Written by: Tiffany Westry
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Karen Wang (bottom left), Aleena Khan (top left), Danielle Madsen, Mohammad Waqas, and Josh May, Ph.D.The University of Alabama at Birmingham Ethics Bowl debate team will compete in the national Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Competition. The team took fourth place in the Southeast Regional Ethics Bowl in Tampa, Florida, on Saturday, Nov. 4, beating 16 teams.
Sponsored by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, the Intercollege Ethics Bowl brings student teams together to argue and defend their moral assessment of some of the most troubling and complex ethical issues facing society today. Questions address a wide array of topics in business and professional ethics, in personal relationships, and in social and political affairs. During this year’s regional competition, the UAB Ethics Bowl team argued cases about euthanasia, fake news, suicide, the president’s travel ban and more.
“The team developed compelling arguments and presented them with finesse in Tampa,” said Josh May, Ph.D., UAB Ethics Bowl team coach and assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Philosophy. “Equally impressive is how the students responded so effectively to questions and objections from both judges and opposing teams.”
Team members include: freshman physics and economics major Aleena Khan, senior public health major and team captain Danielle Madsen, freshman biomedical science major Karen Wang, and freshman neuroscience major Mohammad Waqas. Senior molecular biology and philosophy major Clara Wan assisted with coaching the team. All the students are in the UAB Honors College. Madsen, Wang and Wan are also in the Early Medical School Acceptance Program.
The team will compete against finalists from 10 regions from across the United States in the 22nd Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Competition in Chicago, March 3-4, 2018. This is the fourth time in the last 10 years that a UAB team has been one of the 36 teams to make the finals. In 2010, UAB won the national championship.