FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2008
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124
aperkins@muw.edu

Ethics certificate program part of Life Long Learner Application at
MUW

COLUMBUS, Miss. - Mississippi University for Women will offer a certificate in applied and professional ethics this fall.

The program will allow students, area professionals and interested persons from various disciplines and backgrounds in MUW’s service area to develop expertise in ethics that is directly relevant to the advancement of their educational goals.

It will be a valuable credential to those who need ethics training in preparation for graduate and professional school, licensure, service on
institutional ethics committees and compliance boards or who currently
hold leadership positions in various professional and business areas.

The program is ideal for nurses, social workers, physicians, business
leaders and other professions.

“At the end of the day, the program helps you to be a better thinker,” according to Dr. Bryan Hilliard, associate professor of philosophy at Mississippi University for Women, who said they think it’s the only certificate program of its kind in the state.

Curriculum for the program will consist of 12 semester hours (four courses). Ethics and contemporary ethical problems would be required. Students may choose two additional courses from the remaining five areas: sport ethics, nursing ethics, business ethics, medical ethics and political and social philosophy.

Dr. Rita C. Hinton, MUW chair of the Department of Languages, Literature and Philosophy and professor of philosophy for 15 years, said ethical problems occur on a daily basis.

“If you just look at the headlines in a daily newspaper, you will notice this. The problems are in every profession and in every aspect of our lives. Some of these problems are because our technology has moved so fast that our value system has not seemed to stay caught up. People simply do not know what the right thing to do is. This seems to be the case with many issues in medicine. Other times, people get so involved in what they are doing and other goals that they might have, that they do not consider that what they are doing might not be right or might contradict what they say they consider to be right. 

“People do odd things when they get so wrapped up in a particular goal (like winning or making a profit). One example of this in sport is when some parents of pee wee football players poisoned the drinking water of the opposing team so that the team their kids were on would win. Surely, even they would not consider this to be right.”

Hinton said studying ethical issues does not necessarily solve them, but it at least gives society a way to look at things from various perspectives.

“If we can get individuals to think through issues rather than just acting, they will more likely act in a way that they and we would approve of,” she said. “Some people are cynical and think that you cannot be ethical in business or in sport or in medicine or in many other areas. The study of ethics assumes that you can be ethical. The more practice we put into making good decisions, the better we get at making the hard decisions.”

Dr. Sandra Jordan, MUW provost and vice president for academic affairs,
said, “I think we are filling a real need in the region, noting a fair amount of interest in the program.

A new admission process for the certificate has been put in place, according to Jordan, who said certificate programs have been popular in
the United States as a way of advancement for professionals.”

“It is streamlined, easy to complete, available online and does not require transcripts. It is called the Life Long Learner Application. It is up and running.” A person should be able to complete the program in one or two years.

Roger A. Burlingame, vice president-general manager of the southern
region of Ceco Building Systems, said lifelong learning is essential to
understand the world and succeed.

"Mahatma Ghandi said, 'Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if
you were to live forever.’ The world is a rapidly changing place and it has little patience for those who do not adapt accordingly. He added, "Unfortunately, I did not learn everything I needed to know in kindergarten. Some of the most useful knowledge I have obtained has come from what I have learned most recently."

For more information, visit the following site
http://www.muw.edu/academic-programs/executive-certificate/ or call
the MUW Office of Admissions at (662) 329-7106.