Center for Ethics and Leadership

The College of Business has had a long-standing interest in the standards of conduct and moral judgment, which the leadership of many organizations uses in making their business decisions. Since 1982, business ethics has been an integral part of our undergraduate and graduate curricula.

More specifically, our interest centers on the question of whether or not leaders stop to consider the effects of their decisions on others – that is the essence of business ethics. Our first effort to focus public attention on this critical subject was the initiative in 1997 to conduct annual Ethics Competitions for local high school students. The resounding success of this effort has been evidenced by the active participation in the program and the eagerness of prominent business and community leaders to participate as judges for the Competition.

Another initiative by the College of Business to advance the public interest in ethics was the founding in 2000 of the Center for Business Ethics, recently renamed the Center for Ethics and Leadership. More recently, an endowed Chair was created in the Center and Dr. Isabella Bunn of Oxford University was appointed the Distinguished Visiting Professor and Chair. The vision of the Center is to enhance the awareness and exploration of the interaction between leadership and ethics in the global community.

The Center for Ethics and Leadership is governed by Bylaws and a Steering Committee composed of prominent business and community leaders. Given the recent corporate scandals in the USA and Europe, there can be little doubt that there exists today a need for strong ethical practices in business and that the consequences for unethical practices can be extreme. The Center responds to these concerns by:

• Since 2000, sponsoring the annual Ethics Conference and the quarterly Ethics Breakfasts, both open to the public and free to Florida Tech students and faculty
• Providing a forum for exploring and furthering ethical practices and effective leadership in organizations in both domestic and international environments  
• Sponsoring and participating in ethics and leadership related education opportunities through guest speaker appearances, etc., and
• Continually promoting the importance of ethical behavior in the leadership of business, community, and government institutions.

As is the case with any organization, the Center for Ethics and Leadership will only be as good as its membership.  Contact the College of Business at Florida Tech at (321) 674-7327 to find out how you and/or your organization can join the Center.