Aug. 11 Address by Laura Hartman is Part of Ethics Educators Conference in Denver

Should business ethics educators be held accountable for the impact they have on the ethical decisions of their students?

This provocative question, posed in the post-Enron era, will be explored by Laura Hartman, president of the Society for Business Ethics and author of “Perspectives in Business Ethics,” during an address before the society’s membership at 12:30 p.m., Aug. 10, in the Augusta Room of the Westin Tabor Center, 1672 Lawrence St., Denver. The speech, entitled “From Accountability to Action to Amplification: Addressing Our Own Laryngitis,” is part of the Aug. 8-11 annual meeting of the society, an international organization of scholars who study and teach business ethics.

Hartman, a business ethics professor and associate vice president of academic affairs at DePaul University in Chicago, will challenge business ethics educators to provide ethics lessons that are relevant to today’s managers and the issues they face. “If we are not responsible for the impact—or lack thereof—that we have on our students, then what is our purpose?” Hartman will ask in her speech. “Doesn’t each of us seek to leave an imprint on our students? And if that imprint is irrelevant to their later decisions, what is our value as educators? “Ethics is one of the burning issues in this country,” Hartman will observe. “A virtual epidemic of unethical behavior has caused an unprecedented shattering of investor confidence that has caused a $4 trillion depletion of U.S. value. We, as ethics scholars and critics, should not only be at the forefront of these issues, but we must also strive to serve as a vaccine against further epidemics.

“We should do what we implore our students to do: We need to make a difference,” Hartman will say in her address. “We need to make people care passionately. We have the power to impact; we can have that impact both in the classroom and by serving as role models and as proactive community citizens. We have the strength and authority to amplify that action so that it can have impact well beyond our classrooms.”

DePaul's College of Commerce, where Hartman is a professor of management, integrates ethics education throughout its MBA and master’s degree programs and requires undergraduate students to take a course in business ethics, as required by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and suggested by the university’s mission. The college, along with the university's College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, also sponsors DePaul’s Institute for Business & Professional Ethics, a center created in 1985 to encourage ethical deliberation among decision-makers and provide a forum for exploring and furthering ethical practices in organizations. DePaul is seeking a candidate for a new academic post, Wicklander Chair in Business Ethics, who also will direct the institute.

Editor’s Note: Hartman’s speech is open for media coverage. Hartman also is available for interviews on ethics issues before and after the speech. To reach Hartman while she is in Denver, call her at the hotel, (303) 572-9100, or e-mail her: lhartman@depaul.edu. Before and after the four-day conference, she can be reached at DePaul: (312) 362-6569.

To receive an advance e-mail copy of the full speech, contact Robin Florzak, News Bureau Manager, DePaul University, at (312) 362-8592.

For more information about the conference, visit the Web site: http://www.societyforbusinessethics.org/program.htm.