COLLEGE DIRECTORY       :      VISIT ELLER      :      LOG IN 

Press Release

College Students Tackle Ethics of Hydraulic Fracturing at University of Arizona Competition

Tenth annual Collegiate Ethics Case Competition at the Eller College of Management draws students from 28 universities.

TUCSON, Ariz. – October 26, 2012 – College students from the U.S. and Canada will square off in Tucson today as they seek a solution to an ethics case on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the controversial process of extracting natural gas from shale.

Twenty-eight universities are participating in the tenth annual Collegiate Ethics Case Competition, founded and sponsored by the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management.

“We’ve asked the students to assume the identity of an advisory commission put together by the governor of Maryland,” explained Paul Melendez, EthicsPoint Distinguished Lecturer, who authored the case and founded the Center for Leadership Ethics at the Eller College. “They will be making a case for or against fracking, based on their analyses.” Each participating university sent a team of two students; the teams will present their interpretation of the case, including assessments of its political, financial, social, and environmental ramifications.

The competition is coordinated by the Eller Board of Honor and Integrity (EBHI), a competitive entry student organization with 30 members. “This is my fourth year working on the competition,” said current EBHI president Bradley Moreno (BSBA Management Information Systems, Operations Management, and Entrepreneurship ’13).  “It has been more exciting and competitive every year. The case always centers on real world situations, and it is amazing to get so many solutions and perspectives from students all around the country.”

The Collegiate Ethics Case Competition has grown each year since its inception in 2003, when it began as a competition for University of Arizona students. Now it is an invitational event for top business schools around the country. This year’s competitors include Penn State, Emory University, Arizona State University, University of Southern California, Rutgers, University of Texas at Austin, and Boston College.

The event is sponsored by Walgreens, Bank of America, Ernst & Young, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network (Southern Arizona Financial Group), Hewlett Packard, EthicsPoint Inc., Merchants Information Solutions, Inc., GEICO, and Target Corporation.

Additional details, including past winners, are at ethics.eller.arizona.edu/competition.

The Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona is internationally recognized for pioneering research, innovative curriculum, distinguished faculty, excellence in management information systems, entrepreneurship, and social responsibility. U.S. News & World Report ranks the Eller undergraduate program #14 among public business schools and three of its programs are among the top 20 — Entrepreneurship, MIS, and Management. U.S. News & World Report ranks the Eller MBA Full-Time program #44 in the U.S. and #21 among public business schools. The College leads the nation’s business schools in generating grant funds for research. In addition to a Full-Time MBA program, the Eller College offers an Evening MBA program and the Eller Executive MBA. The Eller College of Management supports approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 700 graduate students on the UA campus in beautiful Tucson, Arizona.

Press Contact:
Liz Warren-Pederson, Eller College of Management
520.626.9547, news@eller.arizona.edu

For additional information, please contact us.