Alumni

“My primary takeaway—from the University and the Ethics Center—was the idea of cultivating ethical discourse in everyday life, not as a separate discussion, but as something that informs all of our decisions.” 

That’s how Laurie Altschul ’04 thinks about her experience at SCU.  As a Hackworth Fellow at the Ethics Center, Altschul organized a program for her peers on ethics in film.  “Part of my role as a Hackworth was bringing ethics to everyday conversations,” she says.

Altschul is still performing that role.  An attorney by training who now performs regulatory work with a major health maintenance organization, she is part of a team that interfaces with the plan’s regulator on issues relating to plan benefits and health care reform.   

While the job involves “interpreting and navigating new and evolving regulations,” Altschul says that her focus goes beyond legal compliance to ethics.  “One thing that’s important for our organization—we always ask, ‘What ought we to be doing?  What’s the best thing for members?’ in addition to just what do we have to do to comply with regulations.”  

Altschul can trace that attitude back to SCU. “I definitely did appreciate the culture at Santa Clara including the focus on doing the right thing.”