Margaret P. Battin

An internationally recognized scholar, an award-winning teacher, and a generous contributor to the service needs of the university and the community, Margaret P. Battin's multifaceted career at the University of Utah spans more than two decades.

Dr. Battin joined the Department of Philosophy at the University of Utah in 1975, became a full professor in 1988, and was named Distinguished Professor in 2000. A pioneering researcher and writer on the issues of death, dying, and the ethics of suicide, she has received wide acclaim for her book, The Least Worst Death: Essays in Bioethics on the End of Life. She is also widely recognized for her ground-breaking application of the concepts used in medical ethics to the institutional practice of religion as discussed in her book, 'Ethics in the Sanctuary: Examining the Practices of Organized Religion.' Dr. Battin displays the same creativity, originality, and careful scholarship in the classroom that she exhibits in her research and writing, and she encourages undergraduate and graduate students to publish their best work and to reach their academic goals.

 

Dr. Battin received a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and both an M.F.A. in fiction writing and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California at Irvine. She was awarded a fellowship for Independent Study and Research by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1978, the Utah Arts Council first prize for a book-length collection of short stories in 1981, and she held the Spinoza Chair at the University of Amsterdam Academic Medical Center in 1993. She has also served on the boards of many national and international professional organizations in her field.

Continuing to work in her characteristically thorough way on controversial issues, Dr. Battin is now writing a book on large-scale issues in reproduction, including global population growth, teen pregnancy, and abortion. She is also completing the compilation of a comprehensive historical source book on the ethics of suicide. Her work, which has taken her to many countries, including the Netherlands, Argentina, Vietnam, India, Germany, Ecuador, Peru, Russia, and the United Kingdom, was recognized with a University of Utah Distinguished Research Award in 1997.