The Brown & White

Freshmen students in the College of Business and Economics will be required to take a business ethics course, beginning in spring 2009.

The class, Value-Based Decision Making, will focus on conflicts in the business world, like past scandals with Enron and Tyco, and the importance of understanding international perspectives.

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business requires universities to teach four aspects of business ethics: corporate governance, ethical management, corporate social responsibility and ethical decision making.

"This new class will focus on ethical decision making," said Joan DeSalvatore, associate dean and director of undergraduate programs in the business college.

Each section of the course will have about 14 students, which requires many sections, many professors and lots of discussion, DeSalvatore said.

Case studies discussed in class will be used to encourage interaction and debate about ethics topics, DeSalvatore said.

"This course is not designed to require students to conform to a specific way of thinking," she said.

The course will also include a qualitative writing component, said Paul Brown, dean of the business college.

Brown, who started at Lehigh eight months ago, said he believes an ethics course is an important addition to the business curriculum.

He said the small-group interactions in this course will benefit students.

"The real challenge in the classroom will be to keep a good debate going where there are no clear answers," Brown said.

Value-Based Decision Making, worth one credit, will meet two times a week for about five weeks. It will not be a full semester course and no tests will be given.

The faculty for the course is not set, but the college is looking for interest from full-time professors, adjuncts and professors of practice.

A course coordinator will be chosen to facilitate the different sections.

Guest lecturers will also be brought in for the course.

Introduction to Business, a requirement for first-semester business students, will complement the new course, which is a large reason why students will take the classes in the same year.

In the future, upperclassmen may be allowed to take the course as an elective.

The course ran pilot sections in spring 2006, and administrators introduced it for approval in October 2007, said Carl Moses, deputy provost for academic affairs.

Lehigh officially approved it March 2008, he said.