Published: May 30, 2006

Business educators from 39 states and several nations will attend a June 7-9 University of Colorado at Boulder conference designed to help tackle the complexities of teaching business ethics.

About 200 educators are expected to attend the CU-Boulder Leeds School of Business "Teaching Business Ethics" conference, sponsored by Qwest Communications International Inc.

Educators from Puerto Rico and 14 countries including Afghanistan, Egypt, The Gambia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, South Africa and Spain are registered to attend the conference.

The event, which is not open to the public, will be held at the St. Julien Hotel at 900 Walnut St. in Boulder.

Ethical questions in the business world recently came to a pinnacle with the guilty verdicts in the Enron case, said Cindy Scheopner of the Leeds School's Center for Business and Society, who is coordinating the conference.

"The need to provide students with an ethical decision-making framework has never been greater," Scheopner said. "Â鶹ÒùÔº must be prepared to bring with them an awareness of clear boundaries as well as the gray areas in business ethics."

The conference provides a setting for educators to share resources, approaches and insights into effectively teaching business ethics, according to Scheopner.

U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan of the Western District of Pennsylvania will open the conference with her presentation on "Upholding the Company's Ethics and Compliance Program" June 8 at 8:15 a.m. in the hotel ballroom.

David Heller, vice president of risk management and chief compliance officer at Qwest, will give a talk on "Ethics as a Transformation Tool" June 9 at 8 a.m. in the hotel ballroom.

Other topics to be discussed include "Overarching Goals of Teaching Business Ethics: What Should We Be Trying to Achieve?" and "Social Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics in the Classroom and the Global Community."

For more information, including a complete conference schedule, visit the Web site at tbe2006.com/.