CSU College of Business Awarded $1.25 Million Grant by Daniels Fund to Support Business Ethics
Colorado State University’s College of Business has been awarded a $1.25 million grant by the Daniels Fund to help support programs in business ethics.
Through the grant, CSU will become part of a collaborative initiative to develop programs designed to instill a high standard of ethics in students majoring in business. The initial grant and ongoing support for the initiative is provided by the Daniels Fund, a private foundation established by cable television pioneer Bill Daniels who was widely recognized for his ethics and integrity in business.
“The Daniels Fund grant makes a profound positive impact on the strategic vision of the CSU College of Business,” said Ajay Menon, dean of CSU’s College of Business. “Trust and integrity are at the very core of our brand. We are in the business of preparing the next generation of our global workforce, and are committed to deliver to the business world outstanding graduates with a deep understanding and knowledge of business practice and tools grounded in business ethics and personal integrity. When universities succeed, either by example or through teachings, then American businesses succeed.”
CSU’s College of Business will use the grant to expand its coverage of accounting ethics with the new Financial Reporting Integrity Center as its cornerstone. The center will engage in a variety of activities that prepare students to work within the financial reporting system – those who prepare financial statements, audit financial statements, use financial accounting statements, and regulate the issuance, audit and use of financial information.
The academic content developed at CSU’s College of Business would be available to all institutions participating in this initiative. The goal of the Financial Reporting Integrity Center is to focus largely on developing a deep set of expertise and reputation in accounting ethics. Developing an expertise in accounting ethics will help establish and maintain a reputation of excellence in a disciplinary area that can benefit the consortium schools as well. The center will provide access to students at consortium member schools to workshops and lecture series via its distance delivery technology.
“The grant from the Daniels Fund represents an incredible opportunity for us to expand the scope and reach of our efforts to graduate students with an ability to recognize and deal with the ethical dilemmas they will face throughout their careers,” said Barry Lewis, chair of the Department of Accounting at CSU. “Through our Financial Reporting Integrity Center, we will expose students to a broad range of coursework, speaker series, executives in residence and periodic symposia. We couldn’t be more excited.”
The initiative also includes two universities with existing business ethics programs supported by the Daniels Fund: the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, and the University of Wyoming College Of Business.
The other six universities will share equally in the $7.5 million initiative. The universities are Colorado State University, New Mexico State University, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, University of New Mexico, University of Northern Colorado and University of Utah.
For more information about CSU’s College of Business visit www.biz.colostate.edu.
About the Daniels Fund
Bill Daniels established the Daniels Fund to operate the Daniels Fund Scholarship Program and the Daniels Fund Grants Program in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. His estate transferred to the Daniels Fund when he died in March, 2000, making it one of the largest foundations in the Rocky Mountain region. Visit www.danielsfund.org for more information.
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