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Students interested in the minor in Ethics, Society, and the Institution of Business must apply for admission to the program through the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, following the procedures and dates outlined there.  are usually due the first Friday in October and the second Friday in February.  

In order to be eligible to apply, you must:

1. complete either the Accounting or the Economics requirement
2. complete either Capitalism in Context or the Business Fundamentals Lab
3. make an appointment with an ESIB advisor

Ideally, students will begin their studies with four foundational courses and a half-credit overload. Students can fulfill the first three requirements and the half-credit overload with successful completion of:

• CISS 113 – Business Fundamentals Lab (half-credit overload)
• ACCT 181 – Financial Accounting
• ECON 110 – Principles of Economics
• CISS 230 – Capitalism in Context

Prospective ESIB students will also take one class addressing ethical or political theory. Students can fulfill this requirement with successful completion of one of the courses listed below.

• PHIL 204 – Ethics
• PHIL 207 – Foundations of Ethics
• PHIL 265 – Political Philosophy
• PHIL 249 – Environmental Ethics
• PHIL 250 – Medical Ethics
• PHIL 247 – Environmental Political Philosophy
• POLS 101 – Introduction to Political Philosophy
• RELS 143 – Social Ethics
• RELS 141 – Contemporary Christian Morality

As part of designing your own curriculum you will choose a particular ethical or social issue to which the institution of business contributes, for better or worse. Subject to certain constraints, students may choose almost any two courses offered at the College that will support their exploration of this issue as their electives.  

The electives must meet several criteria. Absent advisor approval of an exception:

• Electives must be 200-level or above.
• One must be outside of the social sciences and one must have an ethics or social justice emphasis; these two conditions may be fulfilled by the same course.

NOTE: Students may not count more than a total of two courses from their major toward the six courses required for the minor; thus, economics and accounting majors may not use economics or accounting courses as electives at all. Students are responsible for identifying and fulfilling any prerequisites required by their chosen electives.

ESIB students will also need to secure a qualifying work experience and complete three memos requiring minimal research and a series of conversations with their co-workers. A qualifying work experience... 

• Involves working at least 150 hours over 8-13 weeks.
• Provides some kind of formal orientation/on-boarding and a supervisor.
• Requires ESIB advisor approval prior to start.

The work experience may be completed during the school year or over the summer, but all three memos must be completed during the work experience. We strongly recommend that students secure acceptance to ESIB before completing the work experience requirement, but students may choose to complete the work experience prior to acceptance. We cannot guarantee that students who complete an ESIB work experience ahead of acceptance to the program will ultimately be admitted.

ESIB students conclude their course of study with the Capstone Seminar.  In the Capstone, students will draw on all of the preceding work to propose that a specific entity (a person, organization, or political entity) take a specific ethical action with respect to the student’s chosen issue. In addition to working on these individual projects, students will

• Read and discuss recent scholarship on the ethical and political obligations of business.
• Build a set of personal practices around ethical action in the workplace.
• Develop public speaking and presentation skills.

The Capstone concludes with the students preparing and delivering “pitches”: 20-minute presentations of an ethical, financial, and legal argument in favor of a specific action by which their chosen target can address their chosen issue.  

We strongly encourage our ESIB students to consider taking their cases to compete at the .