James Otteson is the John T. Ryan Jr. Professor of Business Ethics and the Honors Program Faculty Director at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. He is also a Concurrent Professor of Political Science and an affiliated faculty fellow with the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government.
Otteson grew up in Joliet, Illinois, and attended Joliet Catholic High School, which is the alma mater of Rudy Ruettiger, the famed inspiration for the movie, Rudy. Thus, for Otteson, attending Notre Dame was always a goal. “The general feeling was that there was one place where God Himself taught, and that was Notre Dame…and then there were all the other universities,” Otteson said, describing how Notre Dame was viewed at Joliet Catholic.
Upon his admission into Notre Dame as an undergraduate, Otteson intended to pursue the study of medicine with the goal of one day becoming a medical doctor. However, his freshman year, Otteson took a university seminar that was taught by a Classics professor, and this changed the course of his studies. He scrapped his plans to become a medical doctor and attained a bachelor’s degree in the Program of Liberal Studies.
After Notre Dame, Otteson attended the University of Chicago, where he pursued a Ph.D. in philosophy. During this time, he focused primarily on the moral philosophy of figures such as David Hume and Adam Smith. It was during his study of these figures that Otteson became interested in the history of economic thought.
Following the completion of his education, Otteson began teaching courses on business ethics at Wake Forest University. During that time, he was invited by Professor Phillip Munoz of the CCCG to spend a semester at Notre Dame. While working with the CCCG, Otteson explored the “connection between the political and economic liberalism that came out of 18th century Britain and what got enshrined in the Constitution of the United States at the end of the 18th century.” In pursuit of the questions that emerged from this study, Otteson returned to Notre Dame as a faculty member of the Mendoza College of Business.
At Mendoza, Otteson works to help realize the University’s vision of a business school “on par with but distinct from the very best business schools” of the country. In pursuit of this goal, Notre Dame gives business students “an opportunity to engage with Catholic social thought and with moral philosophy in a way that business students at other universities don't,” Otteson explained.
Otteson works toward this goal in the classroom, where he teaches courses on business ethics, as well as in his capacity as faculty director of the Business Honors Program. The Business Honors Program, Otteson said, is where high-achieving students in the business school are not only challenged and recognized, but also given the “opportunity for a community that sees itself as serving some kind of virtuous purpose.” The Business Honors Program seeks to demonstrate that that “virtue isn’t just something you do in the evenings and on the weekends,” Otteson quipped. Students who are accepted into the Program are expected to grapple with both moral and academic dilemmas, both leaning on and setting the standard for their fellow students.
Otteson continues to collaborate with the CCCG, hosting joint events between the Business Honors Program and the Tocqueville Fellowship. Otteson is also developing a new Minor, Business and the Common Good, which seeks to integrate business students and constitutional studies and political science students in classes that they otherwise would not share. “Too often we stay in our silos; political science students don't really know about what's going on in the business school and vice versa,” Otteson said. Despite differences in course focus, each side brings a unique perspective that is highly enriching to its counterpart. Otteson hopes to continue developing these ties going forward.
This article was contributed by CCCG Writing Fellow Luca Fanucchi.