Sustainable Business Strategy Certificate

The Sustainable Business Strategy Certificate (SBSC) prepares students to incorporate sustainability considerations into the strategic decisions of business, including enhancing customer value throughout the value chain. Not only do sustainability concerns affect risk management and costs of doing business; sustainability considerations can also offer opportunities for innovation, enhanced product differentiation and value for customers, and employee recruitment and retention. Knowledge associated with sustainability requires both solid fundamentals of business strategy, as well as a broader-based “systems perspective” highlighting the inter-relationships between and among the various facets of a company’s eco-system of partners and stakeholders.

To obtain a SBSC certificate, a student must:

  • Meet with a SBSC certificate advisor, Dr. Suzanne Tilleman
  • Complete the SBSC certificate application (w/fee);
  • Complete the 2 required courses (6 credits);
  • Complete two courses out of the following listed electives (6 credits);
  • Maintain a GPA of 3.0 or better for all certificate courses;
  • After completion of the two required courses below, complete one “hands-on” experience to learn to apply and to demonstrate proficiency with sustainable business strategies and tools, as approved by the SBSC advisor (either an internship/service learning experience or case writing/submission); and
  • Attend and complete an assignment on two speaker presentations on topics relating to Sustainability & Business as approved by the SBSC advisor.

Required Courses:

  • BMGT 410 Sustainable Business Practices: Issues and Actions
  • BGEN 445 Sustainability Reporting

Plus two courses (6 credits) from the following:

  • BMGT 493 Sustainability: Humans, Business, and the Environment. (This course is 6 credits at the undergraduate level; students may count 3 of these credits towards the SBSC)
  • ECNS 445 International Environmental Economics and Climate Change
  • NRSM 449 Climate Change Ethics and Policy
  • GEO 482 Global Change
  • CCS 407 Global Cycles and Climate
  • NRSM 475 Environment and Development
  • ENST 367 Environmental Politics and Policies
  • ENST 487 Globalization, Justice, and the Environment

Meet with the SBSC advisor to discuss the "hands-on" experience:

  • Internship/service learning experience
  • Conference
  • Case writing/research paper