“Intersecting Interests: Science, Ethics and Education” is the theme of the 2014 Galileo’s Legacy Conference at Missouri Western State University on Thursday, March 27. Conference presentations will be in Kemper Recital Hall, Spratt Hall room 101, and are free and open to the public. No registration is required.

The first presentation, at 2 p.m., is titled “Assessing Ethics in the Academy: How to Measure the Impact of Ethics Education.” It will be given by Dr. Toby Schonfeld, director of the Master of Bioethics program at Emory University’s Center for Ethics. She is also director of the Program for Scholarly Integrity at Emory’s Laney Graduate School.

The second presentation, at 4:30 p.m., is titled “Exploring Bioethics – A New Approach for the High School Classroom.” It will be given by Dr. David Vannier, science education consultant at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Vannier’s presentation will focus on course design and pedagogy related to incorporating ethics into high school science classrooms that comes from his work with the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research.

Galileo’s Legacy is an annual conference on the intersection of science, humanities and public policy. Funding is provided by the Missouri Western State University Foundation.

For more information, contact Dr. Jim Okapal, associate professor of philosophy, at jokapal@missouriwestern.edu, or Dr. Karen Koy, assistant professor of biology, at kkoy@missouriwestern.edu.

Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.

Revised 11:30 a.m. March 19 to add conference location.