Business educators from several nations will gather in Boulder July 20-22 to attend a conference designed to help universities tackle the complex problem of teaching business ethics.
More than 250 educators are expected to attend the "Teaching Business Ethics" conference, co-sponsored by the University of Colorado at Boulder Leeds School of Business, Colorado State University's College of Business, the University of Wyoming and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, or AACSB International.
Educators from 27 U.S. states, Germany, Korea, Japan, Australia and Slovenia are registered to attend the conference.
The event, which is not open to the public and is sold out, will be held at the St. Julien Hotel at 900 Walnut St. in Boulder.
Ethical questions have recently plagued the business world with CEOs and top executives found guilty of criminal offenses on a seemingly regular basis.
"This conference provides a forum for ethics professors to exchange teaching ideas so that we can be more effective in improving the quality of ethical understanding and behavior for tomorrow's business leaders," said Bob Kolb, assistant dean for business and society at CU-Boulder's Leeds School of Business. "It is becoming a destination event for ethics educators in business schools."
CU President Elizabeth Hoffman and incoming CU President Hank Brown will both give talks during the conference. Hoffman will talk about "Principled Leadership in Education" and Brown will talk about "The Basis of Prosperity."
"Corporate leaders are requesting that business schools take a leadership role in preparing students for business ethics decisions they face," said O.C. Ferrell, co-director of the Center for Business Ethics and Social Issues at CSU. "This conference provides state-of-the-art knowledge about how to teach business ethics courses and integrate business ethics into existing curriculum."
Topics to be discussed include "Global Business Citizenship," "What Business Â鶹ÒùÔº and Employees Need to Know About Ethics and Compliance" and "Teaching Environmental Issues in Business Ethics Courses." Co-chairs for the conference are CU-Boulder's Kolb; Lyla Hamilton, faculty director of the CU-Boulder Leeds School's Center for Business and Society; O.C. Ferrell, professor of business administration at CSU; and Linda Ferrell, associate professor of marketing and management at the University of Wyoming.
"The conference provides a unique opportunity for leading universities in the Front Range to work together in assisting educators all over the world in teaching business ethics," said Linda Ferrell. "It is unusual for this type of cooperation, but perhaps it is a model for the future in dealing with such important issues facing schools of business."
"At least two-thirds of this year's participants are new," Kolb said. "To me, this indicates a continued demand for the development of ethics education in business schools and that the debate about how to teach ethics in business is continuing."
The AACSB International is the premier accrediting agency for bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in business administration and accounting. The association has nearly 500 accredited member institutions from 24 nations.
The Leeds School's participation in the conference is coordinated by the school's Center for Business and Society. The center's mission is to develop curriculum and present events and programs to support and extend the Leeds School's business ethics curriculum.