By Pulse Staff

The University of Findlay Watterson Center for Ethical Leadership has become a reality.

After two and half years of behind the scenes work, Dr. Sarah Fedirka, associate professor and chair of the English, Religious Studies, and Philosophy department, moves the project from planning to practice with its first venture, the Watterson Scholars Program.

Fedirka was named UF senior lead for mission and identity and director of the WCEL over the summer though she has spent the last two years leading the working group for the project.

“I’m so excited,” Fedirka said in an email interview. “Planning is good, but as Billy Watterson says, the measure of ethical leadership is action.”

In a column written for the Pulse by Fedirka last March she stated that in March 2022, Billy J. (‘96) and Brenda Watterson donated $6 million to University of Findlay for the creation of the Watterson Center for Ethical Leadership (WCEL). “A year later, the WCEL council was formed. Comprised of employees from the University’s six colleges as well as essential student service areas, the council is responsible for the ongoing, grounds-up development of the WCEL’s programs and pedagogy. Through its mission to inspire ethical leaders who will impact their world, the WCEL promises to make ethical leadership formation the hallmark of a University of Findlay education. It will provide opportunities for students and employees to practice and reflect on courage, compassion, integrity, and humility.”

Fedirka says they developed the cornerstones of humility, integrity, courage, and compassion through a two-fold process starting with a survey of employees in the Fall of 2023, to learn how ethical leadership is defined and practiced on campus.

“Our definition of courage as taking ethical action even when it’s difficult, unpopular, or undesirable comes from the survey results,” Fedirka said. “Trust, honesty, and integrity were frequently cited as characteristics of ethical leaders, which is how we arrived at integrity.”

Fedirka says in May 2024, UF College of Business Advisory Board member Paul Worstell, and Maggie Morehart, the assistant director of the Center for Career and Professional Development at UF, led the group through a series of exercises to help them identify the mission, vision, and values of the Center.

“By the end of that workshop, we had agreed that our mission is to inspire ethical leaders who will impact their world, which is true to Billy and Brenda Watterson’s original claim that University of Findlay graduates can change the world,” Fedirka said.

In June, Fedirka’s group found out it was awarded a three-year NetVUE grant.  According to its website, “NetVUE offers a variety of grants to member institutions, supporting programming for students and professional development for faculty members and staff. Grants support projects ranging from one to four years in length, providing funding from $20,000 to over $150,000.”

“We received $75,000 in the first year. We now have to raise up to $75,000 to ‘unlock’ an additional $75,000 from NetVUE,” Fedirka said. “The matching grant and second round of funding from NetVUE will all go toward funding the Watterson Scholars program. The funds underwrite program costs, research and travel expenses, and costs for students to participate in the Hancock Collegiate Leadership program.”

Students who become members of the Watterson Scholar program aren’t necessarily those found in a traditional honors program. This will be designed to appeal to a wide range of students.

“We plan to offer scholarships to students participating in the program. These scholarships would be underwritten by the Watterson gift,” Fedirka said. “The program would also provide students an extra accreditation of sorts, which would consist of a variety of durable skills, among them training in coalition science and community impact work, research and data analysis.”

Fedirka says the Scholars program will be a transdisciplinary approach to general education and integrated into the Findlay-Hancock community. The students will follow a four-year program that incorporates experiential learning and emphasizes one of the virtues each year, starting with courage for the first year, humility in year two, integrity in year three, and compassion in year four.

“We look to recruit a cohort of 20-25 students in this first year. I anticipate subsequent cohorts of approximately the same size, so that by the end of four years, we’d have approximately 100 students in the program,” Fedirka said. “As we build capacity, we’d seek to grow the program’s reach.”

This is just the first step for the WCEL. Fedirka says plans for the first year include hosting events to increase awareness of the Center and of ethical leadership.

“These will include campus dialogues on ethical leadership and the Center’s cornerstone values,” Fedirka said. “We want to encourage conversation around the question, what does ethical leadership mean in our specific contexts?”

Fedirka says they plan to bring a speaker to campus to continue to raise awareness, and the Center will also sponsor the Ohio Regional High School Ethics Bowl, now in its 11^th year, and University of Findlay’s collegiate ethics bowl team.