Dixie State University Business and Ethics Forum

Dixie State University’s Udvar-Hazy School of Business will begin its bi-monthly Business and Ethics Forum series for the 2014-15 academic year next Thursday, September 18, at 12 noon, featuring a presentation by Martin R. Tidwell, CEO of Steton, Inc.
 
Tidwell has more than 20 years of experience in high technology finance management. Prior to Steton, he was finance director for Apple’s Asia Pacific operation based in Singapore. He also held numerous accounting management positions for IBM, Sequent Computer Systems and Tektronix. Tidwell holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Brigham Young University.
 
The series will continue Oct. 2, with a presentation by Dan Walding, owner of Walding Wallbeds. In addition, American Gear Company president and founder Ryan Monson will address Oct. 23; Scott Colton, president of Cache Valley Bank, will speak Nov. 6; Paul McMullin, national sales manager with Conduit Repair System, Inc., will present to the forum Nov. 20; and Nate Staheli, DSU associate professor and CPA and senior partner at Staheli & Jacobsen CPA, will wrap up the semester schedule with a presentation Dec. 4.

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.