Presented by: Dean William C. Powers, Jr. School of Law, UT Austin

Sponsored by: The University of Texas at Austin Chair of Free Enterprise & Center for Ethical Leadership

This program was presented on April 15, 2004, as part of the University of Texas Ethics Conference.

The conference theme was ethics, and the two-day conference involved a one-day academic conference on Friday, April 16, 2004, and a one-day public conference on Saturday, April 17. In December, 2003, the conference was expanded to include a free public lecture on April 15 to keynote the entire conference.

The conference involved cooperation between and support from the College of Engineering, the School of Law, and the LBJ School for Public Affairs. Overall sponsorship came from the LBJ School, additional sponsorship on Thursday and Friday came from the School of Law and the College of Engineering. The Murchison Chair of Free Enterprise gave a grant to support the academic conference and took a major role in promoting the Thursday keynote lecture. The LBJ School has provided accounting and other infrastructure support.

Dean Powers' Keynote Address Video

Dean Powers' presentation, "The Ethics of Enron: Lessons for the Future", was the keynote address for the University of Texas Ethics Conference.

In the winter of 2001-02, Dean Powers chaired the Internal Committee of Investigation for Enron. This Committee investigated the transactions between Enron and several partnerships headed by Enron's Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Fastow. That investigation led to the 'Powers Report', which was highly critical of these transactions. Dean Powers spoke about the investigation, its results, and what we can learn from the collapse of Enron.