We devote a significant amount of time in the program to the topics of ethics and culture, equipping our students to make a positive impact on corporate behavior. St. Thomas has a long history of shaping businesses in this way through the work of its Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, Center for Ethical Business Cultures and the Veritas Institute, which are known nationwide for their research and programming on ethics and professionalism.

The goal of the Organizational Ethics and Compliance Program is to build on this tradition by providing the university’s hallmark “whole student” approach to better position ethics and compliance professionals to shape corporate practices and priorities well into the future. 

Our ethics and compliance programs are accredited by AACSB International. Our LL.M. program is one of just two LL.M. programs in the U.S. with this accreditation, and the only one in the compliance and ethics discipline. 

Relying on input and expertise from business leaders, we designed our programs to develop ethics and compliance professionals to work in a variety of industries, from banking to health care to manufacturing and more. Many compliance programs focus on just one area.

Our faculty includes professionals currently working in the ethics and compliance field, as well as professors from the School of Law and Opus College of Business. Their institutional and academic knowledge provides a solid foundation for any student – whether you are new to the field or a mid-level career-changer.

In the June 2016 issue of Compliance Week, Professor Christopher Michaelson was named a 2016 Top Mind in the industry.

In the May 2019 issue of Compliance Week, program Director Colleen Dorsey was named a 2019 Top Mind in the industry.

The Compliance Externship Program provides students with the opportunity to work side-by-side with corporate ethics and compliance professionals to increase working knowledge of the field. Our students have been placed with Delta Air Lines, Target, 3M, United Health Group, Ecolab, Medtronic, TCF, Toro, Thomson Reuters and the city of St. Paul, to name just a few. The commitment of the professional community to enriching the education of our students is solid proof of the difference that such a program can make to the corporate community at large. 

Because many of our courses directly cover compliance, ethics, risk, corporate governance, internal controls and other relevant topics, they can be submitted to count toward live training and/or continuing professional education requirements. This includes certifications offered by:

• SCCE/CCB including the following trademarked certifications: CCEP, CCEP-I, CCEP-F, CHC, CHC-F, CHRC, and CHPC;
• CPE credits related to the Certified Internal Auditor certifications offered by The Institute of Internal Auditors;
• CE credits required for any of the certifications offered by the American Bankers Association; and
• CPE’s required by The American Anti-Corruption Institute for its Certified Anti-Corruption Manager professional qualification

If your certifying body is not listed, but you would like to explore whether courses in our program would count as continuing professional education in your chosen focus area, please contact Colleen Dorsey at colleen.dorsey@stthomas.edu or 651-952-4864.