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Dr. Bebeau is a Professor in the Department of Primary Dental Care, School of Dentistry, a Faculty Associate in the Center for Bioethics, Director of the Center for the Study of Ethical Development, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota. Widely recognized for her contributions to the psychology of morality and its application for promoting professional ethical development, Dr. Bebeau has consulted with educational institutions across the country on the design of assessment strategies and teaching methods for promoting ethical development. In recognition of contributions to dental ethics, the American College of Dentists awarded her an honorary fellowship. The Association for Moral Education recognized her contributions to moral psychology with its lifetime achievement award. She is the recipient of several research, educational innovation, and publication awards, including an Outstanding Book Award which she and colleagues received from American Educational Research Association. In 2003, she received a Civilian Meritorious Service Award for her work to promote character and other dimensions of leadership while serving as a Visiting Scholar and Professor of Character Development at the Simon Center for Professional Military Ethics at USMA.
Significant publications include: 1) Postconventional Moral Thinking: A Neo-Kohlbergian Approach (Rest, Narvaez, Bebeau, & Thoma, 1999), that presents a reconceptualization of the processes of moral growth in a way that compensates for some of the shortcomings of the standard Kohlberg account of moral growth while maintaining those elements that allow for assessment of global shifts in moral thought; 2) a May, 1999 article for the Educational Researcher, in which she argues that ideological shifts produce different emphases in moral education (e.g., the return to character education), but that action research is needed if such program are to achieve their promise. In proposing a research agenda, she points out how morality research has been hampered by assuming that the basic elements are affect, cognition, and behavior, rather than functional psychological processes that give rise to morality (moral sensitivity, judgment, motivation, and character); 3) a December, 1999 issue of Educational Psychology Review, in which she and Thoma describe the conceptual grounding and design of a new measure of intermediary ethical concepts for ethics education; 4) a review entitled: Outcome Measures for Assessing Integrity in the Research Environment (Appendix B) in the IOM Committee's publication: Integrity in Scientific Research: Creating an Environment that Promotes Responsible Conduct (National Academy Press, 2002); 5) a review of efforts to promote ethical development in the professions of law, medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and nursing, published in a Special Issue of the Journal of Moral Education (Fall 2002); 6) a book published in 2005 by Quintessence International, on moral exemplars (with James Rule): Dentists who Care: Inspiring Stories of Professional Commitment; and 7) a chapter entitled “Evidence-based Character Development”, in Volume 10 (Advances in Bioethics) Lost Virtue: Professional Character Development in Medical Education edited by Kenny & Shelton, published by Elsevier Ltd. (2006)