SEAC
Awards
Awards
Distinguished Service Awards
Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum Distinguished Service Award
individuals who have distinguished themselves as members of the Society. Special
consideration will be given to members who lack institutional support for travel to the
Society’s annual conference.
Eligibility: All members in good standing are eligible for
the Distinguished Service Award. The award recognizes prolonged service to the
organization, including but not limited to serving on the Executive Committee,
organizing an annual conference, coordinating conference panels, mentoring junior
scholars, serving as Web Master, and doing editorial work for Teaching Ethics (including
organizing special issues). Award recipients will be invited to give a presentation at the
current or a future conference.
Guidelines: Nominations should be made by a current SEAC member; self-nominations
are acceptable. Nominations should address how nominees
ave distinguished themselves in service to SEAC. This includes a brief explanation (no
more than 150 words) of their service to SEAC. There should also be a brief explanation
of funding concerns and a current, short bio.
Nominations are accepted on a rolling basis and should be sent to SEAC’s Secretary-
Treasurer. SEAC’s Executive Committee will select and announce the award winners
prior to the annual conference. Distinguished Service Awards are non-renewable.
2026 Award Winners
Mark Doorley
Mark earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Boston College in 1994. He joined the faculty at Villanova University in a part-time capacity in 1996 and as a full-time member the subsequent year. In 2004 he became the director of the Ethics Program in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. His areas of teaching include normative ethics, environmental ethics, and technology ethics. His most recently developed course builds on Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein to explore the ethics of emerging technology.
Mark first attended SEAC’s conference in 2002 when it was held at Clemson University. He presented a paper on the revolutionary dimension of service-learning pedagogy. Professional and family commitments prevented regular attendance at the annual meeting, but starting in 2018 he has made the conference each year. He organized the 2019 conference and the 2025 conference, both held at Villanova. He joined the Executive Committee in 2024 and serves as chair of the website committee. The community of scholars that SEAC represents has been a source of inspiration and support for Mark since his felicitous return to the conference.
Peggy (Phyllis) Vandenberg
Peggy (Phyllis) Vandenberg was introduced to SEAC by her Masters degree advisor, Michael Pritchard and attended the 2000 SEAC conference in Salt Lake City where she began her doctoral studies at the University of Utah the following fall. In 2010, she attended her second SEAC conference and attended and presented every year until her retirement in 2019. During those nine years she served on the executive committee for six years and hosted the conference in 2012 and 2017 at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, MI. The theme from the 2012 conference, The Art of Morality: Developing Moral Sensitivity, was developed into a Routledge edited volume, Developing Moral Sensitivity co-edited by conference co-chair Deborah Mower, and Wade Robinson.
In 2015, she co-directed with Deborah Mower a four-week National Endowment for the Humanities Summer institute, Moral Psychology: Putting the Humanities to Work. Peggy taught in the Philosophy Department at Grand Valley State University for 25 years, retiring as professor emeritus in 2019. Her presentations and publications are primarily on the ethical theories of the 18th century Scots: Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Thomas Reid.