CONGRATULATIONS TO HERMAN TAVANI

SIGCAS SERVICE AWARD 2008

The 2008 SIGCAS Service Award is presented this year to Herman Tavani, PhD, Professor of Philosophy at Rivier College and President of the International Society for Ethics and Information Technology (INSEIT).   He also holds appointments as a visiting lecturer at Boston College and as a visiting scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health.  Dr. Tavani joined SIGCAS in 1994, and since that time, he has made a number of valuable and substantial contributions to the organization.

SIGCAS’ Computers and Society publication has benefited from Dr. Tavani’s expertise in a variety of ways.  In 1995-1997, he served as its Bibliography Editor, followed in 1997-2002 by his tenure as Associate Editor.   Also, in 1999, 2000, 2003, and 2007, he guest-edited special issues that featured selections of papers from CEPE (Computer Ethics, Philosophical Enquiry) conferences.

In addition to Dr. Tavani’s editorial contributions to Computers and Society, he has published several articles and book reviews, and is perhaps best known for his comprehensive annotated bibliographies on computer ethics, which have appeared in eleven issues from 1995 through 2005, and have included extensive coverage of journals, magazines, newspapers, online resources, texts and other books, and bibliographies.   These bibliographies have proven to be invaluable resources for computer ethics researchers and educators.

Dr. Tavani has also provided leadership to the SIGCAS Executive Committee, having served in the capacity of Secretary/Treasurer from 2001 to 2005.

His other professional accomplishments include authoring or editing more than 100 publications, including five books on ethical aspects of information technology.  He has presented scholarly papers at institutions in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, and Japan, as well as at colleges and universities throughout the United States.   He has chaired or co-chaired regional, national, and international conferences and symposia, and has served on planning and programming committees for numerous conferences in applied ethics.  He has also served on the editorial staffs and editorial boards of several journals, and is currently Book Review Editor for the journal Ethics and Information Technology.