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2009 Award Recipient

The 2009 Praxis Award recipient is Amy Domini, the Founder and CEO of Domini Social Investments, an investment management company committed to social responsibility (press release).

Driven by a personal belief in responsible investing, ingenuity, and strong business intuition, Domini began systematically exploring the principles and strategies of socially responsible investing during the 1980s. In her book Ethical Investing (1984), Domini and co-author Peter Kinder were the first to offer a comprehensive discussion on the subject of socially responsible investing. Through its shareholders’ investments, her company works to encourage greater corporate responsibility by using both social and environmental standards in selecting holdings and by directly engaging corporate management through proxy voting and shareholder dialogue.  In addition, Domini Social Investments has developed investment vehicles which enable investors to help rebuild the economy of struggling communities.

The Ethics Program of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences inaugurated the Praxis Award in Professional Ethics on March 28, 2007. The first recipient of this award was Joel J. Nobel, M.D., co-founder and President Emeritus of ECRI. Formerly the Emergency Care Research Institute, ECRI is a nonprofit health services research agency and a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization (WHO). It is designated as an Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The 2008 award winner was John Hansen-Flaschen, M.D. Dr. Hansen-Flaschen is currently the Chief of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

The award will be presented on March 31, 2009, at 5:30 p.m. in the Villanova Room of the Connelly Center.

What is the Praxis Award?

The Ethics Program of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences inaugurated the Praxis Award in Professional Ethics on March 28, 2007. This award highlights and celebrates the contributions of a professional or an academic in the field of professional ethics. To be considered, a nominee need not fulfill all of the criteria listed below. Recognizing excellence in one or more of these areas, however, is the objective of the award.

A nominee should demonstrate evidence of excellence by:

  • Embodying the ethical ideals of a particular profession
  • Connecting work in a profession to a broader understanding of the common good
  • Promoting ethical integrity in a professional field
  • Conducting research in the field of professional ethics
  • Influencing the field of professional ethics in a positive manner through writing, teaching, consulting, and/or professional leadership