Marquette’s Center for Data, Ethics, and Society works to address the ethical, social, and political dimensions of our increasingly data-driven society.

Grounded in the university’s Jesuit mission of social justice, the center's focus includes confronting data ethics issues such as the controversies and consequences of our increasingly data-driven lives and spaces, unfair algorithmic biases, the unequal effects of computational decision-making, and the privacy threats of ubiquitous surveillance systems, and developing approaches to corporate social responsibility and accountability. The center takes up these concerns through an applied and interdisciplinary approach to research, pedagogy, and community engagement.

Central to Marquette University’s mission is providing an interdisciplinary learning environment, offering opportunities to actively engage in meaningful research experiences, and maintaining a commitment to ethics and justice. Further, as described in the Beyond Boundaries strategic vision, Marquette seeks to reach beyond traditional academic boundaries and embrace new and collaborative methods of teaching, learning, research, and service in an inclusive environment that supports all of our members in reaching their fullest potential. 

Marquette’s commitment to mission-based, interdisciplinary teaching, research, and service positions the university to pursue data ethics in truly transformative ways. The Center for Data, Ethics, and Society will allow the university to leverage its growing data-related curricular programs and research faculty, while remaining rooted in its Jesuit mission of community engagement and social justice.

The center is directed by Dr. Michael Zimmer.