Business Ethics Pioneers

 

Since the early 1970s, pioneers in the field of business ethics, both academic and corporate, have been stretching the mind and conscience with challenging questions and relentless self-examination. To preserve the history and wisdom of these founders, as well as the founders of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, we have created The Pioneers in Business Ethics Oral Video History Archive Project. This collection features focused stories on the evolution of Business Ethics, its founding thinkers and practitioners, and the ideas, concepts, and best practices that have emerged. Interviews with over fifty pioneers via video as well as their transcripts are now housed in the archives at the University of Illinois.  Each of these interviews is approximately 40-60 minutes. 

In addition to viewing the entire video, an editing team has assembled each pioneer interview into eight minute segments that can easily be shown in a variety of classes. Each pioneer generally explains how they entered the field of business ethics, successes they had in classrooms, in publications and in service. These videos can be found here

The focused videos as well as full transcripts and raw video footage will be available through the University of Illinois Library Archives and Gies College of Business Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society at the University of Illinois. All videos are free and open to the public. We encourage the dissemination of these videos in a variety of settings from the classroom to the boardroom. 

This project is designed and organized by a team including Joan Elise Dubinsky, former United Nations Ethics Officer and Fellow of the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society; Elaine E. Englehardt, the Distinguished Professor of Ethics at Utah Valley University;  Patricia Werhane, Professor Emerita at the University of Virginia and DePaul University and Emmy-award winning documentary producer; and Gretchen A. Winter, Clinical Assistant Professor of Business Administration and former Executive Director of the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society at the University of Illinois Gies College of Business. Short videos of many of the pioneers have been edited and produced for use in the classroom and in company training sessions with the help of Professor Englehardt’s students at Utah Valley University and the University of Illinois editing team.


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Pioneer Profiles by Last Name
John Boatright, Ph.D.

John Boatright, Ph.D., has served as the Raymond C. Baumhart, S.J., Professor of Business Ethics since 1994 at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business. He is a past President and a past Executive Director for the Society for Business Ethics. He was recognized by the Society in 2012 for a “Career of Outstanding Service to the Field of Business Ethics.” He is the author of the books Ethics and the Conduct of Business, Ethics in Finance, and Finance Ethics: Critical Issues in Theory and Practice. He serves on the editorial boards of Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, and Business and Society Review.

Reference(s):
luc.edu/quinlan/faculty/johnboatright.shtml 

 

Norman E. Bowie

Norman E. Bowie is the former Elmer L Andersen Chair in Corporate Responsibility at the University of Minnesota and one of the founders of the academic field of Business Ethics. Bowie has held a position as Dixons Professor of Business Ethics and Social Responsibility at the London Business School and been a fellow at Harvard's Program in Ethics and the Professions. He is the former Associate Editor of Business Ethics Quarterly. He is past president of the Society for Business Ethics, the American Society for Value Inquiry and is past Executive Director of the American Philosophical Association. As the leading scholar in the application of Kant's moral philosophy to business, Professor Bowie has authored or edited 16 books and over 75 articles, including his books Business Ethics: A Kantian Perspective and Business Ethics in the 21st Century. On August 2009, he received the first lifetime achievement award in scholarship presented by the Society for Business Ethics.

Reference(s): 
carlsonschool.umn.edu/faculty/norman-bowie 
www.springer.com/gp/book/9789400762220 

 

George G. Brenkert, Ph.D.

George G. Brenkert, Ph.D., is a Professor of Business Ethics, Emeritus, at the McDonough School of Business of Georgetown University. He is former President of the Society for Business Ethics, past Editor-in-Chief of Business Ethics Quarterly, and an academic fellow of the Ethics Resource Center. He serves on the editorial review boards of Business Ethics Quarterly, Business and Society Review, and Business Ethics: A European Review. As a dedicated scholar in the academia of Business Ethics, he has published and co-edited numerous articles and books pertaining to business ethics and corporate social responsibility, including Marketing Ethics; The Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics; and Corporate Integrity and Accountability. Professor Brenkert work have been published numerous journals such as Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Business and Professional Ethics Journal, Marketing and Public Policy, Journal of Business Venturing, and Philosophy & Public Affairs.  

Reference(s): 
cied.georgetown.edu/team/george-brenkert/  
gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/00336000014TvfcAAC/george-brenkert 

 

Rev. Gerald Cavanaugh, S.J.

Rev. Gerald Cavanaugh, S.J., is the Charles T. Fisher III Chair of Business Ethics at the Center for Practice & Research in Management & Ethics at the University of Detroit Mercy. Recognized as one of the founders of the field of business ethics, Fr. Cavanagh has given some 100 presentations on business ethics and corporate social responsibility throughout the world. He has published 5 books, more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and 20 chapters, as well as encyclopedia and magazine articles, monographs and proceedings papers.  His research has been cited more than 2,750 times by other academics across the globe, and he has been quoted in business magazines such as Fortune. His classic textbook, American Business Values, has been required reading at business schools around the nation, and his books are collectively carried in more than 1,500 libraries worldwide.

Reference(s):
udmercy.edu/about/people/university/cba/management/gerald-cavanagh 
ajcunet.edu/november-2016-connections/2016/11/9/udm-thematic 

 

Joanne Ciulla, Ph.D.

Joanne Ciulla, Ph.D., is a professor of Leadership Ethics and the Director of The Institute for Ethical Leadership at Rutgers Business School at Rutgers University. She is a pioneer in the field of leadership ethics and her research focuses on the ethical challenges of leadership and business ethics. She was a founding faculty member of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, which is the first degree granting liberal arts school of leadership studies in the world. She was a UNESCO chair in Leadership Studies at the United Nations International Leadership Academy and is a Fulbright Specialist, which allows her to work with numerous international institutions on programs and research related to ethics and leadership. Professor Ciulla sits on the editorial boards of The Business Ethics Quarterly, The Leadership Quarterly, and Leadership. She also edits the New Horizons in Leadership Studies Series and has served as former president of The Society for Business Ethics and The International Society for Business, Ethics, and Economics. In 2018 Professor Ciulla was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Leadership Association. 

Reference(s):
business.rutgers.edu/faculty/joanne-b-ciulla 
ila-net.org/LeadershipLegacy/joanne-ciulla.html