As a way of influencing curriculum development (at both the undergraduate and graduate level) at the college, in 1988 the Center for Business Ethics (CBE) began working with the chairs of Bentley’s Accountancy, Law and Computer Information Systems Departments, providing them with assistance in integrating ethics into their departmental courses. The subsequent work with these departments – and its success in elevating the visibility of ethics in their curricula and stimulating faculty research in this area – prompted CBE to transform this initiative into a formal workshop. The first session was offered in May 1991, and it continues today.

Initially referred to as the Business Ethics "Gadfly" Workshop, the intent has remained the same since its inception – to encourage faculty to address ethical issues and questions of corporate social responsibility in courses across Bentley’s curriculum. The Gadfly reference dates back to Socrates, who described himself as a "gadfly," a stinging insect whose purpose was to harass and "sting" the citizens of Athens out of their ignorance and intellectual complacency. By "seeding" each academic department with such gadflies, the goal was to develop a core group of faculty who would prod and influence their colleagues to incorporate informed discussions of ethical issues and corporate responsibility in their classes.

Each May eight Bentley faculty members have gotten together for a 5-day workshop to explore ways of integrating ethical issues into their disciplinary courses. The workshop is designed to accomplish this goal through: (1) facilitated discussions among faculty from several different disciplines intended to provide them with a basic grounding in ethical theory and corporate responsibility, and (2) presentations by the faculty participants on integrating ethics into their courses, with the opportunity for feedback from the workshop facilitators and other participants. Guest speakers have included representatives from the Ethics Officer Association, Fortune 500 Ethics Officers, and Boston-area business people who are responsible for ethics and corporate social responsibility initiatives. Over the years, corporate sponsors of the program have included the GE Foundation, Guardsmark, Liberty Mutual, Monsanto, Sears, Texas Instruments, and Verizon. There are over 90 business ethics "gadfly alumni" on the Bentley campus, cutting across virtually every business and arts and sciences department, and its effect has had a clear influence on the content of the curriculum.

Via the school’s Gadfly Workshops, ethics is integrated throughout the business core as well as departmental courses in management and organizational behavior, accountancy, finance, CIS, and marketing. At the undergraduate level, students are also required to take a freshman-year 6-hour foundation cluster that includes modules on ethics and corporate responsibility in "World of Business," personal values and responsibility in "Interpersonal Competencies in the World of Business" and a "Legal Environment of Business" course. At the graduate level, MBAs have a required course on "Leadership, Ethics and Corporate Responsibilities." Both programs are also supported by an array of electives, including PH130 "Corporate Social Responsibility," PH131 "Philosophy of Work," and PH133 "International Business Ethics Business Ethics" at the undergraduate level, and ETH700 "Ethical Issues in Corporate Life," ETH750 "Managing Ethics in Organizations" and ETH810 "Research in Business Ethics" at the graduate level. Bentley also offers a concentration in Business Ethics in the MBA program and a minor in Cyber Law (with a strong ethics and social responsibility component) at the undergraduate level.

(2) campus life, (3) the university’s research agenda, and (4) in outreach to the academic, corporate and not-for-profit worlds.