Environmental disasters are not simply physical calamities; there are ethical components unique to each disaster that affect the level of preparation and response. Environmental ethicist and professor of philosophy at the University of Memphis Bill E. Lawson will give a lecture, entitled "Race, Class, Gender and Ethics for Disaster," at 8:15 p.m. Thursday, November 11, 2010, in the Blackistone Room of Anne Arundel Hall at St. Mary's College of Maryland. The lecture is free and open to the public.

St. Mary's College of Maryland, designated the Maryland state honors college in 1992, is ranked one of the best public liberal arts schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. More than 2,000 students attend the college, nestled on the St. Mary's River in Southern Maryland.