Following the success of its five-year pilot program, the New Mexico State University College of Business has been awarded an additional $1.25 million over the next five years to continue its principle-based ethics program. The grant is part of the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative, whose goal is to strengthen principle-based ethics education and to foster a high standard of ethics in young people.
The college received its first $1.25 award through the Daniels Fund in 2010.
“We are very excited that the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative at New Mexico State University has been renewed for another five years,” said the program’s director, Bruce Huhmann, an associate professor of marketing in the business college. “We will continue to work closely with our partner schools in the Daniels Fund Ethics Consortium, especially our partners at the University of New Mexico.”
Three additional Colorado colleges have been accepted into the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative this year, bringing the consortium to a total of 11 institutions in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
Huhmann said students have been the biggest beneficiaries of the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative at NMSU since its inception in 2010.
“NMSU business students are now consistently exposed to ethics issues via case studies, modules, activities and guest speakers,” Huhmann said. “Principle-based ethics is integrated into graduate and undergraduate classes across the curriculum in all business disciplines.”
The initiative uses principle-based ethics as a framework for personal and organizational decision-making and leadership, he said, demonstrating that business and personal success can be achieved by following certain universal principles, such as respect, accountability, transparency and fairness. The Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative at New Mexico State University teaches students decision-making tools that help put these ethical principles into practice.
Students in other disciplines, including engineering, English, philosophy and criminal justice have also benefitted from course materials created by Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Fellows at NMSU. The Honors College has brought principle-based ethics curriculum to the university’s top academic achieving students across the university, and a Student Center for the Public Trust campus chapter was established to expose students from many disciplines to the importance and multi-faceted issues of ethical leadership and professionalism, Huhmann said.
“This grant provides us with the resources give our students an excellent education with regard to ethics in the workplace and beyond the workplace,” said College of Business Dean Jim Hoffman.
Huhmann said the initiative’s principle-based ethics teaching extends beyond the campus to the business community, the rural and agricultural communities, Native American communities and Borderland communities.
That’s true of the partnerships it has facilitated with other institutions in the consortium, as well, Hoffman said.
“Being part of the Daniels Fund set of universities also gives our faculty and students a great opportunity to interact with faculty and students from other member universities,” Hoffman said. “This interaction facilitates a lot of cross-learning that does not occur between most universities in regard to ethics training.”
For more information about the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative at NMSU, visithttp://business.nmsu.edu/programs-centers/daniels-ethics/
The Daniels Fund is a private foundation established by cable television pioneer Bill Daniels, who at one time lived in New Mexico and was widely recognized for his ethics and integrity in business. For more information, visit http://www.danielsfund.org.
Information from NMSU