Focus on Sustainable Business,  Management, & Entrepreneurship

Location: UVM campus, site visits, and/or online

Emerging leaders interested in sustainable business, management, or entrepreneurship have the option to complete any one course offered as part of this Interdisciplinary Focus or any combination of three courses listed below. Participants will be issued a Certificate of Completion for each individual course completed and upon completing three courses will receive a Professional Certificate of Interdisciplinary Focus on Sustainable Business, Management, & Entrepreneurship.

Certificates of completion for individual courses will be distributed to participants on the last day of class. Participants who complete all three courses must email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to request the Certificate of Interdisciplinary Focus be mailed to them by Continuing Education.

Who Should Attend Sustainable Business?

• People at all levels of an organization who are interested in doing business in a socially and environmentally responsible way.
• Graduate and upper-level undergraduate students interested in working for or starting sustainable businesses or organizations.

Overview of Courses:

Sustainable Business: Practices in Support of People, Profits and Principles offered annually in July is a five-day intensive summer program that offers you the opportunity to learn and apply new principles of designing, organizing and managing a business based on sustainability.

For the Sustainable Business Program, there are two registration options:

• Attend all five days and successfully complete work for three college credits (BSAD 295 or NR 285).
• Attend all five days for professional development and receive a Sustainable Business Certificate of Completion.

For More Information: Visit Sustainable Business (http://www.uvm.edu/~sustnbus/)

Collaborative Management offered annually in July is a five-day intensive summer program designed as an in-depth overview for organizational leaders. To achieve sustainability leaders must build relationships with people and organizations that span governmental, business and non-profit settings. The resulting networks may take the form of public-private partnerships, cross-sector collaborations, and strategic alliances. Leading and succeeding within these settings requires collaboration skills, as well as attitudes and knowledge about how best to function and succeed within networked environments.

The UVM Collaborative Management Institute provides graduate and executive leadership students with an opportunity to learn how best to lead and succeed in settings that require partnering with others to achieve common goals and outcomes.

For the Collaborative Management Program, there are two registration options:

• Attend all five days and successfully complete work for three college credits (BSAD 395, PA 395 & NR 385)
• Attend all five days for professional development and receive a Sustainable Business Certificate of Completion.

For More Information: Visit Collaborative Management (http://learn.uvm.edu/cm/)

Introduction to Ecological Economics, The Science and Management of Sustainability, offered online regularly throughout the year (NR 285 & ENVS 295) is an online course that provides a general introduction to ecological economics which is a good foundation for sustainable business. Ecological economics differs from conventional economics in assuming that the human system is a subset of the sustaining and containing global ecosystem, and that it obeys the physical laws of thermodynamics (which physicists refer to as the supreme laws of nature) as well as the laws of ecology. This course will integrate theory and application. Four main modules will introduce you to the theory of ecological economics and guide you through a problem-based learning (PBL) approach. Each module contains three types of assignments: some that expose you to the basic theory, some focused specifically on your project, and some that ask you to integrate basic theory into your project.

For More Information: Visit Intro to Ecological Economics (http://metacourses.org/ecologicaleconomics/about/)

Community Economic Development: Public Leaders Building Sustainable Economies, offered annually in July is a five-day intensive summer program focused on strategies to encourage economic self-sufficiency through local ownership and resource use, equalize the benefits and burdens of growth, leverage and recycle scarce public and private funds, protect and preserve environmental resources, ensure full participation in decision making, and nurture a robust "third sector" of private organizations to help deliver essential services.

• Attend all five days and successfully complete work for three college credits.
• Attend all five days for professional development and receive a Certificate of Completion for Entrepreneurs and Public Leaders.

For More Information: Visit the Public Leaders page (http://learn.uvm.edu/igs/social_entrepreneurs)