Ann Tensbrunsel, professor of management at the University of Notre Dame, has been named a finalist in the 2009 Faculty Pioneer Awards by the Center for Business Education (CBE) at the Aspen Institute.
This annual recognition program, dubbed the “Oscars of the business school world” by The Financial Times, celebrates business school instructors who have demonstrated leadership and risk-taking in integrating ethical, environmental and social issues into the MBA curriculum.
Tenbrunsel, the Arthur F. and Mary J. O’Neil Co-director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethical Business Worldwide, conducts research on decision making and negotiations, with a particular emphasis on ethics. In recent papers, she has investigated the psychological processes of ethical fading, the cause and consequence of behavioral forecasting errors, the impact of ethical infrastructures in organizations, and the forces behind unintended defection in social dilemmas. Tenbrunsel also was recognized as a finalist in the Aspen Institute’s Faculty Pioneer Awards in 2008.
“Professor Ann Tenbrunsel’s research has probed the conditions that compromise an individual’s ethical judgment and helps us better understand the phenomenon of ethical fading,” said Carolyn Y. Woo, Martin J. Gillen Dean of the Mendoza College of Business. “By so doing, her insights have challenged us to not just want to do the right thing, but actually to do it; and also to be mindful when self-rationalizing blunts our moral senses.”
“Now more than ever before we are witnessing the substantial influence of business on society,” said Rich Leimsider, director of Aspen CBE. “It’s the trailblazing research and teaching of this year’s Faculty Pioneers and finalists that will prepare future business leaders to make the most of this influence, by leveraging successful businesses to create positive social impacts.”
This year’s winners and finalists were selected (four in each category) from more than 125 nominations submitted by respected academics and business executives; self-nominations are not considered. Finalists are selected by Aspen Institute staff in consultation with prominent academics; winners are selected by a panel of corporate judges.
The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education equips business leaders for the 21st century with a new management paradigm — the vision and knowledge to integrate corporate profitability and social value. As part the Aspen Institute, the center aims to foster values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect on the ideals and ideas that define a good society, and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues.
More information about Tenbrunsel and the Mendoza College of Business is available on the Web at http://business.nd.edu.
Contacts: Carol Elliott, Mendoza College of Business, 574-631-2627, Elliott.37@nd.edu or Linda Lehrer, Aspen Institute, 212-895-2002, Linda.Lehrer@aspeninstitute.org.