Dixie State College of Utah's Udvar-Hazy School of Business will kick off its 2008-09 bi-monthly noontime Business and Ethics Forum series this Thursday, September 18, featuring a presentation by Bruce T. Jensen, President and CEO of Town & Country Bank in St. George, entitled "Building and Maintaining a High Octane, High Ethics Business Team."
The Business and Ethics Forum, presented every other Thursday throughout DSC's fall and spring semesters, will be held in the Boeing Auditorium (Room 121) of the DSC Udvar-Hazy Business Building. DSC students, faculty and staff, the entire Washington County business community, and the general public are all invited to attend. Admission is free.
Jensen has worked in the banking industry for over 30 years, including working in management positions at Wells Fargo Bank and Zions Banks, prior to becoming president of Town & Country Bank. He graduated with a B.A. from Brigham Young University in 1975, and studied for an M.B.A. at DePaul University in Chicago, Ill.
The series will continue Oct. 2, with Jill Elliss, who is the director of the Dixie Business Alliance, SEED Dixie and USTAR. In addition, Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith will address the forum Oct. 23; Scott Hirschi, Director of Washington County Economic Development, will speak Nov. 6; local mortgage broker Alan Crooks will present to the forum Nov. 20; and Josh Little, attorney with the law firm of Durham, Jones and Pinegar, will wrap up the semester schedule with a presentation Dec. 4.
Each speaker throughout the semester will speak on business matters in their respective professions and have been asked to integrate ethics into the discussion.
The bi-monthly forum, along with campus' Institute for Business Integrity, was created by former DSC 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 collegešs business curriculum. As a result, each business class on the DSC 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 todayšs 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 Institute for Business Integrity has brought an important opportunity for the business community, as well as DSC faculty and students, to emphasize the significance of social responsibility for business and industry in Washington County," Dr. Huddleston said. "As research indicates, ethics contribute to employee commitment, investor loyalty, customer satisfaction and to profits."
The Dixie State College Institute for Business Integrity is a partnership between the Udvar-Hazy School of Business at Dixie State College, the Small Business Development Center, the Washington County Economic Development Council, and the St. George Area Chamber of Commerce.
For questions regarding the DSC Institute for Business Integrity forums, contact Dr. Huddleston at huddleston@dixie.edu or 435-652-7740.
