UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Corey Phelps, the John and Karen Arnold Dean of the Penn State Smeal College of Business, recently announced name changes for two of the college’s foundational centers.
The Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility has shifted to the Center for Ethical Leadership. The former Center for the Business Sustainability is now known as the Sustainable Business Center.
Michelle Darnell, the Tarriff Family Director of the Center for Ethical Leadership, said the name reinforces the mission of the center.
“This name change allows us to more effectively frame the work we have done and continue to do: increase critical awareness of, and engagement with, the challenges and opportunities that generically are captured under the phrases ‘business ethics’ and ‘social responsibility.’ Ultimately, however, this work is intended to create advocates of responsible business – people who can, for example: make ethical decisions; strategically embed values into business practice; and create organizational cultures in which others can contribute to the achievement of a shared vision of responsible business,” she said.
“With this more focused name, we aim to not only help external stakeholders understand what we are doing, but it also helps us within the Center for Ethical Leadership to stay focused on how we make the most effective use of our available resources.”
Travis Lesser, the director of the Sustainable Business Center, said the name change, and a shift of the focus on social responsibility to the center he oversees, enables the center to capture an opportunity.
“Our name change enables us to better align with terminology that our industry partners are moving toward. It better positions our center with the language that industries that we collaborate with are speaking,” he said.
Darnell emphasized that the work the Center for Ethical Leadership has done and continues to do remains the same.
“What we are doing in this center is timeless, a necessary condition for business itself, independent of social trends. The name change reinforces this,” she said. “Consider the language ‘social responsibility.’ This can be a divisive phrase, because there are very legitimate questions about what it means to be socially responsible and who holds these responsibilities. Fundamentally, though, we are trying to empower individuals to navigate the questions that surround these very complex topics.”
Lesser also announced that Karen Winterich, University Distinguished Professor of Marketing, has been named research director of the Sustainable Business Center.
“We’re thrilled to have someone as accomplished as Karen as the center’s research director. She has established herself as a leading voice in the area of sustainable consumer behavior and consumer response to company sustainability initiatives,” he said.
“Karen will lead symposia, organize and implement research grants, promote sustainability research in the college, oversee our research working group and set the research record in sustainability at Smeal.”
Darnell said the recent launch of a Research Scholars initiative aligns with the name change and illustrates how the center strives to promote ethical leadership in business.
“With this program, selected students are supported through their exploration of an ethical dimension of business — a topic they choose because it matters to them. We provide these students resources — including meetings with faculty and business leaders — to help them develop informed positions on complex issues, learn to engage others in dialogue about their questions and share their findings,” she said.
“These students are exploring topics in ‘business ethics and social responsibility’ but more concretely we are developing the next generation of ethical leaders of business.”