When
Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.
Paul Melendez
University Distinguished Outreach Professor
Founder, Center for Leadership Ethics
Department of Management and Organizations
Eller College of Management
"Ethical Considerations of Emergent Technologies"
ENGR 301
Abstract: Today we are experiencing advances in emergent technologies such as generative AI, blockchain and virtual reality etc. While these technologies hold the promise of brining broad benefits, they also run the risk of unleashing extensive burdens to society. What is needed now more than ever are ethical considerations of emergent technologies based on objective criterion. This session will include a high-level overview of an ethical decision-making model that can be applied to evolving, complex, and ubiquitous emergent technologies.
Bio: Paul Melendez has been with the Eller College of Management since 1996. He earned his doctorate from the University of Arizona with a specialization in privatization. He is the first and only Eller professor to be recognized by the University of Arizona as a University Distinguished Outreach Professor for leading ethics education for over two decades. He also serves as an affiliated professor in the School of Mining and Mineral Resources and the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona.
As a professor in the Department of Management and Organizations, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in business ethics, international management, organizational behavior, international management, human resources, innovative thinking, and leading change. He authored Moral Problems in Management: An Objective Model of Analysis published by McGraw-Hill. He also provides high-level consulting on transformational leadership, ethics and compliance, innovative thinking, and organizational strategy. Consulting clients include from the business sector DP World (Dubai), BHP Billiton (Australia), and Grupo Bal (Mexico) and from the government sector the City of Tucson, Pima County and the Town of Marana just to name a few. As founder of the Center for Leadership Ethics, he leads efforts to improve organizational ethics through cutting-edge research, education and outreach programs.
Melendez was previously on the faculty of the School of Public Administration and Policy where he taught courses in public policy, public management, and the analysis of data for decision-making. He was the assistant dean for Eller Executive Education where he successfully launched a non-profit, demand-driven, consulting wing for the college. He also served as assistant department head for the Department of Management and Organizations where he supported curricular, teaching, and service-related matters for the department.