 2009 Peace Scholar

The Rotary Club of Southside Corpus Christi is very proud to announce that Andrew Piker, Ph.D. has been selected by The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International for their summer 2009 program on Peace and Conflict Resolution. Andy’s passions for teaching and practicing ethical conflict resolution made him an outstanding candidate for this program.

Piker, professor of philosophy at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, is the South Texas Rotary District’s first applicant for this summer program. He will be enrolled in the Rotary Center at Chulalongkorn University, in Bangkok, Thailand, from June 11 through August 30, 2009.

Andy is one of only 25 people from around the world selected for the session. In addition to him, there are four others from the US, from North Carolina - currently living in Indonesia, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and one US citizen who is currently living in Korea.

Here’s a sample of why Piker was recommended by the Southside Corpus Christi Rotary Club and our District, and selected by the Foundation:

• His activities at the university include teaching ethical decision-making within the context of conflicting interests; advising the College Ethics Bowl team, which has had four top-ten national finishes, one national championship and four top finishes in our region, and a commendation from Corpus Christi Mayor Henry Garrett; and has been recognized by his college and the university for outstanding teaching. He served as co-director of the Core Curriculum Program, 2001-2003; chair of the Humanities Department, 2003-2006; and also served as chair of the university’s Ethics Council, 2000-2007.
  
• His community service is exceptional. These are just a few a few of Piker’s community activities that make him notable: He considers his most important contributions to be his work on the ethics committees at Driscoll Children’s Hospital and the Spohn Healthcare System. He has spoken to Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) campers about ethics and leadership. He served as a judge for a Biomedical Debate at the Area VII Health Occupations Students of America Spring Conference and Competition, January 1999. He is quite active in his professional community, having chaired numerous sessions for the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics. In addition, he has served as a volunteer mediator at community mediator centers in North Carolina and Ohio.
  
• Piker’s scholarship has contributed to resolving ethical conflicts concerning pharmaceutical company activities in third world countries, and he continues his scholarship in this very important area. His soon to be published article, “Liberation, Protection, and Decisional Impact: A Moderate Approach to Adolescent Health Care Decision-Making,” is an effort to resolve a dispute concerning whether to allow adolescents to make their own health care decisions. In addition, he has given numerous presentations to professional and non-professional audiences on a wide range of topics in applied ethical decision making.

According to Jenn Weidman, Specialist with the Rotary Peace & Conflict Studies Program, “We [were] looking to shift our summer session to a June-August schedule to allow academics, educators, and education administrators a better opportunity to participate in the program.” That change in the program dates was necessary for Piker to be able to participate.

Ms. Weidman also stated, “We at the Foundation define experience relevant to peace and conflict studies very broadly…. We have had folks involved with the following industries and issues attend the center in Bangkok: academics, agricultural rights, attorney generals, child soldiers, conflict theatre, development, education of all levels and methods, environmentalists, faith based organizations of all faiths, government officials, HIV/Aids work, human rights, human resources development, immigrant and migrant issues, indigenous rights, internally displaced people, journalism, judiciary, labor issues, land issues, law and lawyers, law enforcement and armed forces personnel, mediation at all levels, members of parliament, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), refugee work, science, technology and infrastructure development, water management, etc.”