In the spring of 2015, Heider approved a course offering for Fall of 2015 entitled “Business, Faith, and the Common Good” as a joint MBA/undergrad course.  The 11 week course culminated in a final night of presentations from students at Johnny’s Cafe in South Omaha.

Throughout the semester we heard from various faculty and speakers who talked to us about business, faith and the common good including:

Omar Guttierez, from the OMaha Archdiocese, on the Vocation of a Business Leader Document

Alexei Marcoux, Professor of Business Ethics and Society, Creighton on “Entrepreneurship as Vocation”

Neil Nyberg, former Ethics Officer at Kelloggs on faith and work

Tom Kelly, Associate Professor of Theology, Creighton, on “Catholic Social Teachings on Business”

Michael Thomas, Assistant Professor of Economics, Creighton, on “Economics and Theology”

John Gallagher, Professor of Management at Maryville College, TN, on “Economy of Communion”

Gene Laczniak, Emeritus Professor of Marketing, Marquette U., “Catholic Social Thought and Marketing”

Patrick Murray, Professor of Philosophy, Creighton, “Baudrillard, Consumerism, and Catholic Thought”

It was an outstanding group of speakers.  Most nights our speaker would talk with us in a roundtable setting from 6-7:30, and then the second half of class we would discuss questions I had preassigned to that weeks readings.  The readings varied in scope, but included many documents of the Catholic Church, protestant readings on business and faith, some Jewish and even Muslim writings on business, and a few readings on business and the common good as well.

The students were great, and some of the book reviews and research papers and projects of the students will be put up as resources on the Business, Faith and Common Good website soon.   I am very grateful to be able to put together courses such as this.  It is a remarkable privilege to work at a Jesuit school which encourages such classes in the business curriculum.