Alumni from Elizabethtown College go into highly varied fields of work in many places across the world. Among Etown’s graduates are many who choose to work to give back, whether on a local or a grander scale.
Dr. Patricia Harned, ’88 is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI) in Virginia. The ECI is devoted to the advancement of high ethical standards and practices in public and private institutions. It provides research about ethical standards, workplace integrity and compliance practices and processes.
To put it simply, “[They] help business, government and nonprofit leaders establish ethical workplaces,” Harned said.
“I would not have been able to tell you when I was an undergrad that I would be doing what I’m doing now,” Harned said.
Harned wanted to be a teacher for most of her life, and it was not until her junior or senior year as an undergraduate student at the College that she realized it was not a good fit for her.
Still, Harned graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in education from the College.
She later got a Master of Education degree from Indiana University and began working in higher education administration. She thought she would work as a dean, but then found her way from higher education into character education. She had an interest in how people formed their sense of ethics.
Harned then earned a doctorate degree in the philosophy of education from the University of Pittsburgh.
When Harned began working at the ECI, her job combined her interest in ethics and her knowledge of education. Part of her job was to write curriculums for schools to teach ethics in the classroom.
Later, Harned became involved with other work at the ECI, eventually getting involved in oversight and becoming the company’s CEO.
As CEO, Harned is the public face of the ECI. “The more I speak publically and write, the better my organization does,” Harned said. “It’s an important part of being CEO: relating to people and building relationships.”
Beyond her public role, Harned is also responsible for setting strategy for the ECI, managing the staff, fundraising and training company boards which consult the ECI.
According to Harned, the most valuable thing she learned at the College, beyond principles of education, was how to talk to people.
“For me, the biggest part of being at college was discovering who I was and finding my personality,” Harned said.
She had been shy when she came to Etown and was often scared to talk to people, but now she talks to people for a living between interviews, guest-speaking and fundraising.
Harned served as a resident assistant (RA) and later the head resident for Schlosser Residence Hall. In order to carry out her jobs, she learned how to talk to people on her floor. This experience also taught her how to relate to people and gave her a better sense of her own skills.
According to Harned, while she was at Etown she did not appreciate the College’s dedication to service enough. “Service is such a huge part of what makes the College unique,” she said.
Now that Harned is far in her career, she appreciates people who are driven to serve the mission of their corporations.
She values people who are not working for money but rather for the beliefs held by their workplace. For the ECI, this looks like a dedication to workplace integrity.
Harned said she believes companies must be truly committed to their values or they will never succeed with workplace ethics.
“You want to be an organization that talks about integrity because you believe it. Leaders have to talk the talk and walk the walk,” Harned said.
Outside of work, Harned is active in her church community and enjoys gardening.
Additionally, once a week she volunteers at her local hospital in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). While there, her job is to hold premature babies so they can enjoy the benefits of human touch.
Babies who are given more affection sleep better, can better manage stress and experience improved neurodevelopment.
For Harned, this experience is a good reminder of the importance of life and represents three hours per week that she cannot be caught up with any of the stresses of the workplace.
“[The service] part of education and the Etown experience is such a valuable one, and I’ve grown to appreciate it,” Harned said.
Harned has a piece of advice for graduating students. “It is a very reasonable thing to expect that when you enter a workplace that you are working for an organization that is dedicated to integrity,” she said. “Asking in an interview is one of the most important things to determine that you are working for leaders genuinely dedicated to doing the right thing. If not, move on because it is not worth it.”
