Darden has appointed technology strategist and alumnus Patrick Higgins (MBA ’16) as managing director of the LaCross Institute for Ethical AI in Business, effective 1 June 2026.
Topic
Ethics & Society
The multidisciplinary study of Business, Ethics & Society focuses on sustaining, growing, and sharing value, not just for businesses and their shareholders, but for stakeholders and the societies in which they operate. This vein of study encompasses ethical decision-making, examination of how business can and does impact society, implications for policy, principles of moral and institutional leadership, and the tenets of stakeholder theory.
Madelyn Merchant (MBA ’25) reflects on Darden’s Board Fellows Program, her successful efforts to expand it with the help of a gift from Golub Capital and the ongoing impact of the program and her Darden experience.
When ChatGPT confidently produced the same wrong answer many MBA students selected on a strategy quiz, Darden faculty saw a larger lesson emerging about AI, judgment and the future of management education.
Years of drought and political posturing have pushed one of the most crucial water sources in the American West to the breaking point. Research from Peter Debaere points to a simple solution that could put parts of the Colorado River Basin on a more sustainable path.
Cooling bills are climbing nationwide, but the problem may not be your thermostat. UVA Darden graduate and sustainability consultant Melanie Goerke explains how hidden building decisions shape energy efficiency, comfort and long-term operating costs.
In an AI-driven world, Professor Jared D. Harris is teaching students to think more deeply — by pairing strategy with technology and ethics with literature.
New research by Prem Menghwar, a postdoctoral research associate at UVA Darden, and Professor Ed Freeman challenges the idea that the main goal of nonprofits is to create social value — not economic value.
Four deans. One question. At a moment of change for business education, leaders from across Darden’s recent history explore what it would take to become the best business school in the world — and why the answer may never be fixed.
During reunion this past weekend, Darden alumni honored classmates through tree dedications, memorial tributes and moments of remembrance across the Grounds.
After devoting seven years to driving Anheuser-Busch InBev toward its carbon emissions, renewable energy and sustainable packaging targets, Virginia Covo (MBA ’16) is setting aside her corporate role to take on a new one: entrepreneur.
