Robert J. Rutland Institute for Ethics

Rutland Institute Logo 2024

Guiding Tigers to Ethical Success

Hello Clemson Tigers and Friends of the Rutland Institute for Ethics.

Welcome and thank you for your interest in the Institute, ethical leadership, and ethical decision-making. Our purpose is to encourage discussion on campus, in businesses, and in the community about how ethical decision-making can be the basis of both personal and professional success. We accomplish this purpose through our efforts around five goals:

  1. Encourage integration of ethics education and ethical leadership within all Clemson University colleges, and provide support for those colleges as necessary to advance ethics in their disciplines.
  2. Develop and provide programmatic opportunities in the area of ethics education for university members.
  3. Develop and display examples of ethical leadership through the involvement of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and corporate leaders in on-campus and community programs.
  4. Adopt and disseminate at least one decision-making tool for students to utilize in the face of an ethical dilemma.
  5. Enhance university goals through the use of ethics education in the curriculum.

I am pleased to be joining the Institute, as of Spring 2024, as one of the Rutland Institute for Ethics Faculty Fellows. It is my great honor to contribute to the Institute’s efforts to fulfil its purpose, and I look forward to engaging with fellow you and our fellow Tigers in the many initiatives organized and supported by the Institute.

Specifically, I invite you to participate in this spring’s TIDE Conference, April 8-11, 2024, during which we’ll hear from national leaders in Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). Speakers will challenge us by inviting us to consider A.I. and its intersections with ethics and education.

Ethics—including ethical judgment, ethical leadership, and ethical decision-making—are integral to our success as Tigers. Moreover, ethics are essential to the fulfillment of our collective priorities, as expressed by Clemson Elevate and our three strategic pillars. Thank you for joining us in our commitment to the cause.

Luke Rapa

Faculty Fellow, Rutland Institute for Ethics