The University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business was ranked number forty on the Aspen Institute Center for Business Education's Beyond Grey Pinstripes Global 100 list which recognizes M.B.A. programs that integrate social and environmental issues into curricula and research. This honor comes as the Center for Sustainable Business Practices began its first full academic year this fall, having launched in mid-2008.
More than 100 programs from around the globe were reviewed and assessed on availability of courses relevant to social, environmental, and ethical issues; hours of teaching and student enrollment time spent on those courses; number of courses that address the intersection of social impact management and for-profit businesses; and relevant published faculty research.
Although the Lundquist College of Business garnered high marks in each arena, its best performance was in the Relevant Courses on For-Profit Impact category. The survey recognized the college for its courses like those in the sustainable business practices track. These include required classes in business leadership and ethics, sustainable business development, industrial ecology, life-cycle analysis, and supply chain management and operations, as well as nonbusiness electives in environmental law, resource and environmental economics, and environmental studies.
“Clearly, the relevance of our courses to today's markets, driven by our close working relationships with businesses in the classroom, is what really sets us apart from the competition" said Thomas Osdoba, director of the Center for Sustainable Business Practices, which helps coordinate the sustainable business curriculum and builds deep ties with industry. “Leveraging the faculty's years of experience in greening the supply chain and optimizing operations to translate issues to for-profit markets is key to the success of sustainable initiatives."
“To enter the list at number forty is a great accomplishment," Osdoba added. “We expect to achieve much greater heights when the next ranking comes out in 2011."
The Aspen Institute's Business and Society program created the biennial rankings in conjunction with the World Resources Institute (WRI) based on WRI's report, Grey Pinstripes with Green Ties. The first Beyond Grey Pinstripes rankings were released in 1999.