Part of what makes the Ethics Bowl programs so vibrant at UC Santa Cruz is the enthusiastic, multi-generational collaboration among five distinct groups: high schools students, undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and members of the community. Here’s how it works:
Savannah Wadsworth / Philosophy Alum
Coach /Amador Valley High School
Francesca Hovagimian / Philosophy Alum
Coach / Georgiana Bruce Kirby HS
Juan Ruiz Cortes/ M.A. Student, Philosophy
Coach / Coastanoa High School
Jasmin Alemin/ Philosophy Alum
Coach / Alisal High School
Nima Agah / Philosophy Alum
Coach / Aptos High School
Undergraduate students are the lynchpin of the entire program, owing mostly to UCSC’s intercollegiate Ethics Bowl team.
Each year, the most qualified on the intercollegiate team are selected to serve as coaches for the high school teams, traveling weekly to the high school to prepare and encourage the school’s team.
Undergraduates play another key role by serving as judges at the Regional HS Ethics Bowl alongside faculty, graduate students, and community members.
Alan Christy (History Professor and UCSC Cowell College Provost) questions student from Ruth Asawa S.F. School of of the Arts.
History of Consciousness Ph.D. students, Robert Cavooris and Delio Vasquez
Philosophy Lecturer, Sandra Dreisbach, and Laura Gottlieb, Associate Professor of Family Medicine (UCSF)
Philosophy Ph.D student, David Donley, keeps time.
Kyle Robertson, Director of Northern CA HSEB Regional
Faculty and graduate students play a variety of key roles in our program. Alongside community members and undergraduate students, they serve as judges at every Bowl we host. Faculty from Philosophy, History, Linguistics, Psychology, and other departments participate.
They also help to coach the undergraduate team, judging their practice rounds in the weeks leading up to the intercollegiate competition.
And every Fall one faculty member or graduate student teaches the upper-level undergraduate course on applied ethics and the Ethics Bowl (PHIL 143).
In fact, the entire program is primarily the creation of graduate students in the Philosophy Department. The Northern California HSEB Regional was founded by Kyle Robertson (Ph.D. 2015).
UCSC’s intercollegiate team was founded by Sanda Dreisbach (Ph.D. 2012) and Carmen Zinn (MA 2005).
Mark Stone/CA State Assembly Member
David Terrazas/Vice Mayor, Santa Cruz, CA
Cynthia Chase / Mayor, Santa Cruz, CA
It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of the community at our events. Their enthusiastic participation and encouragement make our events particularly meaningful, especially for the high school students.
Community leaders such as Mayor Cynthia Chase, and city council members, Pamela Comstock and David Terrazas, are regular judges at our events and a key presence.
And when Santa Cruz’s Georgiana Bruce Kirby made it to the quarter-finals of the national event in 2015 and won the prestigious Bob-Ladenson Award, then-Mayor Don Lane issued a proclamation designating May 12, 2015 Georgiana Bruce Kirby School Spirit of the Ethics Bowl Day in the City of Santa Cruz.
For more information on participants from the community, or to get involved yourself, see our NorCal Regional page.
