The Focus of DSU’s Business and Ethics Forum

The Focus of DSU’s Business and Ethics Forum

Thursday, November 13th, 2014 Dixie State University's Udvar-Hazy School of Business will continues its bi-monthly Business and Ethics Forum series for the 2014-15 academic year next Thursday, November 20, at 12 noon, featuring a presentation on avoiding the pitfalls of running a business by Paul McMullin, national sales manager of Conduit Repair Systems, Inc. The Business and Ethics Forum is held in the Boeing Auditorium (Room 121) of the Udvar-Hazy Business Building. DSU students, faculty and staff, the entire Washington County business community, and the general public are all invited to attend. Admission is free. McMullin's presentation, entitled "Bumps & Bruises," will discuss how the downfall of many businesses is not one solid blow, but many little bumps and bruises that could be avoided. McMullin will talk about a pair of business ventures he currently oversees, including his manufacturing company and court reporting business, and how having personal and business integrity plays an important role in the success of each venture. The final Forum of the 2014 fall semester will be held on Thursday, Dec. 4, with a presentation delivered by Nate Staheli, DSU associate professor of accounting and senior partner at Staheli & Jacobsen CPA. The DSU Business and Ethics Forum is held every other Thursday throughout the fall and spring semesters, with each guest lecturer speaking on business matters in their respective professions and how ethics are introduced into the discussion. The bi-monthly forum, along with campus' Institute for Business Integrity, was created by former DSU president Dr. Robert Huddleston in 2006, as a way to integrate ethics into the curriculum, and have it serve as a blueprint to ensure that students graduate with a set of ethical tools to help them get along in the professional world. In 2006-07, Dixie State's business program sought initial accreditation with the high profile Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). In order to become accredited with the AACSB, ethics were required to be integrated into the college's business curriculum. As a result, each business class on the DSU campus now includes an ethical component. Dr. Huddleston noted that the business forums will give students – and current and prospective local business owners – an added dose of ethics training that is so sorely needed into today's business world. His hope is that by the time students leave Dixie State, they have been exposed to enough ethical cases that, when they get out in the workforce, they will have the wherewithal and the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing, even when their job might be on the line. The Dixie State University Institute for Business Integrity is a partnership between the DSU Udvar-Hazy School of Business, the Small Business Development Center, the Washington County Economic Development Council, and the St. George Area Chamber of Commerce. For questions regarding the DSU Institute for Business Integrity forums, contact Dr. Huddleston at huddleston@utahtech.edu or 435-652-7740.