Eight universities across the Rocky Mountain region, including the University of Wyoming, will collaborate on an initiative to strengthen principle-based business ethics education offered to students in the partnering schools.
The initiative includes two universities with existing business ethics programs supported by the Daniels Fund -- the UW College of Business and the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.
The other six universities will share equally in $7.5 million in grant funding for the initiative. The universities that each will receive $1.25 million grants, the next five years, are Colorado State University, New Mexico State University, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, University of New Mexico, University of Northern Colorado and University of Utah.
UW College of Business Dean Brent Hathaway and the other seven deans will form a consortium that will leverage the achievements of the individual business schools to strengthen and expand ethics education in the region.
"Corporate scandals involving ethical misconduct have damaged stakeholder confidence and increased pressure for businesses and other organizations to establish clear standards for ethical conduct," says Linda Childears, Daniels Fund president and CEO. "This crisis in business ethics is a serious concern for all of us and creates the opportunity to strengthen management education and to elevate the importance of business ethics curricula."
The UW College of Business in 2007 launched its Business Ethics Education program. With Daniels Fund support, the College of Business developed an ethics curriculum at UW and appointed Richard McGinity as the Bill Daniels Distinguished Professor of Business Ethics.
He has collaborated with educators and professionals to write a business ethics curriculum. McGinity also established a network of scholars interested in business ethics to expose executive, graduate, undergraduate and community college students to ethical issues.
"The Daniels Fund has been honored to partner with the University of Wyoming on the Bill Daniels Distinguished Professor of Business Ethics. This partnership is an example of the dedicated approach that this initiative will take to advance principle-based ethics as the standard for doing business in our society."
UW and the partnership schools will collaborate on developing programs designed to instill a high standard of ethics in business school students. The initial grant and ongoing support for the initiative is provided by the Daniels Fund, a private foundation established by cable television pioneer Bill Daniels, who was widely recognized for his ethics and integrity in business.
