FASPE Design and Technology Program
Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE) provides a unique historical lens to study contemporary ethics in the professions. FASPE challenges graduate students and future leaders to recognize and confront their ethical responsibilities as professionals by analyzing the decisions and actions of Nazi-era professionals.
FASPE is an intensive, two-week study program in professional ethics and ethical leadership. FASPE is neither a Holocaust studies course, nor a genocide prevention program. Rather, the curriculum is designed to challenge Fellows to critically examine constructs, current developments and issues that raise ethical concerns in their professions in contemporary settings where they study and work.
The new FASPE Design and Technology program challenges its Fellows to recognize their responsibility to act as ethical leaders in their careers. FASPE begins by examining the actions and choices of technologists and designers in enabling and executing Nazi policies. FASPE then draws on this historical example to help Design and Technology Fellows grapple with their role and responsibilities as designers of built environments and to encourage them to identify and confront the ethical issues currently facing architects, engineers, designers, and other technologists today.
This year, FASPE Design and Technology will be awarding fellowships to 15 to 17 graduate students and early-career professionals working in engineering, architecture, computer science, design, and related fields. Fellows will spend two weeks (End of May and early June 2022) in Germany and Poland, where they will visit key sites of Nazi history and participate in daily seminars led by specialized faculty. The program couples the power of place with academic rigor and many informal opportunities for creative exchange. Along with FASPE’s historians and ethicists, Dr. Mona Sloane and Dr. David Danks will serve as faculty members for the 2022 program, bringing together their expertise on technology, ethics, policy, and design.
FASPE draws on a large pool of applicants, whose diverse background and interests enrich discussions both inside and outside the seminar room. Design and Technology Fellows will travel with the Business and Law Fellows, allowing them to broaden their understanding of the role of professionals over shared meals, activities, and in interdisciplinary seminars. FASPE Fellowships are fully funded so that financial ability does not affect participation.
Fellows will spend two weeks (End of May and early June 2022) in Germany and Poland, where they will visit key sites of Nazi history and participate in daily seminars led by specialized faculty.
FASPE Fellowships are fully funded so that financial ability does not affect participation.
FASPE Design and Technology applicants must be actively pursuing a career in architecture, design, computer science, data science, engineering, or any related professions. Applicants must fit into one of the following two categories: 1) be enrolled in a graduate program in design, architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, computer science, statistics and applied math, electrical engineering, or a program in a closely related field at the time of their application, or 2) be working in a related field, with an undergraduate degree earned no earlier than May 2017 or a graduate degree no earlier than May 2019.
FASPE seeks Fellows who are about to embark on their career as professionals, are interested in engaging in discussions with their co-Fellows and faculty, and who have the intellectual and emotional maturity to unpack difficult and controversial issues responsibly and respectfully in small group settings. FASPE selects its Fellows on the basis of their academic background, personal and professional experiences, capacity for leadership and ability to contribute to the program and the alumni community. All applications are welcome and reviewed.