ST. GEORGE – Dixie State College of Utah’s Udvar-Hazy School of Business will host its final bi-monthly noontime Business and Ethics Forum of the 2010-11 academic year on Thursday, April 7, featuring a presentation on philanthropy by Kerry Hepworth, President and CEO of the Dixie Regional Medical Center Foundation.
The Business and Ethics Forum, presented every other Thursday throughout DSC’s spring semester, will be held in the Boeing Auditorium (Room 121) of the DSC Udvar-Hazy Business Building. DSC students, faculty and staff, the entire Washington County business community, and the general public are all invited to attend. Admission is free.
In addition to her role with the Dixie Regional Medical Center Foundation, Ms. Hepworth is the chief development officer for Intermountain Healthcare’s Southwest Region, directing institutional advancement for three hospitals in southern Utah. Under her direction, several million dollars in philanthropy has been gifted to support capital building projects to strengthen the healthcare of the region, including Dixie Regional’s River Road hospital campus, the Jubilee Homes I and II charitable lodging residences for patient families, the Sandra L. Maxwell Cancer Center in Cedar City, and most recently in securing a LifeFlight Helicopter.
Hepworth is a graduate of the University of Utah and holds a CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive) designation. She also participated in graduate philanthropic studies at IUPUI. Hepworth has also served on many community boards and commissions, and is a past chairperson of the St. George Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Business and Ethics Forum are held 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.
Each speaker throughout the semester will speak on business matters in their respective professions and have been asked to integrate ethics into the discussion.
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.
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.
For questions regarding the DSC Institute for Business Integrity forums, contact Dr. Huddleston at [email protected] or 435-652-7740.