Ethics • Dean
of the College of Business Administration
Luís Ma. R. Calingo addresses
the audience at the opening of the
Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership
Wednesday night while Provost and Vice
President of Academic Affairs Gary
Reichard, President Robert C. Maxson,
donors Mick and Louise Ukleja, and
Associate Director of the Ukleja Center
Kathleen Lacey look on. Jamie Rowe
/ Online Forty-Niner
Ethical center opens to teach character
By
Daniel Linck Savino
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
The newest addition to the campus, the Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership,
celebrated its grand opening Wednesday night. Supported by three separate grants
totaling $4.5 million, the Ukleja Center will promote the development of ethics
in the classroom and the community.
Kathleen Lacey, professor of legal studies and the associate director of the
Ukleja Center, described the all-inclusive nature of the center.
“
We want to see ethics integrated into all courses and across all disciplines,” she
said.
Though the Ukleja Center is based in the College of Business, its target audience
includes all colleges and departments on campus, she said.
Mick Ukleja said the center will emphasize the critical importance of ethics.
“
We need to be teaching not just competencies, but character,” he said. “It’s
so important. You can’t do anything without ethics. You can’t separate
ethics from leadership.”
The concept began in 2002 as the brainchild of Luís Calingo, dean of
the College of Business Administration.
“It all started when I wrote an editorial for the Long Beach Press-Telegram
at the height of all the ethical crises in corporate America,” he said.
Calingo saw a need for an institutional response to the problems by way of
ethics. After extensive discussions with faculty at Cal State Long Beach and
other universities, as well as CSULB alumni and members of the business community,
he developed a concept paper detailing his proposal. The final version went
through the Academic Senate, campus deans, the CSULB Board of Trustees and
President Robert C. Maxson.
As the idea was developed and approved, money became the word of the day.
“
We needed two and a half million [dollars] to endow the center,” Calingo
said. “We have two and a half million from two families, [one of which
is the Ukleja family], and another two million from an alumnus in Kentucky.”
Calingo and the Uklejas were nonspecific about their contributions toward the
$2.5 million. According to Calingo, though, it is the largest grant in the
history of CSULB.
The endowment will be used for a number of purposes.
“
We forsee giving about five to 10 grants a year to faculty to incorporate ethics
into their curriculum,” Calingo said.
The grants, part of a program called Ethics Across the Curriculum, will range
from $2,000 to $5,000 and will increase as the endowment grows.
Other programs will support research grants and community outreach. Lacey described
the grants as being designed to support the production of papers and books
about applied ethics.
The community outreach element will ultimately reach to all California State
University campuses via a student leadership academy. Titled the Edna Davis
Hobbs Student Leadership Academy, it will act as a “boot camp in ethical
leadership,” Calingo said.
Another part of the Ukleja Center is the William Dixon Leader-in-Residence
Program. An invitational program, it will bring CEOs from various corporations
to CSULB as guest lecturers.
The Ukleja family has a long history with CSULB. Mick Ukleja is a 1971 CSULB
graduate with a degree in philosophy. His daughter, Michelle, is a current
student. The family has made significant contributions to the university, supporting
athletics, Disabled Student Services and the President’s Scholars Program.
The Ukleja Room in The Walter Pyramid houses the 49er Athletic Hall of Fame.
Maxson applauded the Ukleja Center’s goals.
“
This is a great milestone in the life of the university,” he said. “This
center is going to be of benefit to the entire campus community, as well as
the city. The whole notion is that it’s a moral approach to leadership.”
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