Photo: New Mexico Tech
Highlands University business students made a strong showing in the first-ever ethics competition for the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative. Front left, Dennette Lucero, Ines Molina, and Peter Akawung. Back left, Kameni Dongmo, Saul Torres, economics professor Bill Taylor, and Margaret Young, dean of the School of Business, Media and Technology.
Las Vegas, N.M. — New Mexico Highlands University business students made a strong showing March 30 in the first-ever ethics competition for the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative, taking home the trophy for second place.
The team of five undergraduate Highlands University business students competed in Socorro, N.M. against teams from host New Mexico Tech, the University of New Mexico, and New Mexico State University, the first-place winner.
The Highlands team included graduating seniors Dennette Lucero, management, Ines Molina, international business, and Peter Akawung, finance. The team also included junior Saul Torres, international business, and senior Kameni Dongmo, finance.
“This is an exceptional group of students who excel in the classroom and are student leaders in the School of Business, Media and Technology,” said Margaret Young, dean of the school. “In the ethics competition, they were able to think quickly on their feet to answer the judges’ questions in a clear and concise way.”
Young said the student teams were given a real-world ethics case study at the competition and had two hours to develop solutions, and prepare their presentation.
“In today’s business climate, it’s more important than ever for student’s to develop an ethical business perspective,” Young said. “At Highlands, ethics is integrated into the business curriculum across disciplines.”
Economics professor Bill Taylor taught the five students this semester in either his strategic management course or his principals of microeconomics course.
“I encouraged my students to participate in the ethics competition, and these five volunteered,” Taylor said. “I knew that they all had high ethical standards based on class discussion. I’m absolutely confident that they will carry these standards and values with them throughout their professional careers. I’m personally very proud of every one of them.”
Bill Daniels is a pioneer in the cable television industry and internationally known for his humanitarian work. Established in 2010, the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative works to actively engage business students to build an ethical framework that will be central to their decision making in the business world.
In Northern New Mexico, UNM administers the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative, which includes universities in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
“This ethics initiative gives us more tools such as current videos and case studies that we can use in the classroom to teach ethics,” Young said. “The initiative also provides other free resources like faculty development ethics workshops. We’re happy to be in partnership with UNM.”