The Ethos Center
Educate. Design. Discover. Together.
With our community partners, The Ethos Center sustains community-engaged engineering education, research, partnerships and action.
Educate
Ethos promotes personal growth and transformation. We strive to develop critically reflective, global citizens who incorporate the sociocultural dimension of engineering. We challenge students to be inclusive and holistic in their approaches as they analyze and change how they frame problems and define solutions. Students grow in cultural humility, vocational discernment, practical wisdom and commitment to social responsibility. Our students and alumni develop global competence skills and a deep passion for the common good and justice for all. They also develop interdisciplinary and creative technical capabilities while confidently and rigorously applying technical knowledge and skills in support of human rights, social justice and environmental wellbeing.
Design
Ethos design promotes just and sustainable technical tools and practices to advance the common good and address root causes of inequalities. We along with our community partners and their communities co-create socially and environmentally responsible design to address real-world social issues. Our design model stresses equity-centered design and interdisciplinary systems analysis and embodies the ideals of environmental protection, social justice, human rights, and peace.
Discover
Faculty, staff and students engage with our community partners for research and development of new or enhanced technologies, processes, and systems to meet their needs and aspirations. Students are involved in research projects either through working in labs at the University of Dayton with faculty, working with STEM-oriented partners in their labs, or testing or implementing research projects on site with community partners. Faculty engage in applied research, systems analysis, and advocacy to further advance the vision and mission of our community partners. Ethos promotes the innovation of just and sustainable technical tools and practices and promotes a community co-created approach to translating knowledge to action.
Together
Innovation and social change happen best through partnerships with communities and collaborations across disciplines, perspectives and organizations. Our reciprocal partnerships with community-based and social change organizations in Dayton, across the country, and around the world are at the heart of The Ethos Center. Our partnership model embraces right relationships and ethical engagement. This means that we listen first, approach our partnership work with humility and integrity, and ensure co-creation of goals, measures of success, and solutions. We develop long-term, effective and collaborative relationships with organizations that build organizational capacity, leverage assets and promote community-driven action.
Fast Facts
500+
UD alumni from engineering and other disciplines since 2001.
20
countries, 4 continents and 10 U.S. cities; we've grown from 1 immersion location.
Over 60
community sponsors and partnerships in Dayton, the U.S. and around the world.
Transformative Learning Experiences for the Common Good
The Ethos Center's Dayton immersions naturally develop engineering students' entrepreneurial mindset, advancing their abilities to address the grand challenges of our world. The KEEN network frames the entrepreneurial mindset with 3C's: Curiosity, Connections, and Creating Value.
Explore Our PartnershipsThe University of Dayton Ethos Center provides service-learning experiences through technical immersions, student activities, research and hands-on projects. Through these experiences, School of Engineering students have gained perspectives on how engineering and technology are influenced by the world.
Explore Past Student ExperiencesThrough the Ethos Center, students travel across the U.S. and around the globe to provide sustainable engineering solutions for problems faced by developing communities. There, they learn to deal with unforeseeable challenges. They enhance their skills and confidence. And they discover how their curiosity can fuel something greater than themselves.
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Visit Campus
The best way to understand our passion, innovation and community is to experience it yourself.
Past Student Experiences
Read about recent student experiences from 2019 and see how their immersions have changed their perspective on engineering, the world and themselves.
Student Opportunities
Learn about the opportunities the Ethos Center offers: semester-long or summer international, domestic, and local immersions, weekend and 10-day breakouts.
