Is choosing a school with a commitment to sustainability and green business on your EMBA checklist? The University of Virginia Darden School of Business is among Entrepreneur magazine/Princeton Review’s list of the 16 best schools for “green business” education. Sixteen schools were chosen based on surveying students and administrators on academics, curricula, campus policies and student services related to sustainability, social responsibility and the environment and how well students felt their programs were preparing them for careers in “green business” fields.
Among the green successes and commitments Darden was specifically cited for is the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability, (ARCS), a group that holds an annual sustainability conference and works to advance academic research on corporate sustainability issues by providing data, tools and networking opportunities to researchers.
Darden Professor Mike Lenox, faculty director of the ARCS, associate dean and executive director of the school’s Batten Institute, says the challenges posed by sustainability to both society and business are complex and multifaceted.
“To make progress on these challenges,” he says, “requires a multidisciplinary approach leveraging expertise from the best scholars and institutions in the world. ARCS creates a multiplier effect where leading researchers can interact and collaborate to advance our knowledge of how to address the sustainability challenge.”
Darden’s local commitment was also recognized: In 2008, Darden set a goal to become a zero waste, zero carbon enterprise by 2020. The school sources up to 60 percent of its cafeteria food locally during the growing season.”
Jack Oakes, assistant dean for career development at Darden, says, “Students are showing an increasing interest in working for organizations committed to tackling key environmental and social issues, whether for-profit, non-profit, or government. ” He adds that Darden’s Career Development Center provides one-on-one counseling and workshops to support students’ interest in such roles.
(Note: Darden EMBA students receive a full-suite of career development services.)
The list of the 16 schools appears in the Entrepreneur April feature, “A Sustainable Degree,” andis also posted on Princeton Review’s website at: http://www.princetonreview.com/business-schools-green.aspx.
