Academic integrity is focus of international conference, Oct. 16-18

Oct. 13, 2009 -- Washington University will host The Center for Academic Integrity's 18th Annual International Conference Oct. 16-18, 2009. The conference theme is "Creating a Culture of Integrity: Research and Best Practices."

Several hundred students, faculty and staff from around the world will discuss the practice and philosophy of academic integrity, focusing on issues germane to both college and high school education. High-tech cheating, international perspectives on academic integrity and classroom best practices will be among the topics covered.

The conference is open to the public, but registration is required. Fees for the program, which include meals and refreshments, range from $$225 for students from member institutions to $465 for non-member faculty, staff and administrators.

For more information on fees and a detailed schedule of speakers and topics, visit the center's Web site at www.academicintegrity.org or contact Dirk Killen, associate dean in the College of Arts & Sciences and the college's academic integrity officer, at dkillen@wustl.edu or 935-9457.

David Callahan, the author of "The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead" (Harcourt, Jan. 2004), will be the keynote speaker Oct. 16 at the Center for Academic Integrity's 2009 conference in St. Louis. He also provides a public Assembly Series lecture at 11 a.m. Oct. 15 in Graham Chapel at Washington University.

Among those to be honored at the conference is the late Sara L. Johnson, J.D., associate dean and academic coordinator in the College of Arts & Sciences, who died in 2004 of metastatic neuroendocrine cancer. She was 47.

Johnson, a WUSTL alumna, is credited with leading the effort to develop a campus-wide academic integrity code at Washington University when she came to work here in 1989 as special assistant to then-Chancellor William H. Danforth. She dealt with a wide variety of campus policy issues, community relations, complaint resolution and special projects.

The Center for Academic Integrity, which is a consortium of more than 360 institutions, is affiliated with the Robert J. Rutland Institute for Ethics at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C.