“From Platitudes to Priorities: Diversity and Gender Equity in the Workplace.”

Thursday, May 3, at 4:30 p.m. in Saxbe Auditorium, followed by a reception at 6:00

Deborah L. Rhode is one of the country’s leading scholars in the fields of legal ethics and gender, law, and public policy. An author of over 20 books, including The Beauty Bias, Gender and Law, Women and Leadership and Moral Leadership, she is the nation’s most frequently cited scholar in legal ethics. She is the director of the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession and Founding President of the International Association of Legal Ethics.  Before joining the Stanford Law faculty, Professor Rhode was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

What is the Elizabeth D. Gee Distinguished Lecture in Ethics?  The lecture, to be held every two years, honors the late Dr. Elizabeth Dutson Gee who was a senior research associate in the Center for Women’s Studies—the precursor of today’s Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies—in the early 1990s. Dr. Gee also held appointments in the School of Educational Policy and Leadership and the Office of the Vice-President for University Communications and Development. She was married to Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee.

Dr. Gee’s enduring legacy as a scholar and an educator, especially her commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration, and will foster dialogue within the academic and local communities. An Advisory Committee, working with the Chair of the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Dr. Rebekah Gee, Elizabeth Gee’s daughter, selects as lecturers prominent scholars of ethical issues. Preference is given to the fields for which Dr. Gee was a nationally recognized expert—education, moral conflicts faced by women in professional lives, dispute resolution, health and legal ethics, and women’s rights in the United States and abroad.

The inaugural lecturer was Dr. Nel Noddings, Jacks Professor Emerita of Child Education at Stanford University, who is well known for her work on ethics of care and education. Dr. Noddings’  lecture, titled “Care Ethics in the 21^st Century,” took place on April 20, 2010 in the Wexner Film/Video Theater on the Ohio State Campus. The inaugural lecture was sponsored by the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies in partnership with the College of Education and Human Ecology.

Scholars selected as Distinguished Lecturer receive a monetary award and present an original lecture during an award ceremony open to the public.

The Elizabeth D. Gee Distinguished Lecture in Ethics is sponsored by the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. For more information, please contact Jill Bystydzienski, Chair of the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at The Ohio State University, bystydzienski.1@osu.edu, 614-292-1021.