Professor Christopher Meakin teaches LEB 323H- Legal and Ethical Environment of Business. Professor Meakin lights up the classroom with his passion for ethics; from the readings, to cases, to real-life examples in class, Professor Meakin is able to evaluate the ethical challenges that we will all surely face in the business world, and help students come to the best possible solutions. With 28 years of teaching under his belt, and 15 years at The University of Texas alone, Meakin has taught classes ranging from entrepreneurship to negotiations, from law school to business integrity and ethics, and currently teaches both undergraduates and MBA students.
Professor Meakin used to be involved in the BHP admissions process, so he is truly aware of how hard it is to gain acceptance into this program, and the quality of students that he has in the classroom. “I like BHP because the high quality of the students means that I have to do my very best every class and that raises my game. These students don’t mind working hard,” he said. In addition, Professor Meakin mentioned the small class sizes as another plus. He enjoys taking the time to get to know his students and loves to be on a first name basis in class while conducting ethics exercises (as his students, both current and past, are sure to tell you).
While Professor Meakin doesn’t have any formal research areas, he enjoys “going off on tears,” focusing on a particular subject of interest to him. When asked for an example, Meakin was delighted to chat about his research concerning dishonesty in grocery store checkouts and the rationalization behind such behavior. If you are interested in ethics and rationalization, this man is the one to talk to!
Meakin started on the path to professorship because he “was a really bad student,” so he was well equipped to understand what worked and what didn’t when it came to making an impact on a student’s education. Before coming to UT, Professor Meakin was teaching law school in Houston, but was ready for a change. An opening became available in LEB at UT and Meakin was offered the job. He decided to give it a shot, and has loved teaching undergrads ever since.
If you want to make the most out of your office hours and truly get to know the amazing professor Meakin, try asking him some of these questions about the latest and greatest in cycling, or about the Girl Scouts. You could also ask him to read you a sheet of music, but if you really want to get to know Meakin, you should talk to him about his two beautiful daughters, or his “airport” dog (that one is a good story).
No matter what your reason is for stopping by, Professor Meakin will be ready to chat. He urges students to “come see us, because most of the time we are pretty quirky.” Drop by Professor Meakin’s office anytime; he holds office hours before his 9:30 class, but is more than happy to schedule a visit at another time. Just shoot him an email. His office can be found in CBA 2.236, which is on the ground floor of McCombs in the glass area in the northeast corner that houses the BGS department offices. Dropping by office hours “really helps to put a face to a name. Come by, we are still 20 years old at heart, I have really not grown up, and I love to spend time with my students.”