COMPAS is a series of year-long conversations on morality, politics, and society. The program hopes to promote sustained reflection on the ethical challenges that unify various projects within Ohio State's Discovery Themes Initiative, which itself seeks to discover interdisciplinary solutions to the grand challenges of the 21st century. In doing so, COMPAS aims to provide a model of informed and constructive discussion that is too often absent from public discourse and that universities are in a unique position to promote.
- Our core academic program encompasses a series of conferences, colloquia, and other events aimed at reaching across disciplines and promoting critical reflection on the social aims of research and policy. We have been honored to have world-class speakers, for example, Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and Special Envoy with the U.N., and Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
- Our university life program coordinates with partners across campus to generate a university-wide conversation on the COMPAS topic. University life activities have included partnerships with the Buckeye Book Community, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and many other units.
- Our education and outreach program promotes reflection on the COMPAS theme in the classroom and the broader community through a related undergraduate course (ASC 2400 & ASC 2400E) and partnerships with faculty, educators, and community groups. In its outreach efforts, COMPAS has worked with the Columbus Mayor's Office, Mid-Ohio Food Bank, WOSU, and other organizations to bring the Conversation to the broader community.
The COMPAS topic for 2019-2020 is "What Is America?".
To see COMPAS in action, feel free to explore each of our previous themes: Immigration (2011-12), Public/Private (2013-14), Sustainability (2015-16), Inequality (2016-17), Religion in Public Life (2017-18), and Technology (2018-19).
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