Undergraduate Ethics Case Competition
The Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Undergraduate Case Competition allows undergraduate students to take on hypothetical, real-world situations regarding private medical information overheard in a workplace. This is a excellent opportunity for students to participate in a thought-provoking business ethics case that they could face in their professional careers. The winning team moves on to the national case competition.
Thank you to all that participated in the 2023-24 Undergraduate Case Competition. View winners.
Get an incredible real-world understanding of ethics, make lifelong friends, and deepen your Eccles Experience! The final winner will participate in the national ethics competition.
Requirements
Teams must consist of four to six undergraduates and include at least two male-identifying and two female-identifying students. If you’re interested in competing but do not have a team, please indicate this on the application form, and we will work to build a team for you.
How does it work?
- Before the competition starts, the team receives the ethical-dilemma case. The team acts as hired consultants for a firm, and members have to incorporate the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Principles of integrity, trust, accountability, transparency, fairness, respect, rule of law, and viability in their analysis.
- Teammates must present their recommendations to a panel of judges. The team is then given a twist to the case, and teammates have four hours to reassess their original recommendations and make a second presentation to the judges.
- Cases are meant to present ethical issues that students may one day encounter in their careers. The competition is designed to provide students with the tools necessary to make ethics-based decisions, challenge students’ ethical reasoning and raise awareness of the importance of principle-based ethics.
Hear from students
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Get an Overview
2023-24 Competition
The Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Collegiate Program at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah held its annual Undergraduate Ethics Case Competition on Friday, Oct. 20, 2023.
Winning Team: Ethics Elevated – Diya Rao, Alicia Du, Nicholas Drossell, Aidan McMillan, Aarushi Verma, Tristin Foster
Second Place: New Heights – Mary Cologna, Logan Bogesvang, Anika Rao, Harleen Saini, Jebediah Dean
Third Place: Ethics in Our Genetics – Michelle Zhuo, Ved Munot, Quaid Rasmussen, Catherina Fisher
2022-23 Competition
The Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Collegiate Program at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah held its annual Undergraduate Ethics Case Competition on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022.
Winning Team: Omega Consulting – William Cahoon, Bethany Anne Christiansen, Rachel Garff, Benjamin Knight, Cole Racine
Second Place: Orderly Conduct – Gisselle Arias, Logan Bogesvang, Mary Kate Cologna, Ryan Deng, Angelena Eubank, Emilie Parra
Third Place: Ethica Consulting – Christina Dong, Ella James, Daniel Thompson, Kyler Zarate
2022 Competition
The Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Collegiate Program at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah held its annual Undergraduate Ethics Case Competition on Friday, Jan. 28.
Winning Team: Birds Aren’t Real Consulting – Elisabeth Laney, Donna Tolman, Gerrit Van Beuge, Jacob Ward
Second Place: Themis Consulting Group – Gisselle Arias, Abhijith Harikumar, Hunter Knab, Ryan McBride, Cathleen Zhang
Third Place: Wasatch Sasquatch Consulting – Eden Campbell, Emily Lindsay, Lily McClellan, Pedro Rodriguez Gonzalez, Juan Rubio, Daisy Xiong
2021 Competition
The Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Collegiate Program at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah held its annual Undergraduate Ethics Case Competition on Friday, Feb. 12.
Winning Team: Castamere Consulting – Mathew Craft, Jordan Hallman, Hallie Martinez, Murray Poulsen
Runner-Up: Ethos Logistic Consulting – Raaz Bhatia, Lexi Hoggan, Markie Hoggan, Aditya Tiwari
2020 Competition
The Daniels Fund Ethics Case Competition at the David Eccles School of Business took place on Friday, Feb. 7. A total of seven teams tackled real-world ethical dilemmas and utilized the principle-based ethics set forth by businessman Bill Daniels.
Selected winners go on to compete at a national competition in Colorado.
1st Place: Wasatch Ethical Consulting — Corrine Schramm, Finn Reinemer, Sarah Preece, Yash Vyas, Sarah Rinderknecht
2nd Place: Beehive Consulting — Nate Kremer, Nikayla Spriggs, Mathew Craft, Olivia Bithell
3rd Place: Risky Business — Rebecca Hoyt, Bobby Kallay, Michael Gonzalez, Lauren Smith, Kael Berkley, Joshua Meyer
2019 Competition
The Daniels Fund Ethics Case Competition at the David Eccles School of Business took place on Friday, Feb. 8. A total of 11 teams tackled real-world ethical dilemmas and utilized the principle-based ethics set forth by businessman Bill Daniels.
The first-place winners go on to compete at a national competition in Colorado.
First Place – Integra Consulting: Benjamin Battistone, Mitchell Kenny, Merry Joseph, Ladan Mohamed, Sheva Mozafari, Mathew Winterholler
Second Place – Eccles Consulting: Emilie Ebert, Jacob Johnson, Megan Kleinman, Zach Parker, Zoe Wadge
Third Place – Lighthouse Consulting: Ruth Barnum, Bryan Cruz-Castillo, Aspen Christensen, Solomon Livingston
2018 Competition
Ten teams competed in the 2018 Undergraduate Ethics Case Competition. The students presented admirably, showing off their real-world, problem-solving skills. In the end, one team was selected as the top performer and two runner-ups. The winning team went on to represent the University of Utah at the regional competition in Denver.
1st Place- Veritas Consulting Group: Sam Bemis, Jordan Reninger, Ghada Shehab, Merry Joseph, Franco Jin, Hunter Fredricksen
1st Runner Up- XIII Legion: Summer Walker, Kasey Dunn, Toronto Eschrich, Paige Lewis
2nd Runner Up- London Fog Consulting: Rachel Roberson, Melissa VanDerHeyden, Sarah Chang, Shannen Breen, Garren Tiffee
2017 Competition
Eight teams competed in the 2017 Undergraduate Ethics Case Competition. The quality of the presentations was impressive and judges were impressed with all of the students. In the end, one team was selected as the top performer and two runner-ups. The winning team went on to represent the University of Utah at the regional competition in Denver.
The winning team (Silver Pine Consulting) consisted of Sam Bemis, Jessica Ryann Gill, Franco Jin, Hans Harris, and Jordan Reninger.
The first runner-up (Vault Consulting) included Rachael Roberson, Garren Tiffee, Adrien Spiegel, and Jillian Kelley. The second runner-up (Nightfuries): Summer Walker, Kasey Dunn and Paige Lewis.
2016 Competition
The University of Utah David Eccles School of Business’ team took second place in the national Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative’s fifth annual Consortium Case Competition in Denver on April 14 and 15.
The five-member team of Ben Caine, Carly Ho, Paxton Klein, Howard Reeve and Jan Ostusinik competed against nine other teams from around the country. Associate Professor Jeff Nielsen served as the team’s faculty advisor.
Before the competition started, the team received the ethical-dilemma case. The team acted as hired consultants for a firm, and members had to incorporate the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Principles of integrity, trust, accountability, transparency, fairness, respect, rule of law and viability.
2015 Competition
Dozens of business students competed in the Eccles School’s 2015 Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Case Competition in February, but only one team took home first-place prize.
Six students who met through their involvement in the Business Scholar program — five of them freshmen — comprised the winning team, called Crimson 6. The six students — Cason Acor, Luke Freedom Hansen, Paxton Klein, Andres Lancheros, David Sagae and Kira Wachter — spent about 20 hours working together and at least that many hours preparing on their own in the two weeks they were given. They had to rebrand a company that had come under fire for marketing sugary drinks to children while promoting them as health drinks.