There’s plenty of warm weather left to come, but September always signals back to school. As the economy continues to shift and spin, people are reevaluating their skill sets and often choosing to head back to the classroom, sometimes with a new perspective. A Master’s of Business Administration degree (MBA) used to be perceived as a ticket to personal gain, but many of today’s returnees and recent college grads are more interested in learning how to run ethically and environmentally sound organizations. Sustainability has become a curriculum focus for a number of top business schools, and Los Angeles has its share.
This fall, Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business will introduce its SEER (Social, Environmental, Ethical, Responsible) certificate program. According to Graziadio associate dean Mark Mallinger, 25–30 students are expected to join the SEER program this year. The program focuses on infusing traditional MBA subjects like marketing, finance and entrepreneurship with sustainability-focused electives, such as “The Role of Business in Society” and “Social Entrepreneurship.” SEER students will also have an opportunity to work and study in Chile’s Patagonia National Park.
UCLA’s Anderson School of Business offers graduate courses in “Industrial Ecology,” “Business and the Environment” and “Green Energy Entrepreneurship.” In addition, Anderson students can participate in the Leaders in Sustainability certificate program, which takes a multidisciplinary approach that allows MBAs to work with graduate students from other fields, such as engineering and law.
“I think it’s quite valuable to mix students, because sustainability issues are often interdisciplinary and you need to be able to bridge different fields to find innovative solutions,” notes Magali Delmas, an Anderson management professor and the director of UCLA’s Center for Corporate Environmental Performance. “We want our students to be exposed to different languages and to be able to communicate with students outside of the business school.”
At USC’s Marshall School of Business, students can take sustainability-focused courses such as “Entrepreneurial Solutions to Global Challenges,” which analyzes models of social enterprise. Marshall also offers an opportunity for graduate students pursuing careers in non-profits and arts organizations to learn principles of economic sustainability in its “Business Fundamentals for Non-Business Professionals” course.
Though many MBAs study sustainability because they hope to have a positive impact on communities, they are also displaying a shrewd business sense. As Graziadio’s Mallinger explains, “Organizations that recognize the strategic impact of being socially and environmentally conscious are likely to be the survivors of what’s taking place in the 21st century.” Any way you look at it, green is good.
—Maggie Flynn
Maggie Flynn is an L.A.-based freelance writer specializing in business and education.
