Graduating with Honor: Best Practices to Promote Ethics Development in College Students

A comprehensive summary of best practices in ethics development on campus, providing a variety of practical ways to promote formation of ethics and character among college students and young adults.

We are all called upon to make ethical decisions every day―ones regarding being honest with others, not cheating in order to save effort or get ahead, or avoiding involvement in situations that will result in injury to ourselves or others―in short, choosing whether or not to do the "right thing" in all types of situations. On every relational level and throughout an unlimited range of everyday choices and actions, ethical issues come into play. This is especially true for students and young adults.

Graduating with Honor: Best Practices to Promote Ethics Development in College Students offers best practices for ethical formation on campus, covering subjects such as how to create an organizational culture of ethics; ethical decision-making situations and circumstances on- and off-campus, curricular and extracurricular; specific developmental goals and challenges in the college setting; ethical principles for decision making; and how faith communities can serve the promotion of student ethics. The book also provides multiple resources and examples of successful efforts to mediate unethical behavior by colleges, supplies a theoretical foundation for ethical formation in college, and outlines what colleges, parents, and students themselves can do to nurture ethical development during the college years.

Thomas G. Plante, PhD, ABPP, is Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J. University Professor and director of the Spirituality and Health Institute at Santa Clara University.

Lori G. Plante, PhD, is a licensed psychologist maintaining a clinical psychology practice in Menlo Park, CA, for more than 25 years.