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Northern Plains Ethics Institute
402 Minard Hall
North Dakota State University
Fargo, ND 58105
701-231-8654
Director: John Helgeland, Ph.D.
Associate Director:Dennis Cooley, Ph.D.
Prepare Now for Businesses Registration
Mission Statement
To engage citizens in resolving the complex and controversial problems
impeding the smooth function of society for, short- and long-term quality-of-life
planning.
The Northern Plains Ethics Institute provides a forum where citizens
can discuss
1. What kind of society do we want to live in?
2. How do we go about creating it?
The Group Decision
Center (GDC) was created by the NDSU Ethics Committee to function
as an electronic consensus forming laboratory. The GDC cuts through the
static of controversy and private agenda to reach solutions by promoting
democratic discussion. Business and community leaders in the Town-Gown
Group provide oversight and spread ideas into the community. The various
Think Tanks specifically address such survival issues as water, energy,
disease, clash of cultures. In the broader sense, these culture, business,
communication, and education.
Central Features
The Northern Plains Ethics Institute believes that responsible planning
examines how our decisions will affect our communities for a decade,
a generation, or in an environmental context, a century. Commitment
to long-range vision is a core value or the NPEI as we seek to create
not only the kind of society we wish to live in today, but a viable
and sustainable world for future generations.
The NPEI pursues its goals by providing an arena for deliberations
involving various segments of the community. The Group
Decision Center creates an environment where participant's voices
can be heard free from the private agenda of others. The Think Tanks
are a "marketplace of ideas" dedicated to addressing social
concerns.
The NPEI provides an opportunity for citizens to discuss issues and
share ideas. The organization prompts communities to think about the
future to spot trends and problems early on. Significant courses of
action emerge as a result of discussion.
Many citizens of this region perceive that decisions that affect
them are made high up and far away. These same people however, have
important contributions for imagining solutions and developing alternatives
to unworkable policies. The NPEI creates avenues to give voice to
the voiceless, thereby generating a climate in which their participation
matters, that their voices have an effect.
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