1. Using Civic Professionalism
to Frame Ethical and Social
Responsibility in Engineering
Erhardt Graeff
Olin College of Engineering
fPET // 20 April 2023

2. culture of disengagement

3. pick your favorite
tech ethics controversy

4. pick your favorite
tech ethics problem

5. (Wisniowski 2016;
Hendren 2022;
Finn and DuPont 2020)

6. (NSPE 2019; ACM 2018;
Rosenberg 1998; Giorgini et al. 2015;
McNamara, Smith, and Murphy-Hill 2018)

7. (NAE 2008)

8. (NAE 2008;
Spicer, Kay, and Ganz 2019)

10. (Cech 2012, pp. 92–93)
Reflexivity: “a critical examination of
engineers’ role in the past, present and
future of societies—in both problem
definition and problem solution”
Broadened Participation: “The voices
of other professionals and the broader
constituencies impacted by those
solutions should be included at various
stages in the process”

11. Culture of
Disengagement
in Engineering
Education?
(Cech 2014, p. 45)
Engineering’s Ideological Pillars of
Disengagement
● Depoliticization
● Technical/Social Dualism
● Meritocracy

12. Culture of
Disengagement
in Engineering
Education?
(Cech 2014)

13. civic professionalism

14. (Boyte 2008; Boyte 2009; Boyte and Fretz 2010;
Dzur 2004; Dzur 2010; Dzur 2018)

15. Undergraduate
Engineering
as Civic
Professionalism
(Graeff and Wood 2021)
● Professional Identity: civic
professionals do not distinguish
between their civic and professional
responsibilities; they are motivated
by the common good and seek to
produce common goods.
● Professional Practice: civic
professionalism is defined by its
commitment to democratic
participation

16. (Boyte 2008)

17. (Dzur 2018)

18. Virtues of Civic
Professionalism
● Identity + practices with epistemic
humility / epistemological pluralism,
politics, the common good
● Anti-technocratic; engaged in
broader socio-political questions
● A positive ethics of virtue a la
(Schmidt 2013)
● More aligned with community
organizing rather than the
“encroaching” and depoliticizing
(Spicer, Kay, and Ganz 2019)

19. Virtues of Civic
Professionalism
● Identity + practices with epistemic
humility / epistemological pluralism,
politics, the common good
● Anti-technocratic; engaged in
broader socio-political questions
● A positive ethics of virtue a la
(Schmidt 2013)
● More aligned with community
organizing rather than the
“encroaching” and depoliticizing
(Spicer, Kay, and Ganz 2019)

20. Virtues of Civic
Professionalism
● Identity + practices with epistemic
humility / epistemological pluralism,
politics, the common good
● Anti-technocratic; engaged in
broader socio-political questions
● A positive ethics of virtue a la
(Schmidt 2013)
● More aligned with community
organizing rather than the
“encroaching” and depoliticizing
(Spicer, Kay, and Ganz 2019)

21. Virtues of Civic
Professionalism
● Identity + practices with epistemic
humility / epistemological pluralism,
politics, the common good
● Anti-technocratic; engaged in
broader socio-political questions
● A positive ethics of virtue a la
(Schmidt 2013)
● More aligned with community
organizing rather than the
“encroaching” and depoliticizing
(Spicer, Kay, and Ganz 2019)

22. applications

23. Educational
Applications
Democracy and Media
● 1 of 5 AHS courses offered to first
year, first semester Olin students
● Civic Professionalism module
● Reading Boyte 2008 and Dzur 2018
● Reflective Essay on What are the
civic responsibilities of engineers?
● Engages “reflexivity” (Cech 2012)

24. Educational
Applications
Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship
● Capstone design (two semesters)
option for Olin students
● Long-term, community-engaged
projects advised by faculty mentors
● Reflective essay on humility, growth,
and professional identity
● Engages “reflexivity” and
“broadened participation”
(Cech 2012) for “transformative”
learning opportunity (Kreber 2016)

25. Educational
Applications
Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship
● Capstone design (two semesters)
option for Olin students
● Long-term, community-engaged
projects advised by faculty mentors
● Reflective essay on humility, growth,
and professional identity
● Engages “reflexivity” and
“broadened participation”
(Cech 2012) for “transformative”
learning opportunity (Kreber 2016)
Also good:
(Lin and Hess 2021;
Karwat et al. 2014;
Karwat 2020)

26. Practical
Application:
Design Refusal
(Graeff 2020;
Chowdhary et al. 2021)

27. Practical
Application:
Design Refusal
Logic Magazine / Science for the People

28. We need a
civic professionalism
movement in engineering.
Erhardt Graeff
Olin College of Engineering
egraeff@olin.edu