Green Business Programs Gain Traction

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Energy Reduction on Campus

Within the walls of that building, sustainability and green issues are part of the required curriculum and include interdisciplinary activities with other parts of the university, says Barken. In Social & Nonprofit Marketing, students consider energy reduction on campus, and in Trends in Sustainable Management they develop business plans for social or sustainable enterprises.

Ithaca isn't the only program taking this approach. At UVA, White teaches Global Sustainability with colleagues in the architecture and engineering departments. Students in that course are challenged to design a project that will improve local sustainability then apply for a grant to fund it, says White, who will also be the academic dean of the UVA-sponsored Semester at Sea in spring 2010, which has the theme of sustainability and will feature stops in ports in Hawaii, Japan, and Italy.

Unlike Ithaca, Wharton has not made sustainability a part of the core curriculum, but its efforts in the area are equally ambitious. Its students can take on a university-wide minor, Sustainability & Environmental Management, that allows students to learn a specific discipline, then delve deeper into specific issues, says Eric W. Orts, professor of legal studies, business ethics, and management. For instance, says Orts, this minor would be perfectly paired with a concentration in entrepreneurship for a student who wants to start a green business after graduation. "What we're trying to do fits in with the dean's vision that business school should be a force for good," says Orts, "not just an institution to increase the salaries of its students."

Teaching methods, too, are getting an overhaul in the age of green. Many professors who tackle green issues in their courses team-teach with colleagues, integrate coursework across functions, or partner with other schools within the university. At Emory University's Goizueta Business School, the Piedmont Project has teachers participating in workshops to brainstorm ideas and learn about green issues, then pays them a stipend to come up with relevant new syllabus designs.

There's a good reason for that. As the green revolution matures, business graduates will need to anticipate rather than simply react to the next wave of sustainability challenges, says Allison Burdette, who teaches business law at Goizueta. As students they'll need inventive programs to show them the way.

Di Meglio is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com in Fort Lee, N.J.