Adela J. Gondek, Ph.D.
Lecturer, Sustainability Management; Lecturer in the Discipline of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology
Adela Gondek teaches applied ethics, including environmental, sustainability and public ethics in several programs: the MA in Climate and Society program at the Climate School; the MS in Sustainability Management program at the School of Professional Studies; and the Sustainable Development undergraduate program at the Climate School/Earth Institute. A political scientist with specialization in political theory and American politics and policy, she acquired her PhD in the Department of Government at Harvard, with cross-disciplinary study in the law and divinity schools and the Kennedy School of Government. She has served as a legislative analyst in the Massachusetts State Senate, with investigative specialization in consumer product safety, prison reform and model judicial practice. At Columbia, she taught American political theory and the Core Curriculum in the Department of Political Science prior to teaching applied ethics. Publications and presentations include: a co-authored book, Poems of Enlightenment, with Jingtian Guo, poet; Rongxiang Jia, poet; Tigang Guo, calligrapher; and Yujie Kang, artist (Beijing: World Knowledge Press, 2015); articles titled, The Intersection of Business and Ethics— Transformative Learning as a Facilitator of Ethical Behavior in the Financial Sector (2017), and Building Ethical Communities—From Individual Transformation to Transformative Community (2018), both coauthored with managers at S&P Global, NYC, and Ernst & Young, Berlin, Germany), Proceedings of the Transformation Learning Conference; Speaking of Ethics in Foreign Policy: The Case of Antarctica (SAIS Review, Volume 39, Issue 1, 2019); and Ethics at the Intersection of Economic Development, High Finance, and Mortal Pandemic (2020), Picker Center Lecture Series, School of International and Public Affairs; and presentations, Meditations on Peace (Peace Concert Ceremony, International House and YouTube, 2022); and Thoughts on the State of American Society (Study Group of the German Managed Care Association, 2022). Dr. Gondek currently serves as the Chairperson of the DEIA Committee of the Climate School.
Education
- Ph.D. Harvard University
- B.A., Goucher College
Publications
- “Ethics at the Intersection of Economic Development, High Finance, and Mortal Pandemic” (SIPA EMPA Summer Series, 2020).
- “Speaking of Ethics in Foreign Policy: The Case of Antarctica.” (SAIS Review of International Affairs, 2019).
- “Building Ethical Communities: From Individual Transformation to Transformative Community" (with Katharina Weghmann, at Ernst & Young, and Rachel Fichter, at S&P Global; Proceedings of the 13th International Transformative Learning Conference, Transformation in Action –The Power of Community, 2018).
- “The Intersection of Business and Ethics: Transformative Learning as a Facilitator of Ethical Behavior in the Financial Sector” (with Katharina Weghmann and Rachel Fichter; Proceedings of the 12th International Transformative Learning Conference, Engaging at the Intersections, 2017).
- Poems of Enlightenment (with Jingtian Guo, poet, Rongxiang Jia, poet, Tigang Guo, calligrapher, and Yujie Kang, artist, Beijing, China: World Knowledge Press, 2015).