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A Message from the Director
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 Warm spring greetings to our extended CESR family!
Like the unseasonable weather in most of the country, things have heated up in Boulder and CESR! In just the past three weeks, we hosted our third, and most well-attended Conscious Capitalism Conference with a cast of inspirational speakers and a group of talented students from around the State. Less than two weeks later, Andrew Fastow, the former CFO of Enron, who was recently released from prison, joined us for the entire day and shared what he has learned with five separate audiences ranging in size from 15-1600 attendees. Fastow reiterated several CESR-type messages, noting that it is the intent and spirit behind the rules, not their mechanical application, that should guide conduct. His visit sparked great debate and discourse, ripe for a thriving university setting such as ours!
From a curriculum perspective, we continue to innovate and work collaboratively with divisions across Leeds. Dr. Cathleen Burns is teaching "Reporting for Non-Financial Performance", a leading edge, cross-listed class with Accounting. The course is drawing great interest from MS in Accounting students and MBAs. Additionally, Professor Kai Larsen has drawn national attention for "Privacy in the Age of Facebook", a course cross-listed with Management that unveils some controversial new findings (see below). Finally, we recently completed an audit of corporate governance issues within the Leeds curriculum. Together with Finance and Accounting, we are determining what a corporate governance course might look like.
As always, too few CESR developments can be reported here! Thanks to all of you for helping to make our Center thrive.
Warm Regards,
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Andrew Fastow, Former Enron CFO,Visits
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On Monday, March 19th, Andrew Fastow, the former Chief Financial Officer at Enron who pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, forfeited nearly $24 million, and spent more than five years in prison for securities fraud, shared his story with over 2000 of our Leeds students and faculty. It was a tremendous and unique learning opportunity that has continued to spark in-depth discussions throughout the school.
Mr. Fastow initiated the visit to Leeds after reading a Business Week article co-written by CESR Director Dr. Donna Sockell and Dean David Ikenberry, which stressed the importance of infusing the business curriculum with discussions on ethics, values and social responsibility.
On April 4th, Dr. Donna Sockell, Dean Ikenberry, Associate Dean Al Smith and the CESR faculty will be leading a forum for students to debrief this highly-charged, provocative event. Students will be encouraged to share their thoughts, reactions, and reflections with their faculty and the greater Leeds community.
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| CESR's 3rd Annual Conscious Capitalism Conference |  In the midst of an icy March snowstorm, over 200 students and faculty from 8 regional universities
(CSU, CU, DU, Metro State, Regis, UCCD, UCCS, and UNC) and many local organizations gathered in CU's Wolf Law building for CESR's third annual Conscious Capitalism Conference, "Harnessing the Engine of Business for Social Impact". Four exemplary business entrepreneurs who make values driven decisions in their everyday worklife challenged attendees to think creatively about social responsibility and the utilization of capitalism to serve social needs. The keynote speaker, Andrew Romanoff, Senior Advisor at International Development Enterprises (IDE) and former Speaker of the House, Colorado House of Representatives, shared how IDE works to equip third world citizens with products uniquely designed to help them support their families and lift their communities from disease, malnutrition, and lack of clean water. read more |
| CESR's SRE Certificate Program |  This Spring, 11 students will graduate from CESR's Socially Responsible Enterprise Certificate (SRE) program. CESR will celebrate and award the certificates to these fabulous students at a gathering here in the Leeds School on May 1st. This is the 2nd SRE graduating class. Last year, 8 students received the SRE certificate. At any given time there are approximately 20 students enrolled in the program, all of them doing amazing work in the fields of social entrepreneurship, sustainabililty and social responsibility. By earning the certificate, students gain a valuable credential to enhance their Bachelor's degree while building their resume to attract socially responsible employers and learning to appreciate the social and environmental impacts of business from a broader perspective. |
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CESR Course Receives Media Attention
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Management and Entrepreneurship Professor Kai Larsen's recently created CESR cross-listed course, "Privacy in the Age of Facebook" addresses the ethical implications of privacy issues and the technology behind these issues. Since launching, Privacy in the Age of Facebook has received extensive media recognition throughout Colorado. Both 9 News and Fox 31 aired features about
Professor Larsen's class regarding the failure of online dating sites to remove metadata, which may put users at privacy risk. According to the class' research, 21 of 90 online dating sites had not removed metadata, including GPS coordinates attached to profile photos based on where the photos were taken, from user's profiles. In addition to 9 News and Fox, the Daily Camera, KRDO Colorado Springs, and the CU Boulder News site ran features on the course. We would like to congratulate Kai Larsen and his class for this exciting recognition! Click here for complete article.
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Connect with CESR on Social Media | | |
Linking with CESR on Facebook and Twitter is a great way to stay connected to what is happening in CESR's world. Announcements, publications, presentations, articles, photos of recent events and highlights of our program are posted regularly. It is a great way to keep in touch as well as to interact as a community. Your thoughts, book recommendations, article sharing and comments are most welcome.
Please join us by clicking on the icons below:
 
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| CESR Alumna Profile |  | |
Evoking CESR and Landing a Job
When Kathleen (Kat) McBride interviewed with PwC's (Pricewaterhouse-Coopers) Boston office last fall, competition was tough. "My fellow interviewees were extremely bright and had graduated from various prestigious universities," Kat said. When asked about the Leeds School, she remarked, "I explained why I was proud to be a Leeds student and that I was especially proud of the CESR program. I shared information about the CESR curriculum with my interviewer who was immediately intrigued and impressed." Read More |
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CESR Donor Profile
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Eric Stout,
Finance 2008"The CESR program has proven to be the most valuable coursework of my college career because of its unique classroom interaction. By challenging my morals and the thought processes behind them, the program created an awareness of the ethical issues that I will be unable to ignore as I strive to become a future business leader. CESR also inspired a healthy passion to challenge the norms of business, which has and will play a major role in my career development and progression. Based on this, I decided to give specifically to the CESR program rather than the general business school."
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Event Calendar
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Monday, April 2
CESR Social Impact Track Business Plan Competition, Wolf Law Building
Wednesday, April 4
6:00 P.M.
Forum to debrief the Fastow event,
Business Library
Thursday, April 5
CESR Internal Advisory Board
Dean's Conference Room
Friday, April 6
C200 Conference
University Memorial Center
April 26
CESR External Advisory Board,
Dean's Conference Room
May 1
SRE Certificate Program Graduation and Celebration
May 4
Donna Sockell presents at the City Club
April 3, 5, and 11
CESR presents at B3 Seminars
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