TI-Canada invites CCAL fellow to speak at the Anti-Corruption Education webinar

On May 28, 2020, Dr. David Dick was invited to speak at the Anti-Corruption Education webinar held by Transparency International Canada. TI-Canada, established in 1996 is the Canadian chapter of the world’s leading non-governmental anti-corruption organization.

During this webinar, Dr. David Dick discussed the type of ethics and anti-corruption education he does at the University of Calgary, through the Department of Philosophy, the Canadian Centre for Advanced Leadership in Business (CCAL) at the Haskayne School of Business and the Integrity Network. Focusing on ethical foundations, the work he does at the University of Calgary aims to help individuals enter their careers prepared for the sophisticated and difficult ethical challenges they will face.

Dr. David Dick then moved on to discuss his role at CCAL and the portfolio of curriculum and voluntary programs they offer such as a class that was created on ethical leadership - a course required by all BComm students - as well as the Ethics Speaker Series and other programs for students and the community.

The past year CCAL hosted multiple events where prominent ethics professors participated in. Dr. Mary Gentile, Dr. Joanne Ciulla and Dr. R. Edward Freeman conducted workshops, tutorials, lectures and research roundtables with industry.

Dr. David Dick went on to share his experience instructing the capstone project for the Masters of Management (MMgmt) students at the Haskayne School of Business. The capstone project is a weeklong course designed with the help of an industry partner to expose students to real-word business ethics discussions. This year, the course was held at the WestJet campus where WestJet executives gave students lectures about their operations in the morning and Dr. Dick discussed the ethics of it in the afternoon.

Active in the Calgary business community and overseeing the Integrity Network, a working group of ethics professionals from corporate, academic and non-profit sectors, Dr. Dick described how they have been able to involve students, both graduate and undergraduate, in this network. He also talked about how companies can be involved in ethics education by providing ethics resources other than financial support, such as the people working in these companies sharing their knowledge as guest lecturers or on research projects.

Dr. Dick shared his thoughts on where the anti-corruption and ethics education is going. He believes that specialized courses, similar to the IT ethics class at the University of Calgary, will be the future of ethics education. Having the knowledge of people who not just understand the ethical principles but also, how the literal and figurative machinery of how financial markets, government laws, etc. work. He would like to see this in parallel with the growth in general ethics education. 

You can find the full recording of this webinar here.