Southern Utah Banking: Focus of DSU Business Forum

Thursday, February 26th, 2015 Dixie State University's Udvar-Hazy School of Business continues its noontime Business and Ethics Forum series for the 2015 spring semester on Thursday, March 5, featuring a presentation entitled "Banking in the Communities of Southern Utah" by Scott Colton, president of Cache Valley Bank. 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. Colton has served as president of Cache Valley Bank since 2012, and oversees five branch locations in southern Utah. He also serves as chair of the Southern Utah Loan Committee, which is responsible for the development and approval of lending efforts throughout the area. Prior to his time at Cache Valley Bank, Colton was a senior vice president of Zions Bank, for which he worked for 32 years. Colton holds a Bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University and is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington. The series will continue March 19, with a presentation by Squatty Potty co-founders Judy and Bill Edwards. In addition, Vice President and CFO of Deseret Power Electric Cooperative Bob Dalley will speak April 2, and DSU business law and economics professor Travis Seegmiller will wrap up the semester schedule with a presentation April 16. 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.

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