Bold Leadership:
the Aquinas College Sustainable Business Program
By Dr. Matthew Tueth and Jessica Eimer
Throughout time, industrial operations have a history of exploiting natural resources and releasing toxic pollution into the environment. During the last several decades, U.S. businesses alone have begrudgingly spent billions of dollars in order to comply with environmental regulations aimed at decreasing the amount of toxics entering our landfills, air, and water. An adversarial relationship has developed between the business community and environmentalists, with corporations viewing environmentalists as a burden and environmentalists seeing businesses as the major cause of environmental degradation.
In an effort to promote a healthier and more stable world, a movement started in Europe during the late 1980s and later spread to the U.S. that involved changing the way goods and services are produced. This new business paradigm included the elimination of the use of hazardous chemicals as well as the elimination of the very concept of industrial waste. Another important component included ways to improve employee working conditions and the overall effect of businesses upon the community. A third requirement for each new business practice was to increase profitability. This “triple bottom line” approach to business is a win-win-win situation for the natural world, the community, and business. It also creates a situation where the environmentalists and the business people now work together for lasting progress. To implement these changes, it will take a professional that is well-versed in environmental issues, business practices, and the physical sciences.
In the fall semester of 2003, Aquinas College of Grand Rapids, Michigan began to offer higher education in a bold new way. A Bachelor of Science degree in Sustainable Business (SB) guides that student through a concentration in not one, but four different areas of expertise, including science, environmental studies, business, and sustainable business principles. In addition to fulfilling their general education requirements, graduates of the program must take eight business courses, four science courses, two environmental studies courses, and five sustainable business courses.
The result of such synergism cultivated in the Aquinas program produces a student that is qualified to guide cutting-edge business practices that will increase the economic wealth and stability of industry, build social capital of the region, and drastically decrease adverse environmental impacts on the natural environment. The sustainable business program at Aquinas College is unlike any other undergraduate curriculum in the United States and the results speak for themselves.
Because of the inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary nature of this program, successful SB professionals are innovative, imaginative, and big picture thinkers who are keenly aware of inter-relationships between built and natural environments. Rather than viewing business, social, and environmental concerns as mutually exclusive, these professionals see the value of forming partnerships that promote win-win situations for all shareholders.
Graduates of this program will possess a truly unique set of knowledge and skills. Many business leaders are already eager to partner with graduates of this program as they become available. Anyone who would like to continue their education and significantly improve their potential for career advancement would be potential candidates for this new degree. Working professionals that already hold a Bachelors degree but would like to enhance their resume can enroll in the SB certificate program, which requires completion of a series of only six core courses.
In order to ensure that graduates of this new program will have the specific sustainable business expertise coveted by future employers, Aquinas has formed an external advisory committee of diverse business leaders and academicians. Members of this committee are asked to provide Aquinas faculty with input on specific program content and direction quarterly. The committee also functions to cultivate a close working relationship between sustainable business participants and West Michigan industry and to promote future internships and employment opportunities that will benefit both the employer and employee.
This new program promotes inclusive partnerships, innovation, and service to current and future generations. This unique multidisciplinary approach to higher education provides more effective ways to educate students and everyone is invited to consider the personal and global possibilities.
Dr. Tueth presented a workshop on the Sustainable Business Program at Aquinas College for the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference in 2004. Info at: www.aquinas.edu/sb/index.html