Business Ethics Initiative new in SOBA

Ethics-2 womenThree new initiatives have been developed within the School of Business Administration (SOBA) to increase student awareness of the importance of ethics in their personal and professional lives.

Under the leadership of Jim Beasley, Ph.D., professor of business administration, and John Tichenor, Ph.D., associate professor of decision sciences, SOBA is extending its emphasis upon the importance of ethical decision making in professional life. Already, through the teaching of business ethics across the business curriculum and in BADM 209E, The Legal, Social and Ethical Environment of Business, SOBA provides students with opportunities for thoughtful examination of important ethical problems.

“A new student group, the Student Organization for Business Ethics, has been constituted to focus on business ethics,” said Beasley. “With a core group of about 15 students, they went through the process of receiving official recognition as a Stetson student organization.”

The following students were elected officers: Katie Kurtz, president; Bridget Johnston, vice president; Jasmine Copeland, secretary; Nicole Wohn, treasurer; and, Juliette Wheeler, SGA representative.” The new organization is open to all interested Stetson students,” Beasley said.

Ethics-group“We produced our first on-campus business ethics case competition earlier this semester,” Beasley reported. Two teams participated and the winners were: Katie Kurtz, pictured left, senior management major from Apopka, Fla., and Melissa Deloera, pictured right, senior finance major from Port Orange, Fla. The runner-up team in the competition was made up of Ken DeMoya, junior economics major from Sanford, Fla., and Bridget Johnston, junior English major from Vero Beach, Fla.

“Our new student organization secured an invitation to compete in the Eller School of Management National Collegiate Ethics Case Competition, held at the University of Arizona in Tucson, on Oct. 24,” said Beasley. From among the teams competing in the on-campus competition held several weeks prior, a two-member team was selected to represent Stetson in Tucson. “Katie Kurtz and Ken DeMoya prepared a case presentation on the implementation of corporate wellness plans under the Affordable Care Act. They competed against representatives of 32 colleges and universities from all across the U.S. in the Arizona event,” he said. Some of the competing universities included Dartmouth College, Case Western Reserve University, Elon, Emory, Rutgers, Texas Tech and the University of Southern California. “Stetson and the University of Florida were the only universities from Florida that competed in this national competition,” Beasley said.

The national competition in Arizona was won by Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Boston College won the bracket that Stetson participated in.

From left to right in the photo (above): professor John Tichenor, advisor to SOBE; Katie Kurtz, president of Stetson’s Student Organization for Business Ethics (SOBE) and competitor in the national competition; Dr. Jelena Petrovic, assistant professor of communication and media studies and judge in Stetson’s first annual Ethics Case Competition; Ken DeMoya, competitor in the national competition; Bobbi Baugh, local business owner and judge in Stetson’s first annual Ethics Case Competition; professor Jim Beasley, advisor to SOBE; Melissa Deloera, competitor in the national competition; and K.C. Ma, Ph.D., Roland George Chair of Applied Investments and director of Stetson’s George Investments Institute.

“John (Tichenor) and I are also exploring other opportunities for Stetson teams to compete in regional or national business ethics case competitions,” Beasley said.