MSU Ethics Week: A Campus-Wide Discussion on Leadership, AI, and Global Business

In February, Michigan State University hosted its inaugural Ethics Week, designed to engage students, staff, and faculty in meaningful discussions about ethics and leadership. The week featured a variety of events, including panel discussions, workshops, and interactive sessions across campus. The Center for Ethical & Socially Responsible Leadership, based at the Broad College of Business, organized several events to foster dialogue, critical thinking, and collaboration across disciplines.

Beth Hammond, managing director of the center, emphasizes the importance of these events in helping participants recognize the role ethics play in everyday decisions. “Ethics Week provides an opportunity for everyone to pause and reflect on the ethical decisions we make daily. It’s a chance for students, faculty, and staff to engage in conversations about ethics and how it connects to their interests and decisions. We want to help everyone recognize when ethical choices are being made, understand the factors involved, and ensure we’re making decisions we can stand behind—whether big or small. With the world evolving quickly, the expectations of leaders are changing too. As a university, we need to foster ethical leadership, and Ethics Week is a starting point for these important conversations,” she says.

Ethics Week at Broad kicked off with the Ethics of AI and Accounting lecture, sponsored by KPMG. The panel featured Charlie Murray, director of technology risk at KPMG and Anjana Susarla, Omura-Saxena Professor in Responsible AI as guest speakers and was moderated by Teagan Dixon, fixed-term faculty in the department of accounting and information systems.

Hosted by the 2025 Spring Global Engagement Fellow, Diana Mejía, the Exploring Global Ethics Lunch and Learn focused on the approaching business decisions with an international perspective. Mejía, a Spartan MBA alum, is the CEO and founder of Entirety LLC, a leading global market access consultancy organization. After graduating from Broad with her degree, Mejía grew her company from a one-person operation into a global leader with more than 40 team members across 6 countries.

Kara Goucher, two-time Olympian and whistleblower, spoke at the 2025 Warrington Lecture where she shared her experiences in Nike’s Oregon Project, exposing abuse, doping, and discrimination. After witnessing doping and being pressured to take performance-enhancing drugs, Goucher left the program and publicly testified, facing backlash, including lost sponsorships and race bans. Her 2023 memoir, The Longest Race, highlighted these issues, empowering others with her story. Now an advocate for clean sport, Goucher pushes for maternity benefits for female athletes and continues to work toward improving the running world and increasing female leadership.

On Feb. 20, David Tulauskas, chief principal of climate change & sustainability services at Ernst & Young Global, hosted a crucial conversation highlighting the importance and intersection of leadership, ethics and the current trends within the business sector. The Schmidgall Ethics Lecture Series was developed initially by Ray Schmidgall, Hilton Hotels Professor of Hospitality Financial Management Emeritum, to address unique topics in hospitality from both the business and academic perspectives.

To see more photos from Ethics Week, visit the Broad Flickr page.