Ethics and Leadership Initiative
Undergraduate Certificate
The ethics and leadership undergraduate certificate aims to rise to the challenges set out by this Initiative:
- In your role as a student, a friend, a community member and a future employee, you do and will continue to face situations in which it is not clear which action is best or right. Ethics provides the tools necessary to weigh values and discern what you ought to do.
- However, even when the right action becomes clear, it is rarely an easy task to perform that action. This is where Leadership comes in. Leaders are people who do not follow, but rather act from their own set of values.
The goal of the certificate is to provide a foundation and a framework that both directly helps cultivate Ethics and Leadership, as well as indirectly aids students in learning these lessons in their other courses and lives more broadly.
See below for specific requirements. For more information, please email ELI@udayton.edu
Certificate Components

Traditional courses and mini-courses allowing intimate and focused peer discussion.

Individual mentorship and a capstone project.

Co-curricular and experiential learning to put the lessons of the classroom into practice.
Certificate Details
One Credit: Foundations of Ethics and Leadership
Capstone: Culminating Experience
Choose one of the following:
ANT325: Anthropology of Human Rights
HRS200: Introduction to Human Rights
PHL304: Philosophy of Human Nature
PHL310: Social Philosophy
PHL371: Philosophy and Human Rights
PHL375: Ethical Theory
POL318: Public Integrity and Political Leadership
REL250: Special Topics*
REL261: Faith Traditions: Human Rights
REL363: Faith & Justice
*When topic is "Faith Traditions: Moral Reasoning" or otherwise approved
**Additional courses may be approved by the director on a case-by-case basis.
Choose two of the following:
ANT340: Place, Culture and Social Justice
MUS302: Ethics and American Popular Music
PHL312: Ethics
PHL313: Business Ethics
PHL314: Philosophy of Law
PHL315: Medical Ethics
PHL316: Engineering Ethics
PHL317: Ethics of War
PHL318: Family Ethics
PHL319: Information Ethics
PHL321: Environmental Ethics
PHL331: Science, Values, and Society
POL300: Political Issues
POL308: Morality Policy
POL331: Nationalism & Ethnopolitics
POL333: Politics of Human Rights
POL340: Gender, Women’s Rights and Global Politics
POL341: Power, Gender & Performance
POL426: Leadership in Building Communities
REL367: Christian Ethics & Health Care Issues
REL368: Christian Ethics & the Business World
REL369: Christian Ethics & Engineering
SOC204: Modern Social Problems
SOC339: Social Inequality
SOC342: Social Movements
SOC371: Sociology of Human Rights
SOC/SWK380: Health and Inequality
SOC384: Food Justice
SWK201: Social Work Practice & Profession
SWK401: Community Field Experience
Students are required to engage in at least three co-curricular activities for a total of at least 15 hours. Activities must be approved by the program coordinator. Current offerings include, but may not be limited to:
Ethics and Leadership Initiative Offerings
- Ethics and Leadership Internship
- Speaker and Film Series
- Workshops, such as Giving Games
- Essay and Art Contests
- Ethics and Leadership Competitions
Fitz Center for Leadership in Community Offerings
- River Stewards
- Dayton Civic Scholars
Brook Center Offerings
- Ally Training
- Green Dot Training
Student Leadership Programs Offerings
- Leadership Development Workshops
- Fall Leadership Conference
- Women’s Leadership Immersion
- Collegiate Leadership Competition
Center for Social Concern Offerings
- REAL Dayton
- Breakouts
- Plunges
- Cross-Cultural Immersions
- Table of Plenty (dialogues on social justice issues)
- Catholic Social Ministry Gathering
- UD Summer Appalachia Program
For more information, please email ELI@udayton.edu