Colorado State University students will have the opportunity to win free in-state tuition for 2019 through a new ethics challenge competition funded by OtterBox.
The College of Business-OtterBox Ethics Challenge inspires students to use ethics in their everyday business approaches and enables students to practice and cultivate the skills necessary to lead with integrity and be ethical individuals and leaders.
The OtterBox Ethics Challenge will be open to all full-time undergraduate CSU students who have passed or are enrolled in, “Ethics in Contemporary Organizations” (BUS220) and have at least one year remaining at CSU following the conclusion of the Fall 2018 semester.
‘Integrity and ethics are fundamental’
“Integrity and ethics are fundamental to the way Otter Products operates its business,” said Jim Parke, CEO of Otter Products. “We are pleased to partner with CSU’s College of Business to focus on this important issue. This ethics challenge will provide a creative and educational way for CSU students to learn and showcase the skills that will help them confront the inevitable challenges they will face throughout their careers.”
OtterBox has donated $100,000 to fund the initiative, including tuition and scholarships. The four members of the first-place team will each receive a full-tuition (in-state) scholarship at CSU for the 2019 spring and fall semesters. The winning students will be recognized as “OtterBox Ethics Scholars.”
“The College of Business’ commitment to the integration of our ethical values into the lives of students, faculty, staff and corporate partners is a responsibility that we take seriously,” said CSU Dean of the College of Business Beth Walker. “OtterBox shares our commitment, and celebrates ethics as a core personal and professional value.”
Scholarship prizes for first, second, third-place teams
Adopting a tournament-style format, in round one, participating students assemble into teams of four to prepare a written analysis of a business case that centers on a challenging ethical dilemma. Students have two weeks to prepare the case. Judges will then evaluate each case submission, and based on the scores, select ten teams to move on to the second round.
OtterBox employees will be assigned as mentors to each of the remaining ten teams. In round two, each team will prepare a new case to present to competition judges. In round three, a twist will be introduced into the case information provided in round two, and students will need to quickly prepare their response to a crisis situation. The winning teams will be announced at a celebration dinner.
In addition to the first-place scholarship of full in-state tuition, the second place team will win a $1,000 scholarship for each team member for educational expenses and the third place team will win $500 for each team member for educational expenses.
More information
The deadline to sign up for the OtterBox Ethics Challenge is Oct. 12 by 10 a.m. For complete competition and scholarship details, visit https://biz.colostate.edu/events/2018/october/otterbox-ethics-challenge.
