The official birthday of the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions is July 23, 1976. In a memorandum to the academic deans on that day, I wrote as follows:

"The reason for the establishment of this Center derives from several strongly held convictions regarding IIT's unique position within the educational spectrum. First, IIT is to be an institution that aims primarily at the preparation of its students for careers in certain professions. Second, it is assumed that the characteristic which distinguishes a professional from a technician is the ability of the professional to bring considerations of professional ethics into the application of his technical skills in the solution of problems. In contrast, the technician is concerned only with the application of the technical skills. As a consequence, if IIT is to be sincere in its commitment to professional education, then it must necessarily require that all of its educational programs take the matter of professional ethics into serious account.

Nearly all of the major professional areas, the military, engineering, architecture, medicine, law, journalism, psychology, and others as well, have some published professional code of ethics. In the current post-Watergate period, a period in which improprieties in government, in business and in all areas of our society have become increasingly evident, the importance of attention to professional ethics has never been more urgent or more apparent. In establishing a Center for the Study of Professional Ethics, and in requiring all of its students to participate to one extent or another in the examination and study of professional ethics appropriate to their particular field, IIT will be unique among the educational institutions in the United States.

The implementation of this program raises a number of very important collateral issues. Important among these is the matter of assisting the student in the development of his personal value system. It is self evident that such a personal value system should be compatible with the professional ethics of the student's anticipated career path. This suggests that IIT has further important responsibilities in the area of career guidance and selection, and in assisting students in arriving at suitable value systems. It also suggests that faculty members themselves should serve as exemplars of professional ethics, providing worthy role models for the students to emulate."

Overall and from the perspective of 10 years later, I believe the Center has successfully achieved these ambitious expectations. But I confess to some disappointment that curriculum planning at IIT has not embraced the study of ethics in the professions as comprehensively or intensively as originally hoped. For example, the 1976 memorandum stated:

"It is further expected that anew requirement for completion of the Master of Engineering degree will be introduced which will stipulate that every student should have a minimum of three semester credit hours in courses in professional ethics. Looking to the future, as further financial support becomes available, it is anticipated that additional courses in ethics for each of the other professional areas will be developed and will also be made mandatory for the various professional master's degrees, as well as for the juris Doctor degree. In the long haul, perhaps three to five years from now, it is expected that there will be required courses for all undergraduate students in the professional ethics of their individual fields."

While not all of these objectives have been reached in its first decade, the progress of the Center has been outstanding and these hopes will surely be achieved in the coming decade.

Over the past 10 years the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions has become an integral part of the academic and research programs of the Illinois Institute of Technology. Its importance and impact will both accelerate in the second decade of its existence.