Practical Approaches to Ethics for Colleges and Universities New Directions for Higher Education, Number 142

Ethics can seem like a slippery topic to tackle for any institution. Yet ethics pervade every layer of higher education – from strategic planning to codes of ethics, to curricular integration of ethics, to actual courses and professional standards of practice for faculty, staff and students (to include as future professionals). In this issue, we take on ethics in higher education from a practical perspective. Topics include social responsibility as the foundation for strategic planning, sustainability on campus and related service learning, ethics across the curriculum (general and specific), institutional codes of ethics, professional codes of ethics and implications for student-teacher relationships, design and delivery of a course on ethics, and even institutions ethical obligations to provide a quality education to athletes. Whether you are senior administration, a dean or department chair, an individual faculty member, or student, this issue provides practical advice for addressing ethics.