Business educators from across the country will gather in Boulder July 21-23 to attend a conference designed to improve and increase the teaching of business ethics at colleges and universities.
The "Teaching Business Ethics" conference will bring nearly 200 educators to Boulder and is 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. The event, which is sold out and is not open to the public, will be held at the Millennium Harvest House at 1345 28th St. in Boulder.
"With the ever-increasing role of business in society -- it affects so many dimensions of our lives -- business schools realize that they have a large role in teaching ethics to their students," said Bob Kolb, assistant dean for business and society at CU-Boulder's Leeds School of Business. "I think it is telling that we were originally hoping to have 100 people at the conference and ended up drawing nearly 200 people."
Topics to be discussed include the "Role of Ethics in Business Curricula," "Successful Programs for Teaching Business Ethics" and "Teaching Business Ethics in Business Disciplines: Accounting, Finance, Management and Marketing." Co-chairs for the conference are CU-Boulder's Kolb, O.C. Ferrell, chair and professor of marketing at Colorado State University and Linda Ferrell, assistant professor of marketing and management at the University of Wyoming.
"This conference is the most comprehensive and current business ethics teaching forum ever provided for business professors," said Ferrell, co-director of the Center for Business Ethics and Social Policy at CSU's College of Business. "The purpose is to create an opportunity to exchange ideas and teaching resources to facilitate business ethics education for business students."
The conference also is especially important and timely, according to Susan M. Phillips, who chaired the AACSB International Ethics Education Task Force and is dean of the School of Business and Public Policy at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. A recent report by the task force states that "while a number of business schools have developed innovative strategies for engaging students in the challenge of providing ethical leadership, the assumption of many faculty and program leaders that the majority of students are being adequately prepared in this domain is highly questionable."
The AACSB International is the premier accrediting agency for bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs in business administration and accounting. The association has 480 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.
Note to Editors: The conference is sold out, but reporters and photographers are welcome to attend free of charge. For more information and a copy of the complete agenda call Cindy Scheopner at (303) 241-5016 or Greg Swenson at (303) 492-3113.