Dixie State College Business and Ethics Forum

Dixie State College of Utah’s Udvar-Hazy School of Business will host its final bi-monthly noontime Business and Ethics Forum of the 2011-12 academic year on Thursday, April 12, featuring a presentation by DSC Vice President of Administrative Services Stan Plewe.

Plewe’s presentation, entitled “Dixie: Culture for Innovation,” will take a look back and a look forward at how Dixie State College has created and sustained a culture for innovation without spending large sums of money. In addition, Plewe will take the audience “under the covers” at the innovative features in the nearly completed DSC Jeffrey R. Holland Centennial Commons Building.

Plewe has worked on the Dixie State campus for nearly 34 years, serving as Director of Lifelong Learning and the Dean of Continuing Education prior to his current role as VP of Administrative Services. Prior to his time at DSC, Plewe was employed at Clackamas (OR) Community College and the Granite School District. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Education from Brigham Young University and is a veteran of the United States Army, for which he served as an infantry officer and a civil affairs officer.

The Business and Ethics Forum is every other Thursday throughout the fall and spring semesters, with each guest lecturer speaking on business matters in their respective professions and how to integrate ethics into the discussion. The Forums will return to its regular bi-monthly schedule for the 2012 fall semester beginning this September.

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 college’s 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 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 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,” said Huddleston. “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.