What We Do

The IEL is dedicated to cutting-edge research on ethics in leadership and business. We research the ethical issues that matter to business and society and seek innovative ways to address them. Moreover, we apply our research to design and implement educational programs for business, government, and non-profits. The IEL also collaborates with partners from Rutgers and other universities and organizations.

• Publications: We do research in business ethics and leadership ethics. Here is a list of recent publications.
• Postdoctoral Associate: Through the generosity of Mark and Rosemary Carawan, we offer the  Mark and Rosemary Carawan Fellowship in Business Ethics.
• Doctoral Research: We provide financial support to doctoral students for summer research.
• Visiting Researchers: We host Fulbright Visiting Scholars and other self-paying domestic and international scholars, among them scholars from Australia, Turkey, and China.
• Fellows’ Events: We hold regular Fellows' Lunches, where faculty share their research, discuss best teaching practices, and host visitors from businesses and other organizations.

The Rutgers Foundation worked with the IEL to organize a fireside chat with Tobey Scharding and Joanne Ciulla.  The topic was AI and Finance: Ethical Considerations for the Modern World. The event was held at Microsoft’s offices in New York.  Simon Lliepold from Microsoft hosted the event. The participants were Rutgers alumni and friends of Rutgers. The audience was knowledgeable and engaged in a lively discussion of the benefits and challenges of AI in financial services.

The IEL was pleased to have Jamie Dow visit to discuss his research and the work of his ethics center. Dr. Dow specializes in Ancient Philosophy and the ethics of leadership in persuasion. He delivered a talk in the Management and Global Business seminar titled “A Systematic Ethics of Leadership.” He discussed the possibility of a systematic account of the ethics of leading based on the epistemic merits of how they get followers to change their beliefs and actions. 

• Custom Programs: We design and implement custom courses on ethics and leadership for business, government, and non-profit organizations. IEL Fellows also participate in corporate programs. Some organizations we’ve worked with are PNB Paribas, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Prudential, and Sompo International.
• Rutgers Programs: We collaborate on programs at RBS, such as the CSR certificate program with Rutgers Executive Education and the Rutgers Institute on Social Innovation. The IEL teamed up with the Law School to create the Mini-MBA certificate program on Ethics and Compliance.
• Speakers: We sponsor speakers for events open to the university and community, such as Newark’s mayor, Ras Baraka, Wall Street Journalist Diana Henriques, and futurist and former presidential science advisor Dave Rejeski.

• In June 2024, the IEL partnered on a symposium with the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation at the  Säid School of Business. Twenty academics from Europe and the US convened to discuss how philosophy can inform discussions of trust and reputation in business. IEL Fellows Joanne Ciulla and Tobey Scharding presented, and Danielle Warren and Rob Hughes served as commentators. 
• Bi-Annual Conferences: Since most business schools only have a few tenure-track business ethics professors, we created a space for faculty to meet and talk shop. The IEL co-founded the Northeastern Alliance for Business Ethics (NABE) with Columbia’s Sandor C. Bernstein Center for Leadership and Ethics. The alliance brings together business ethics scholars and practitioners from the region to network and discuss their research and teaching. Attendees have come from schools such as NYU, Columbia, Baruch, Princeton, Fordham, Wharton, Harvard, and other regional schools.
• Academic Conferences: The IEL hosts national and international conferences like the Trans-Atlantic Business Ethics Conference (TABEC), which meets every two years in North America or Europe. When the IEL hosted this conference, participants from fourteen countries gave papers on the theme of leadership in troubling times.
• Virtual Conferences: The IEL works with other institutions on joint virtual conferences. For example, the IEL co-sponsored with St. Thomas University, NYU, the Darden School, Western Michigan, and The Wharton School for a conference on “Public Policy & People: What have we learned about business & ethics from the pandemic?” We also co-sponsored a seminar on how businesses should respond to war with Oxford’s Saïd School, the University of Bath, and ESADE.