About the Center

The Elizabeth B. & William F. Poe, Sr. Business Ethics Center is composed of a large number of people from diverse backgrounds. The administration believes that business ethics should be a core part of business instruction. The faculty dedicates a significant amount of time and energy to activities that further ethics education such as ethics research and ethics courses, and by exposing students to speakers from a variety of professions who address ethical issues from many points of view.

Students’ commitment to learning about, discussing, debating, and integrating business ethics into who they want to be as business professionals is central to the existence of the Poe Center.

The students who engage in the Center activities have shown passion for business ethics. We hope that these students will make a positive impact in the business world through their increased awareness of ethical issues and desire to stay true to their ethical compasses.

We appreciate the Poe family’s vision for a higher level of ethics instruction here at the University of Florida and their generous support that has allowed the Center to reach so many people.

The Poe Family

Poe family portrait
The Poe family. Photo credit: Pepito Masterpiece Portraits.

In June 2004 the Poe family of Tampa, Florida endowed the Elizabeth B. and William F. Poe, Sr. Center for Business Ethics Education and Research in honor of their parents. William F. Poe graduated from the University of Florida in 1953 with a BSBA degree. He was the chairman and CEO of Poe Investments, Inc. and chairman of Florida Poe Holding Company, parent of Southern Family Insurance headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

In 1998, the Bill and Elizabeth contributed generously to develop a business ethics program within the Department of Management in the College of Business Administration. Poe said this gift was their way of thanking the University for all it had done for him. The Center continues the work of the Poe Business Ethics Program.

Through this endowment, the Poe family will provide students from throughout the University an opportunity to participate in courses and programs designed to identify important ethical values, to build an understanding of personal and business integrity and to explore the practical implications of ethics for their lives at work. It is an extraordinarily generous gift, and it is a significant statement of the donor’s real desire to make a positive difference in the lives of students.