Every year, the Center engages deeply with a group of SCU seniors who are awarded Hackworth Fellowships to explore ethical issues from a student point of view.
Often, those experiences resonate for Hackworth Fellows as they pursue career paths from academia to business, from medicine to law. Mike Loza ’03 was in the first group of fellows and is now the corporate director of business development at Sanveo, which provides technology solution services to the construction industry.
“One of the greatest tools that I took away from my Hackworth Fellowship was the Center’s ‘Framework for Ethical Decision Making,’” Loza says. The framework offers different ethical lenses for approaching an issue. “This has always been a great guide for me when I come across any ethical dilemma. It even helps me identify if there is an ethics question involved.”
Loza decided that ethics could provide a connection with other SCU alums working in the building trades, so he started the group Bronco Builders. About 10 people came to the first meeting.
There are now 318 members, all of them committed to promoting relationships among alumni and offering mentorship or internship opportunities for current Santa Clara students. The group is also devoted to promoting sound, ethical business practices and to encouraging sustainability in their industry.
Bronco Builders, Loza says, “brings me back to my undergrad days, that desire to be connected. A lot of these guys are friends; I do business with them. If it weren’t for my Hackworth Fellowship, I might never have founded it.”
2016-2017 Hackworth Fellows N'Dea Moore-Petinak, Zipporah Ridley, Maggie Simons, and Miranda Bartosz.
More Stories on Ethics for the Next Generation
Teachers at San Jose’s Liberty High School are using the Ethics Center’s Character Based Literacy curriculum to reach at-risk students.
Alumni of the Center’s fellowships, internships, and student worker programs reflect on the impact of their experiences on their future careers.
“One of the goals of education is to get students to think for themselves, and this is what we’re accomplishing with the Center’s Character Based Literacy curriculum.”
—Barbara Lowe, alternative education teacher in Orange County, California
Center Programs for the Next Generation
Curricula for middle and high school classrooms developed by our Character Education Program integrate ethics into the language arts, science, and history.
Fellowships allow undergraduates to explore ethical issues on campus and in specific fields such as the environment, government, leadership, and technology.
Health Care Ethics Internships bring students into hospital and hospice settings to discover how medical professionals deal with ethical issues.
Business Ethics Internships place students in the ethics and compliance function of major Silicon Valley corporations.
Faith formation lesson plans for Catholic schools and parishes combine Gospel readings with classic children’s literature.
Ethics Camps for educators train teachers and administrators in character education.
