UNT 2022 Ricco Ethics Scholarship Winners Announced

DENTON (UNT), Texas – The University of North Texas has chosen three student recipients for the 2022 Ricco Ethics Scholarship Award: the first and second place undergraduate awards and the first-place graduate award.

Since 2011, the scholarship was provided for undergraduate and graduate students. It’s an ethics competition that promotes intellectual debate and motivates applicants to think about reasoning and self-discipline on a higher level.

And for the very first time, a student within the Media Arts Department achieves the first-place undergraduate award. His name is David Anderton and is a junior majoring in media arts in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

Anderton’s essay titled “Cybersecurity on a College Campus Case Study” won him $5,000 which will be applied for the Fall 2022 semester.

“I had a college fund. It just ran out,” Anderton said. “I have to pay for my last two semesters without my college fund. And then boom, next semester is paid for!”

Anderton found out about this scholarship Fall 2021 in his Media Ethics class. His teacher encouraged the class to apply, so he thought, why not. Anderton knocked out the essay in about two hours and sent it in that same night.

January 2022 was when Anderton found out he won the scholarship. He would like to thank his Media Ethics Professor Marjorie Lewis for helping him with his essay, as well as his parents for their support.

Anderton said, “I want to encourage everyone to at least give it a shot. If you think you have the right mindset to tackle a moral dilemma, by all means knock yourself out. It’s always good to see people think about moral and ethical dilemmas of day-to-day life.”

If you are interested in applying for the Ricco Ethics Scholarship, applications will open next fall for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Other 2022 Ricco Ethics Scholarship winners:

· Second place undergraduate ($4,000) – “Ethics in Protests” by Abbie Cunningham, sophomore majoring in psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

· First place graduate ($5,000) – “A Look at Goodman College’s Cybersecurity Issues through Logic Conflict, Servant Leadership Model and Cyber Curriculum” by Kendra Schaffer, graduate student studying international sustainable tourism