John Arras papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Restrictions:

Access to all materials in Box 7 of the collection are restricted at this time. Local access restriction types are as follows: Donor/university imposed access restriction and respository imposed access restriction.

Access to medical records containing PII is restricted according to the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the Virginia Health Records Privacy Act, and the policies of the University of Virginia.

Terms of access:

Some materials in the collection may be subject to copyright restrictions.

Summary

Extent:
6.5 Linear Feet 6 records boxes and 1 document box
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Correspondence, topical research files, course materials, and professional papers owned by former University of Virginia professor John Arras.

This series contains Curricula vitae of John D. Arras and various biographical and personal materials.

The correspondence represents John Arras' communication with contemporary bioethicists, including Arthur Caplan, Daniel Callahan, Leonard Fleck, Barry Hoffmaster, Jay Katz, and others. Some also pertains to teaching positions held by Arras and various publications that he produced.

Throughout his career, John Arras served on numerous hospital and academic ethics committees. This series draws on materials from his tenure as a hospital ethicist and associate professor of bioethics and health policy at Montefiore Medical Center, his longtime role as a Fellow and Board member of The Hastings Center, and his participation on various committees and task force groups at the CDC, NIH, American Thoracic Society, and others.

Materials from bioethics conferences attended by John Arras; includes conferences at which Arras was a speaker or organizer.

Most lectures are known or assumed to be given by John Arras. The first part of this series is largely made up of detailed lecture outlines, Arras' preferred presentation aid for delivering lectures.

This series contains information on the founding and early development of the undergraduate bioethics program at UVA, which was largely led by the efforts of John Arras. Materials include proposals, meeting agendas, correspondence, program reports, memos, and newsclippings.

This series primarily consists of materials from bioethics courses taught by John Arras at UVA. Course materials used prior to John Arras' time at UVA, and materials used by other bioethics professors, are also present.

This series contains topical subjects that Arras focused on for studies or research purposes.

Biographical / historical:

John Dyer Arras, 1945-2015, was a noted professor of philosophy and bioethics at the University of Virginia. Arras was born in San Mateo, California, to Ernest Arras Sr., and Margaret Dyer, on 25 August 1945. Arras studied at the Institute of European Studies and the University of Paris (Sorbonne) before graduating from the University of San Francisco in 1967 with degrees in Philosophy and French. After spending two years with the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, he attended graduate school at Northwestern University, where he received a doctorate in Philosophy in 1972. Arras' doctoral work focused on existentialism and Continental philosophy.

Arrangement:

This series is arranged alphabetically.