Deborah S. Mower

Deborah S. Mower is the Founding Director of the Center for Practical Ethics and an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Mississippi. She holds the Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Hume Bryant Lectureship in Ethics and teaches courses such as Introduction to Professional Ethics and Consequentialism. Her research focuses on moral psychology, applied ethics, and moral education, particularly on fostering civility and moral sensitivity in academic and public discourse.

Education: B.A. in Philosophy from Pacific University, M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She joined the University of Mississippi in 2016, founding the UM Ethics Bowl team which won the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship. She coordinates the Dialogue Initiative and chairs the General Education Ethical Reasoning committee.

Her research explores how moral education and liberal arts contribute to democratic citizenship through civility and moral sensitivity. She has co-edited volumes like *Civility in Politics and Education* (2012) and *Developing Moral Sensitivity* (2015), and co-directed a 2016 NEH Summer Institute on Moral Psychology and Education.

Professional Affiliations: Past President of the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum (SEAC), Board Member of the Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization (PLATO), Board Member of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE), and Research Member of the National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD).

Teaching and Seminars: Organized seminars on civility in education and moral psychology, emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to ethics education. Current courses include PHIL 353 (Consequentialism) and PHIL 204 (Introduction to Professional Ethics).