While Brewer – the Enron whistleblower and keynote speaker for Mission Week – may not be a household name or a career humanitarian/activist like previous Mission Week keynote speakers, neither are most of us. We're glad Mission Week 2007 extols a grounded, and achievable, objective.,”

The Rev. Desmond Tutu. Arun Gandhi. Martin Luther King III. Paul Rusesabagina. Lynn Brewer?

While Brewer – the Enron whistleblower and keynote speaker for Mission Week – may not be a household name or a career humanitarian/activist like previous Mission Week keynote speakers, neither are most of us. We're glad Mission Week 2007 extols a grounded, and achievable, objective. The theme, "Challenged to Choose: The Courage to Act," emphasizes just this: ethical decision-making in everyday life.

Brewer also offers a welcome change as Marquette's first female keynote speaker for Mission Week.

The week provides an opportunity to reflect on the purpose of our work and studies and to reflect on our mission, according to Stephanie Russell, executive director for university mission and identity.

Other years focused on international topics, whereas Brewer deals with a more domestic issue, Russell said.

Sure, peace is good, but how many engineering majors can realistically find ways to fight for it in their everyday lives?

Other speakers, such as journalist Bethany McLean, the Fortune magazine writer who broke the Enron scandal, and filmmaker Alex Gibney, who made the film version of "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," prove the scope of the theme transcends just corporate business.

However, we think there's something to be said for promoting professional ethics, especially in business, where ethics – as we saw with Enron – can sometimes be underestimated.

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