Several nationally visible institutions--e.g., Harvard, Duke, and Stanford--have made ethics an integral part of their degree requirements. Their high profile commitments reflect a broader trend, discernible across the academy, toward articulating ethics and values and the cultivation of personal and social responsibility as important outcomes of college education. Ethics, values, and personal and social responsibility emerge as prominent themes in the professions' goals for student learning in college. In this paper, the author argues the need for a proactive, high-visibility initiative designed to take these goals seriously, to connect them to a vision of educational excellence for all students and for the larger society, and to provide evidence and assessment tools that demonstrate whether they are being met. (Contains 1 endnote.)