Dixie State University Business Forum

Dixie State University’s Udvar-Hazy School of Business kicks off its bi-monthly noontime Business and Ethics Forum series for the 2015 spring semester on Thursday, February 5, featuring a presentation entitled “Fundamentals for Success in the Business World” by H. John Marsh, CPA and former senior vice president of accounting and financial reporting with Federal Farm Credit Funding Corporation.

Marsh served as managing director (CFO) at Federal Farm Credit Funding Corporation for 14 years, and oversaw financial reporting for an additional eight years. He also worked as a senior audit manager at KPMG, where he specialized in the oil and gas industry, manufacturing and governmental accounting.  
 
The series will continue Feb. 19, with a presentation by corporate executive Paul Kline. In addition, Cache Valley Bank president Scott Colton will address the forum March 5; Squatty Potty owners Judy and Bill Edwards, will speak March 19; Bob Dalley, vice president and CFO of Deseret Power Electric Cooperative, will present to the forum April 2; and DSU business law and economics professor Travis Seegmiller will wrap up the semester schedule with a presentation April 16. 

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.