Eileen Anderson named director of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence
Eileen Anderson, EdD, has been named the new director of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence and Inamori Professor in Ethics at Case Western Reserve University, the university's Board of Trustees confirmed in a meeting on Jan. 20.
The Inamori Center was established in 2006 with a gift from Dr. Kazuo Inamori (1932 - 2022), founder of Kyocera Corporation, and the Inamori Foundation. The Inamori Center is dedicated to exploring ethical issues from a global perspective, to nurturing international awareness and understanding of our common humanity through the study, teaching and practice of ethics, and to the pursuit of excellence in all human endeavors.
Building on a strong foundation
Shannon French, PhD, served as its director from September 2008 until December 2025. French is a professor in the Department of Philosophy and the School of Law, focused on scholarship in military ethics and emerging technologies.
During French’s tenure, the center launched several interdisciplinary initiatives such as the International Journal of Ethical Leadership (IJEL) and the student organization Global Ethical Leaders Society (GELS), and hosted international conferences and events. French developed CWRU’s unique master’s degree program in military ethics, which she continues to direct. Today, faculty from across the university lead the field in thoughtful scholarship on topics such as preventing war crimes, the effects of dehumanization in conflicts, and the role of the warrior’s code in modern warfare. Since the establishment of the Inamori Ethics Prize in 2008, French has recognized all 16 recipients with the award, honoring their global ethical leadership and contributions to humanity. With French’s local and global partnerships (including governmental), the center has also been able to expand its impact in the ethics of existing and emerging technologies, addressing critical ethical, legal, and societal issues through teaching and grant-funded research.
“Professor French has built the Inamori Center into a cornerstone of ethical scholarship and leadership at CWRU,” said Provost and Executive Vice President Joy K. Ward. “Her dedication has shaped the center into a vital hub for ethical inquiry and public engagement. We are deeply grateful for her service and excited to see how Professor Anderson will lead the center into its next chapter.”
Scholarship rooted in ethics and human experience
Through its programming, the center advances scholarship and service on ethics, values and justice, and promotes ethical leadership.
“I feel so fortunate that we have university leadership and a wider community that care so deeply about the central role of ethical being, thinking and action,” Anderson said. “My goal is to serve as a steward for that commitment.”
As a medical and psychological anthropologist, Anderson’s primary research focus has been on mental health in adolescents and young adults, with a special focus on how they navigate changes in their environments. Bioethics, medical humanities and social medicine frame much of her research, as she seeks to understand how non-biological factors impact human health.
Anderson shares these perspectives with students in the classroom, as a mentor and as founding director of the Medicine, Society and Culture concentration and Center for Medicine, Society and Culture. She also is Director of Education for the Department of Bioethics at the School of Medicine.
More recently, Anderson has applied her expertise in psychology, anthropology and neuroscience to better support vulnerable youth who encounter the legal system for cases such as custody disputes, abuse or neglect proceedings, or foster care hearings. She has worked alongside the state government to strengthen legal education and training for those who work with youth in these critical settings, such as guardians ad litem. As an affiliate faculty member through the Department of Bioethics, Anderson’s work is well-aligned with the mission of the Inamori Center.
Anderson, who has served as the Center’s acting director since Jan. 1, will maintain her roles as the Anne Templeton Zimmerman MD Professor in Bioethics and Director of Education for the Department of Bioethics at the School of Medicine. These roles, Anderson explained, all place morality, ethics and service at the core of innovation—qualities that are of utmost importance in the vision for leadership that the Templeton-Zimmerman family and the Inamori Foundation espouse.
Looking ahead
Anderson hopes the center can become the go-to hub at CWRU—and beyond—for innovation regarding ethics in education, research and practical endeavors. Her vision is to bring all of the university’s schools and disciplines together around the shared mission of ethically solving challenges facing the community and the world.
But her vision is secondary to what is most important to the campus community. As an ethnographer, it is in her nature to listen to the experiences of others and take stock of the existing landscape of programs offered through the center. She plans to apply the same approach as the incoming director, meeting with constituents across campus to see how the Inamori Center can best meet their needs.
“While I have a lot of ideas as an individual with a particular and very multidisciplinary background, I feel that I have a lot to learn from my colleagues across the university that will help us shape and craft a vision for the best possible impact of this center together,” Anderson said.
