IHS Welcomes Dr. Howard B. Radest

 

1777 T Street, NW Washington, DC 20009-7125 Phone: (202) 238-9088 Fax: (202) 238-9003 www.humaniststudies.org Dear IHS Supporter, The mission of the Institute is committed to information and practices meant to address the socio-political, economic and cultural challenges facing communities within the United States and within a global context.  To support this mission, the Institute carefully selects top humanist scholars to comprise our team of Senior Fellows.  The work of our Fellows will be used to promote greater public awareness, understanding and support for humanism, and will provide accessible and authoritative information about humanism and nontheists to the media, academia and the general public.  We are pleased to announce the newest member of our team. DR. HOWARD B. RADEST Dr. Howard B. Radest is Dean Emeritus of The Humanist Institute and a member of the National Council of Ethical Culture Leaders.  He is a consulting member (Emeritus) of the SC Medical Assn. Ethics Committee.  He is consultant to the Center for Preparedness, School of Public Health, University of South Carolina and a former member of the Board of the Association for Moral Education.  He is a member of the Highlands Institute for American Religious and Philosophic Thought.  He serves on the Advisory Committee of the Appignani Center for Bioethics. He is a Senior Fellow of HIS and a Senior Fellow of the Center for Inquiry.  He is Board Chair of The Ethical Community Charter School in Jersey City. From 1992-2008, he was Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at The University of South Carolina-Beaufort  where he taught medical ethics, comparative religion, and social and political philosophy.  He served as Ethics Consultant to Hilton Head Hospital and was Chair of its Biomedical Ethics Committee (1993-2008).  He served as Director [Headmaster] of The Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York City (1979-1991).  Prior to that he was Professor of Philosophy and Director of the School of American Studies at Ramapo College in New Jersey (1970-1979).  He was Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Fairleigh Dickenson University and at The Union Graduate School.  He was Executive Director of The American Ethical Union (1963-1969) and Leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, NJ (1956-1963). Dr. Radest was the founder and first chair (1983-1991) of the University Seminar On Moral Education, Columbia University.  He is a member of the Board of the North American Committee for Humanism (NACH/THI).  He served from 1978-88 as Co-Chair of The International Humanist and Ethical Union.  He was member of the Mental Health Board of Bergen County (NJ) and of the Board of Managers of Bergen Pines County Hospital.  He was Chair of the Bergen Country Health and Welfare Council and Vice President of the NJ State Welfare Council. He is on the editorial boards of The Humanist and Religious Humanism. In addition to his numerous articles, his books are Toward Common Ground (Ungar, 1968), a history of the Ethical Culture Movement in the U.S., Can We Teach Ethics? (Praeger. 1989),  The Devil and Secular Humanism (Praeger, 1990), Community Service, Encounter With Strangers (Praeger, 1993), Humanism With A Human Face (Praeger, 1996), Felix Adler: An Ethical Culture, (Peter Lang, Publishers, 1998), From Clinic To Classroom - Medical Ethics and Moral Education, (Praeger, 2000),  Biomedical Ethics, editor, (Prometheus, 2007),  Ethics and Public Health in a Time of Terror  [The Center for Preparedness (CDC) at the School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 2006], Bioethics: Catastrophes in a Time of Terror [Lexington, 2009]. Dr. Radest received his B.A. at Columbia College, his M.A. in Philosophy and Psychology at The New School For Social Research and his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Columbia University.  He is a member of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, He is a member of the Society For the Advancement of American Philosophy, of Phi Beta Kappa, received the Distinguished Service Award (1994) of The Humanist Institute, The Distinguished Service Award (1993) of the American Humanist Association, The Kuhmerker Award (1988) of The Moral Education Association, and was a Cornell Scholar and a Hillman Scholar.  He is listed in Who's Who and Who's Who in Education. Our first project, entitled "Humanism: What is It and Why Does It Matter?" will be a study looking into the meaning of humanism and its socio-political and ethical implications.  We believe this general query provides a range of possible considerations and can open creative attention to what humanism offers a troubled world.  The data from this project will be used to inform the secular community about its makeup and what issues are most important to its members.  The papers produced by the fellows will then be published as a volume, through the Institute's book series ("Studies in Humanist Thought and Praxis"), published by Equinox Publishing an academic publisher with distribution in both Europe and North America. The IHS corps of Senior Fellows will kick off the discussion "Humanism: What is It and Why Does It Matter?" through a two-day conference held in Washington, DC – April 15-17, 2011. The Institute for Humanist Studies takes the position that scientific understanding is the only practical basis for making policy decisions that impact us all and we exist to bring reason to discourse.  Our aim is to level the playing field by offering another voice (a voice of reason, a voice of inquiry) but we can't do it without your continued support.  Donate now to double your contribution. IHS has been issued a $55,000 matching grant challenge! To help us keep our organization growing strong, we need your support to meet this challenge and I urge you to contribute to this important cause. Please note that IHS is a 501 (c) (3) organization and your contributions are tax deductible. Thank you for helping us make our mission of bringing the humanist perspective to our nation's public policy discussion a reality!   Sincerely,   Diane Griffin, Managing Director