Dr. Michael Brannigan sees clearly that today's students inhabit a world of greater diversity than the students of even two decades ago. "For instance, there is a growing interest not only in other cultures, but also in alternative ways of healing," he has written in Healthcare Ethics in a Diverse Society, one of his newly published books (co-authored with Judith A. Boss, Mayfield Publishing Co., 2001). "In a world that is growing smaller, we cannot afford to limit our vision," said Brannigan.

Brannigan is chair of the Philosophy Department at La Roche College, where he has been a faculty member since 1989. He is also director of the La Roche College Center for the Study of Ethics.

Michael Brannigan came to La Roche from Mercy College in New York. Earlier, he had studied in Belgium, and had earned his master's degree in religious studies and his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Louvain. His own student years were a time of seeking knowledge.

Back in his high school in Rhode Island, he had fallen in love with philosophy, and his interest in theology was a natural accompaniment. As part of an idealistic generation, Brannigan did not worry about what job he might get after graduation. "I just pursued the path I loved," he said.

The philosophical and ethical questions that threaten to confuse the minds of others simply slake Brannigan's intellectual thirst. He goes after them because they promise the learning that constantly draws him.

Learning by its nature is quintessential to him, and research is one of the ways he pursues learning. This is why Brannigan is always in the midst of a new article or book, why his list of publications is long, and why he published two new books in 2001.

He loves to research. It not only leads him to learning, but he finds it essential to teaching. "I don't believe you can separate teaching and research," said Brannigan. Questions that he poses to his students are the same questions he also asks of his colleagues and himself. He believes firmly that being an educator requires a commitment to research and to scholarship.

Teaching is the work that comes naturally to Brannigan. He relishes the human encounter with inter-action and immediate response. Natasha Crvenkoska was a student of Brannigan's in the mid-1990s. His philosophy courses enhanced her general desire for scholarship, just as his universal way of thinking enriched her view of life in general.

"If you incorporate a global way of thinking, your world doesn't seem that bad," said Crvenkoska, who is now the academic coordinator of the Pacem In Terris Institute. She saw how Brannigan demystified philosophy for students who were intimidated by the subject. He is adept, she said, in "going to the essence of the problem in a non-aggressive way." While the classroom environment was relaxed, the content was profound. Students could see very quickly that questions regarding the essence of truth and wisdom concern their lives and their experience.

Surprisingly, writing does not come naturally to Brannigan. He finds it to be a discipline. The tedium has not stopped him from writing five books, editing another, and publishing more than 30 articles. He has also presented papers in 15 states, the District of Columbia and six countries outside the United States. Even though he does not consider himself a natural writer, there is a paradox. "The more I write the more I desire to write," said Brannigan. "It is an essential part of disseminating the results of so much research."

Brannigan's fields of interest are wide. In health care, he does not shrink from delving into issues of life and death. He and co-author Judith Boss, professor at Brown University School of Medicine, have examined basic human questions in depth in Healthcare Ethics in a Diverse Society. The genius and uniqueness of their work is that they have placed the issues and their societal implications in the context of various cultural traditions. The authors are familiar with both Western and non-Western cultures. They have included plentiful references to Islamic and Buddhist thought, and to traditions in Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States.

In addition, there are brief "Cultural Windows" in each chapter describing a cultural or historic experience related to various healthcare principles. Cultural windows might deal with concepts of healing among Native Americans or the role of the doctor in helping patients to maintain the physical, mental and spiritual balance necessary for the activities of Hindu life. The authors point out that not all cultures value the principles of autonomy and self-determination as people in the United States do.

All of this is an attempt to broaden the vision of readers so they may appreciate their own milieu. "The more we learn about what lies outside of our dwelling, the more we can value what lies inside," the authors state in the preface.

No ocean or political boundary presents a barrier to Brannigan's interest in learning what lies outside of his dwelling. He was born in Japan and grew up in Newport, Rhode Island, the son of a Japanese mother and an Irish father. Perhaps that has helped him to assimilate both Asian and Western thought. Identical twin sisters were born next in his family, and he refers to them in the preface of his 2001 book, Ethical Issues in Human Cloning. As natural identical twins, they are "about as close as possible to being pure clones." Yet there are obvious differences - a fact that helps Dr. Brannigan to conclude that even with natural clones, there are no exact duplicates.

From there, he goes on to introduce the ethical challenge of cloning from the perspectives of science, religion, philosophy, and public policy. It is this willingness to take a topic, turn it over and over again, and examine it from different angles without fearing the unknown that allows him to be both scholar and teacher.

Likewise, his thirst for truth urged him to propose the La Roche College Center for the Study of Ethics. In the early 1990s, he and Father Patrick O'Brien, chair of the Religious Studies Department, began discussing the possibility of the Center. When Monsignor William A. Kerr became president of the College in 1992, Dr. Brannigan and Father OÕBrien made a formal proposal.

By fall of 1997, the Center was a reality. The Center is one of only a few headed by a philosopher, and the philosophical perspective is what enables the La Roche College Center for the Study of Ethics to direct a thoughtful examination of the ethical issues of our time. The twice-yearly programs sponsored by the Ethics Center have already covered issues of human cloning.

Still, Brannigan was surprised when he was asked to chair a session at the Fifth World Congress of Bioethics held in London in September 2000. He did not expect the conference organizers to consider him among the international experts in medical ethics who were chairing sessions. He accepted the invitation, chaired a session titled "Religion and Bioethics," and luxuriated in the wealth of discussion with international scholars.

In September of 2001, Brannigan became one of only two Americans who was invited to attend an international seminar in Salzburg, Austria, titled "Biotechnology: Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues." As many as 50 people from 30 countries attended the seminar, which focused on the dilemmas created by recent advances in biotechnology. Participants included scientists, legislators, private industry representatives and healthcare professionals.

In 2002, Brannigan will have a chance to attend the Sixth World Congress of Bioethics, which is scheduled for Brazil. In addition to chairing, he will also present a paper on cross-cultural perspectives in bioethics.

Brannigan gives immense credit to his wife, Brooke, for her understanding of this hunger that drives him constantly to learn, to teach and to write. She knows this is what causes him to spend occasional weekends buried in work. Brooke not only supports her husband's schedule, but she critically reviews his writing. In addition, she has even brought a particular beauty out of it.

In the early 1990s, Brannigan was working on the first edition of The Pulse of Wisdom: The Philosophies of India, China, and Japan. As a gift to celebrate the book's publication, Brooke bought him a Kurzweil digital piano. It is distinct from the piano he had learned to play as a child in Newport. He had given that up in high school, and only returned to it when he encountered the baby grand in the Zappala College Center Square at La Roche College.

Now it is not unusual for Brannigan to play spontaneously at the square in the afternoons, or to perform preludes at a La Roche College event. The digital piano from Brooke offers him a new service. It saves his musical compositions.

So far, the publishing of Brannigan's thought has taken the form of words. But in the files of this digital piano are the musical notes of his reflections that may well be the basis for his next publication.

One thing is clear, however. Whether it is at the keyboard of his word processor or his piano, Michael Brannigan is sure to continue sharing his talent and love of learning.