The exploration of ethics may once have been seen as a purely philosophical exercise. But today, upholding ethical guidelines has become a mainstream concern.

People demand investigations of government misconduct and protest the moral failures of corporations. The media plays to the public interest in wrongdoing, reporting misdeeds wherever it finds them. People have grown increasingly cynical about how some entities operate, and some consumers shun businesses that they believe put profits above ethical concerns.

It's no wonder that businesspeople, government officials, medical researchers and others in the public eye feel the need to hold the moral high ground.

"The ethics field has exploded since the corporate scandals of the early 2000s," said Dr. John Knapp, founding director of the Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility at Georgia State University. "Leaders of organizations recognize that the public expects accountability, transparency and honorable operations. This is driving them to attend to the ethical dimension of their organizations."

Local Campus Ethics Centers
Higher education in metro Atlanta has stepped forward to answer this call for clarity on ethical behavior with an impressive range of activity. Anyone seeking a deeper look into ethics can find rich resources at Atlanta-area colleges and universities. Some examples follow.

Center for Ethics and Technology, Georgia Tech
Engineers are creating robots tiny enough to fit inside the human body. How can they ensure their technology is used for good - like healing diseases - and not for evil, such as surveillance or warfare? That's the sort of question to be examined at the Center for Ethics and Technology, which Georgia Tech established in 2007. Affiliated with Tech's School of Public Policy, the center addresses ethical concerns raised by new technology, especially nanotechnology and advanced computing. The center also will continue the long-established dialogue on ethical practices in scientific research.

Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility, Georgia State
Thousands of business people each year attend forums, seminars and roundtables at the Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility at Georgia State University. The center focuses on business ethics, and its most popular programs bring together people from big corporations, small companies and nonprofit organizations to discuss their concerns and experiences with one another - as well as with university students and faculty. This constant contact with the business community drives the center's agenda by keepign it abreast of new ethics issues facing the professional. A group of business leaders created the center as an independent entity in 1993, and it became part of Georgia State last year. Georgia State also has a second ethics center, the Blumenfeld Center for Ethics, in the university's philosophy department.

Siegel Institute for Leadership, Ethics and Character, Kennesaw State
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue sends board appointees for training at the Siegel Institute for Leadership, Ethics and Character at Kennesaw State University. Founded in 2002 and named for past KSU president Dr. Betty Siegel, the center is focused on developing young leaders with strong character, in both the public and private sectors. "Many people have compliance officers in the businesses that we serve, but ethics must go beyond compliance," said Dr. Siegel. "Most of the organizations I know are led by people of integrity, and they want to build organizations of integrity. And they're thinking of the university as a partner for that."

Center for Ethics, Emory University
Since Emory University has a reputation for excellence in medicine, it's only fitting that the new director of its Center for Ethics will be Dr. Paul Root Wolpe, a renowned ethicist with an extensive background in medical ethics. Dr. Wolpe has served as president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and as co-editor of the American Journal of Bioethics. He will join the center in August.

In addition, several Atlanta-area institutions have brought ethicists to their campuses as presidents who are now steering their colleges to think consciously about ethics.

Dr. Robert M. Franklin, who became president of Morehouse College in 2007, has urged university presidents to step forward as "chief ethical officers" of their institutions. He also has spoken out about his intentions to build the character of Morehouse students and has demanded that Morehouse do more to fulfill what he sees as a moral obligation to help the less fortunate in the neighborhoods around the college. Dr. Franklin holds master's and doctoral degrees in ethics, and prior to joining Morehouse, he served as Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics at Emory University.

Like Dr. Franklin at Morehouse, Dr. Elizabeth Kiss came to the presidency of Agnes Scott College having served in a position of ethical leadership at a major university: She directed the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke. Now, Dr. Kiss has challenged Agnes Scott to make ethical considerations part of every decision at every level.

"Part of our mission statement is to live honorably," Dr. Kiss says, "so we addressed that in our new strategic plan. Our commitment to ethics is now more central to how we shape the future of the college." She points to a range of examples, from creating a living wage policy for the lowest-paid staff to examining how changes in retiree benefits should be ethically communicated.

Ethics work at Atlanta's colleges and universities is more effective because leaders in the field are constantly collaborating. For example, the ethics centers at Georgia State and Kennesaw State recently worked together to sponsor a conference in South Africa at which Desmond Tutu was a keynote speaker. Often, the centers come together for roundtables or speaking engagements. Ethicists from one university sometimes even serve on the boards of directors of other universities' centers.

"Ethics is a collaborative field in general," said Dr. Knapp. "We know that by working together, we are contributing to the greater good."

Learn more by visiting:
Blumenfeld Center for Ethics at Georgia State University
Center for Ethics at Emory University
Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility at Georgia State University
Center for Ethics and Technology at the Georgia Institute of Technology
Siegel Institute for Leadership, Ethics and Character at Kennesaw State University