The Cooperative Ministry in Higher Education (CMHE) at the University of Washington, in its May 2005 Board Meeting, passed a resolution establishing an annual lectureship named for one of its former campus ministers, Dr. Tom McCormick. CMHE is a progressive, ecumenical ministry with a long history service to students, staff and faculty at the University of Washington.
About the Thomas McCormick Science & Religion Lectureship
In establishing this lectureship in Religion and Science, the CMHE Board honors Dr. McCormick for the role he has played in the university community for over 30 years, and offers this public lectureship to engage members of the various academic, scientific and faith communities in annual lectures and dialogue about the roles of religion and science in society.
The inaugural McCormick Lectureship in Religion and Science will be offered in the Spring of 2006, May 7th and 8th. Dr. McCormick will lecture on "Contributions of Religion & Theology to Bioethics" and Dr. Wylie Burke, Chair of the Department of Medical History and Ethics, will provide a lecture on “Ethical Issues in Genetics for Families.” Watch for future announcements of time and place as the planning committee finalizes arrangements for the upcoming lectureship.
To join in the planning for this event, email us at cmheseattle@yahoo.com. Secure donations to the McCormick Lectureship fund can be made online.
About Dr. Thomas McCormick
As a campus minister at the UW in the mid 1960's, Dr. McCormick was invited by Dr. Betty Gilson and other faculty at the School of Medicine, to provide informal seminars in bioethics and in the care of dying patients. After completing his doctoral studies in ethics at SMU, McCormick was invited by Dr. Charles Bodemer to join the faculty in the Department of Biomedical History at the School of Medicine to initiate a program in medical ethics. McCormick joined the faculty part-time in the summer of 1974, while continuing his work as a campus minister, and for over a decade was the sole instructor in bioethics at the School of Medicine, teaching in the core curriculum on the Seattle campus, and later at the WWAMI sites in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho, as well as offering electives each quarter at the UW campus. In 1983 McCormick received an award for “Distinguished Service as Campus Minister,” from the NW Regional office of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ.) In 1985, Dr. McCormick resigned as campus minister in order to fully join the growing faculty of the newly renamed Department of Medical History and Ethics.
In February 2001, Dr. McCormick officially retired as Director of Counseling for the School of Medicine (another program he had helped create), and stepped down to a part-time position as Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Bioethics. In this role, he offers two electives in fall and spring quarters and continues to teach ethics in the medical school's core curriculum and is guest lecturer in a number of other departments. Many of his courses are multidisciplinary; for example, “Spirituality in Health Care” is a multidisciplinary elective involving students in medicine, nursing, social work and a variety of other health care disciplines and is taught by a multidisciplinary team of instructors.
Dr. McCormick’s research interests include “transcultural aspects of decision making in bioethics.” He has lectured in Italy and contributed a chapter for an Italian bioethics text. He has lectured in Japan and was co-author for a poster presentation on bioethics with a colleague, Prof. Shinobu Gamou, PhD., Kyorin University. Dr. McCormick will be returning to Japan to lecture at Kyorin University in March, 2006 and will go on to Taiwan to lecture at National Cheng Kung Medical Center in Tainan, Taiwan.
About CMHE
Cooperating Ministries in Higher Education is a progressive, ecumenical ministry of five Protestant denominations including the American Baptist USA, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church. Rev. Monica Corsaro serves as full-time campus minister. CMHE has been serving the UW community since its origin in 1948 as the Baptist-Disciple Student House, and later as the Koinonia Center, when the United Church of Christ joined this effort in July, 1965, and finally moved into its current home in Covenant House in the early 1970s. CMHE is part of a national and regional structure, with sister ministries at all of the public universities in the Pacific Northwest.
