Skip To Content
Filter search
Cal Poly Pomona
  • LIBRARY
  • ONLINE SERVICES
  • DIRECTORY
  • MAPS
  • CALENDAR
  • About Cal Poly Pomona
  • Cal Poly Pomona Overview
  • Visitor Information
  • Campus Maps & Tours
  • News
  • Events
  • Administration
  • Annual Security Report
  • Campus Safety Plan
  • Admissions
  • Undergraduate Admissions
  • Graduate Admissions
  • International Admissions
  • Continuing Education Admissions
  • Military & Veterans Admissions
  • Financial Aid & Scholarships
  • Student Accounts & Fees
  • Outreach, Recruitment, & Educational Partnerships
  • Academics
  • Colleges & Departments
  • Majors & Degrees
  • University Catalog & Academic Schedules
  • University Library
  • Research
  • Academic Resources
  • Registrar
  • Campus Life
  • Student Services
  • Student Activities
  • Recreation & Fitness
  • Health & Wellness
  • Housing & Dining
  • Diversity
  • Calendars & Events
  • Campus Safety & Emergency Info
  • Athletics
  • Visit Athletics Website
  • Alumni
  • Visit Alumni Website
  • Giving
  • Why Give
  • Ways to Give
  • Where to Give

PolyCentric University News Center

Main Menu
  • About Our University
  • Admissions
  • Academics
  • Campus Life
  • Athletics
  • Giving
  • Expand/Collapse Menu
Browse: Home / 2018 / February / Veterans Center, New Campus Ethics Center Collaborate on Code of Values

PolyCentric

University News Center

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
    • Submissions
    • Contact
    • Department of Strategic Communications
    • PolyCentric
  • News
    • Browse by Topic
    • View All Stories
    • In Memoriam
    • Archives
  • Achievements
  • Announcements
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Photos
  • Social Media Directory
  • Events
  • For the Media

Veterans Center, New Campus Ethics Center Collaborate on Code of Values

Posted on February 15, 2018

Mayra Chan working at the Veterans Resource Center. The center’s staff recently teamed up with Philosophy Professor Michael Cholbi to outline five values the employees will incorporate into their work environment.
Mayra Chan working at the Veterans Resource Center. The center’s staff recently teamed up with Philosophy Professor Michael Cholbi to outline five values the employees will incorporate into their work environment.

Respect. Excellence. Commitment. Integrity. Teamwork.

These are the five values that the staff of the university’s Veterans Resource Center (VRC) has identified as their central professional ideals, thanks to a pair of workshops organized by the center’s director, Elke Azpeitia, and her former ethics instructor, Philosophy Professor Michael Cholbi.

Because the VRC’s student staff has increased fourfold since it opened five years ago, a need arose to identify the values that guide them.

“I believe creating a code of department values helps them understand what to expect, as far as culture and work,” Azpeitia said. “It gives vets the self-efficacy to make their own decisions, and it empowers them to hold each other accountable to uphold their own standards.”

This was not the first time that Azpeitia and Cholbi had collaborated on ethical issues. Azpeitia, who has a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and a master’s in public administration from Cal Poly Pomona, studied ethics with Cholbi as an undergraduate.

Prior to the workshops, Azpeitia and Cholbi drafted a set of values for the student staff members to consider. During the workshops, the student staffers refined this set of values until they reached a consensus on the five values that define their work for the VRC.

“My conversations with Elke told me that the center has an emerging culture,” Cholbi said. “The aim of our workshops was to make explicit the guiding principles of that culture. I was incredibly impressed with the thoughtfulness the students brought to the task of articulating the VRC’s values.”

At the second workshop, the staff used their core values to analyze hypothetical scenarios related to work at the VRC, such as intentionally submitting false information on a student financial aid application and students “slacking off” in their work duties.

“The VRC’s values have helped our team to better understand the importance of providing students with quality service by allowing us to reflect and determine the significance of our work in the actions we make every day as student staff,” said Sommarani Chan, lead veteran resource advisor. “Overall, I think the team has come to realize that our values have helped to foster a better team environment.”

Cholbi is the director of the California Center for Ethics and Policy (CCEP), a center created with the financial support of a university emeritus faculty member. The CCEP is currently seeking administrative approval in anticipation of kicking off its operations in the 2018-19 academic year.

Many universities have ethics centers, according to Cholbi, but the CCEP will be distinctive in two ways. First, the CCEP will have a regional focus, addressing ethics and policy questions that are urgent here in California. Second, CCEP’s programs will address a different theme each year. The planned theme for 2018-19 is health care justice and health care access in California.

“The CCEP aims to better integrate the university with its surrounding region,” Cholbi said. “More broadly, we’re hoping to contribute to one of Cal Poly Pomona’s strategic goals, creating more ethically informed and socially conscientious students. My work with Elke and the VRC is not only a great example of collaboration between the academic and student services sides of the university, but also a model for how the CCEP can help campus units develop their own ethical standards.”

Posted in Achievements | Tags California Center for Ethics and Policy, CCEP, Elke Azpeitia, ethics, Philosophy Professor Michael Cholbi, Veterans Resource Center, workshop

POPULAR

  • CLASS Dean Iris Levine

    CLASS Act: Dean Levine Sets High Bar for Herself and Others

    347 views / Posted January 11, 2021
  • Graphic with illustration of Martin Luther King Jr.

    MLK Day Celebrations Include Student-Centric Volunteer Opportunities

    200 views / Posted January 14, 2021
  • A group photo of Cal Poly Pomona’s Reading, Advising, and Mentoring Program

    RAMP Receives $2.2 Million Grant For Underrepresented Students

    45 views / Posted January 15, 2021
  • Expanded Early Exit Program Info Session

    35 views / Posted January 5, 2021
  • Travel Health Orders

    27 views / Posted January 5, 2021

Picture of the Day »

Toy Drive

Toy Drive

Cal Poly Pomona in the News »

College students reflect on their first semester experiences

Mailani Matsuno, who is taking classes from her home in Guam, interviewed about her reasons for studying from home and adjusting to the time differences between home and her classes.…

Honoring California architecture students through scholarship at the 2020 2×8 Virtual Exhibition


NMSU student research outlines problems in private immigration detention facilities


Out of work during the pandemic, Riverside woman starts charcuterie business, Mel’s Boozy Bites


10 rock stars with impressive college degrees


Tags
California Center for Ethics and Policy, CCEP, Elke Azpeitia, ethics, Philosophy Professor Michael Cholbi, Veterans Resource Center, workshop
About Cal Poly Pomona Feedback Privacy Accessibility Document Readers

3801 West Temple Avenue,Pomona, CA 91768

©2018 California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

All Rights Reserved