Wyoming Ethics Program
UW Launches Business Ethics Program
 

The University of Wyoming College of Business has received $900,000 from the Daniels Fund to launch a business ethics education program in Wyoming and across the nation.

The grant-one of the largest private foundation contributions ever received at UW-provides funding for the college to attract a visiting professor, the Bill Daniels Distinguished Professor of Business Ethics, who will develop a business ethics curriculum. O.C. Ferrell, head of the Department of Marketing at Colorado State University and a leading figure in ethics education, has accepted appointment to the position and will begin working at UW this fall.

The Daniels Fund grant also provides for extensive outreach with Wyoming community colleges and the business community.

UW President Tom Buchanan expressed his optimism regarding this significant partnership with the Daniels Fund, acknowledging that the four-year grant will allow the university's business college to develop an "aggressive, nationally-recognized business ethics curriculum" and outreach that will extend the program's influence within Wyoming and beyond the state through a national network of scholars.

"Corporate scandals involving ethical misconduct have damaged stakeholder confidence and increased pressure for organizations to improve their ethics programs," said Brent Hathaway, dean of the UW College of Business. "This crisis in business ethics causes serious concern for all of us. It also creates an opportunity to strengthen management education and to elevate the importance of business ethics curricula."

"Our founder, Bill Daniels, considered achieving a reputation for integrity and being ethical in business as the greatest accomplishments in his life," said Linda Childears, president and CEO of the Daniels Fund. "We are honored to partner with the University of Wyoming in establishing the Bill Daniels Chair of Ethics as it will play a vital role in grounding students in the essential values they will need to succeed in business and lead happy, productive lives."

Outcomes of the grant will include a business ethics curriculum, development of ethics modules for inclusion in conventional business classes, a network of scholars interested in business ethics, and executive, graduate, undergraduate and community college students exposed to the ideas and concepts of business and ethical issues.

The program will allow UW to integrate business ethics concepts throughout the business curriculum, and will provide opportunities for students to interact with business executives to better understand the ethical expectations and issues faced in the "real world." Additionally, it will offer opportunities for non-business majors to learn business ethics and leadership.

UW already has been a sponsor of the premier national conference on teaching business ethics for business professors and program directors, the AACSB International Teaching Business Ethics Conference being held this week in Boulder, Colo. Ferrell has worked with UW faculty in co-sponsoring the AACSB conference and has been a guest speaker for UW marketing classes.

The grant will allow UW to continue sponsorship and coordination of the conference, and to share results in the academic community and through the college's accrediting organization, AACSB International, to improve business ethics and leadership curricula nationwide. It will also allow UW to become a resource for Wyoming businesses in the area of business ethics and social responsibility.

The Daniels Fund also provides Opportunity Awards in Wyoming, coordinated by the Wyoming Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Financial aid offices at UW and the state's community colleges worked collaboratively to put the proposal together to provide scholarship to non-traditional students who entering one of Wyoming's seven community colleges and plan to transfer to UW after achieving their associate degrees. Selection of the scholarship recipients is focused on GED recipients, children of the foster care system and "second chance" adults pursuing education later in life.

The Daniels Fund operates the Daniels College Prep and Scholarship Program and the Daniels Fund Grants Program in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah. The fund was established in 1997 by cable television pioneer Bill Daniels, who launched his first cable system in Casper, in 1953.

This news story may be freely distributed if copyright and ownership is clearly given to the Daniels Fund.