Robert L. Long Professorship of Ethics Named at Florida Tech

MELBOURNE, FLA.—Isabella Bunn, Ph.D., has been named the Robert L. Long Professor of Ethics in the Florida Institute of Technology College of Business. “Dr. Bunn,” says the college’s Dean Bob Niebuhr, “has a distinguished career in international law, is currently a visiting professor from Oxford University, and has been connected with the college’s Center for Ethics and Leadership since 2006. Isabella and her husband, Davis, are a part of our community already and have collaborated on a number of fictional works related to aspects of Christian ethics.”

Continuing at Oxford University, Bunn specializes in the ethical aspects of globalization and international economic law. She divides her time between England and Florida.

She earned a master’s degree in international relations and a law degree from the University of San Diego School Of Law. She also has a master of philosophy degree from the Oxford University Faculty of Theology and a doctoral degree from the University of Bristol Department of Law. Bunn has practiced as an international lawyer in the private and public sectors.

Through the financial support of Phyllis and Robert Long, the College of Business provides focus for the college’s long-standing interest in the standards of conduct and moral judgment used by the leadership of organizations to make business decisions.

Since 1982, business ethics has been an integral part of the college’s undergraduate and graduate curricula. The college has presented the High School Business Ethics Competition annually since 1997, sponsored annual business ethics conferences since 2000 and held quarterly ethics breakfasts, which are open to the public.

Robert Long (1937-2006) built a career for more than 30 years at Tennessee Eastman Chemical and at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, N.Y., and progressed from engineer to senior vice president, reporting directly to the company’s CEO. In 1992, he retired to Melbourne Beach with Phyllis, where both became very active in the community and he was a strategy planning consultant to several CEOs and investors.

He served the university as a Board of Trustees member from 1999 to 2006. Florida Tech Professor Roger Manley, a long-time friend of Long, remembers him fondly. He says, “Robert was an intelligent individual who listened intently and displayed an uncanny ability to cut right to the heart of the issue being discussed. He was adept at sorting through extraneous information and engaging in critical thinking. Always courteous, he seemed to take particular delight in engaging in dialogue with the students on subjects related to business ethics raised in the assigned case studies.”

Those who knew him said that seeking truth and righteousness in decision-making guided Long’s personal and professional life. Wherever he went and at home parenting three children, Blake, Brynn and Brant, Long held and encouraged very high standards.

“His legacy challenges people and organizations to develop the perspective and practical skills to make decisions that lead to ethical action,” said Niebuhr.