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International Visitors Program Makes A Stop at COB

Story by James Kneblik

(St. Petersburg, Fla.) July 21, 2008 – Business faculty and leadership lectured a new class of “students” on its academic specialty: corporate responsibility, on July 17. Leadership and faculty shared best practices of the triple bottom line to 17 international leaders from the U.S. Department of State’s international visitors program. Visitors hailed from 17 countries including Malawi, Mali, Sudan and Egypt.

Selected from more than 90 cities and regions that compete for the program’s 4,500 guests each year, the College’s Social Responsibility and Corporate Reporting Program of Distinction leaders presented an academic perspective on how corporate responsibility, reporting and good corporate governance can eliminate fraud. International study abroad and MBA opportunities was also covered.

This visit was timely. Last fall, the institution’s MBA Program was ranked 34th by the Aspen Institute’s Beyond Grey Pinstripes in its Top Global 100 for emphasizing Social Responsibility and Corporate Reporting. USF St. Petersburg’s MBA Program was recognized for uniquely preparing students for managing and leading in the complex corporate world by focusing on stakeholder considerations, understanding the triple bottom line and corporate social responsibility.

Director of the SCRC Program Dave Walker said, “We are excited to have these very important international visitors on campus and interested in learning more about our program of distinction of social responsibility and corporate reporting.”

The international guests were invited to the U.S. for three weeks and visited five cities during their visit. USF St. Petersburg was chosen by The International Council of Tampa Bay Region, Inc.

Mary Ellen Upton, executive director of ICTBR, said, “This represents citizen diplomacy at its finest.”

USF St. Petersburg MBA Recognized by Aspen Institute for Excellence
on Social and Environmental Issues

(St. Petersburg, FL) October 10, 2007—The University of South Florida St. Petersburg has demonstrated significant leadership in integrating social and environmental issues into its MBA program, according to the Aspen Institute’s 2007-2008 edition of Beyond Grey Pinstripes, a biennial survey and alternative ranking of business schools.  The school was ranked 34th on a list of the Global Top 100 Schools.

USF President Judy Genshaft responded to the news of the ranking by stating, “I am delighted that Beyond Grey Pinstripes recognizes the quality and distinctiveness of the MBA program at USF St. Petersburg. This superb ranking supports their academic priority of innovation in social responsibility and corporate reporting.”

In general, social and environmental issues have continued to grow in importance in the business school curriculum globally, and this is certainly true at USF St. Petersburg.

 “I know the faculty of the College of Business at USF St. Petersburg has worked hard to create distinctive curricular options and exemplary research in social and environmental stewardship and congratulate them for this achievement,” stated Karen A. White, Regional Chancellor of USF St. Petersburg.

“This year’s survey tells us that society and the environment are becoming significant issues on campus, not just for students, but in the Dean’s office and in many classrooms,” said Rich Leimsider, Director of the Aspen Institute Center for Business Education. 

In addition to being recognized by the rankings, USF St. Petersburg will also be featured prominently on the Beyond Grey Pinstripes website, and in the Aspen Institute’s upcoming “Alternative Guide to MBA Programs.”

“In the Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey, success is measured not by how much new MBA graduates earn or how many offers they get,” said Judith Samuelson, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, “but by how well prepared they are to guide a company through the complex relationship of business and society, where issues relating to the environment or the well-being of a community can impact a company’s performance and reputation.

“While graduate business schools are finding the ability to deal with such issues an increasingly important part of the training for successful business leaders, there is still room for innovation and improvement,” Samuelson added.

According to Geralyn McClure Franklin, Dean of the College of Business at USF St. Petersburg, “Our MBA students benefit from practical coursework in ethical decision making. We share the responsibility to restore public trust in business and believe our students are capable of exceeding standards.”

The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education, a program of The Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, compiled Beyond Grey Pinstripes, its biennial research survey and alternative ranking of business schools, looking at how well social and environmental issues are incorporated into the training of future business leaders.

Invitations to participate in the 2007 survey were sent out to 600+ internationally accredited business schools offering in-person, full-time MBA programs. Over forty thousand pages of data were collected from 111 schools this year—71 institutions located in the U.S. and 40 international schools, representing 18 countries.   

The faculty at USF St. Petersburg created elective MBA courses and concentrations in areas of social and environmental stewardship in 2004. In 2005, the curriculum was refocused with the creation of six required courses incorporating these concepts. Enrollment has grown significantly since then.

“We were particularly pleased with our number three ranking in student exposure by Beyond Grey Pinstripes as a result of these new courses in the MBA program,” Dave Walker, Director of the Program of Distinction noted.

Sample Findings

   The percentage of schools surveyed that require students to take a course dedicated to business and society issues has increased dramatically over time, from 34% in 2001 to 63% in 2007.

   Since the last survey in 2005, the number of elective courses per school dedicated to social/environmental content has increased 20%.

   The proportion of schools offering general social and environmental content in required core courses has increased in most business disciplines—Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management, Marketing, Strategy—since the 2005 survey.

   However, the proportion of schools requiring content in core courses on how mainstream business can address social or environmental issues remains low.

   Of the 112 schools that responded to the survey this year, 35 offer a special concentration or major that allows MBAs to focus on social and environmental issues inherent in mainstream, for-profit business.

   Change is still occurring slowly when it comes to published academic research on social or environmental topics. In the 1999-2000 survey, even top schools had as few as three to four published research articles on these concerns across the entire faculty.  In the 2007-2008 survey, only 5% of the faculty at the surveyed business schools published research that examined important social or environmental impact or business opportunities.

The complete ranking of the Beyond Grey Pinstripes 2007-2008 “Global 100” business schools can be found at www.beyondgreypinstripes.org.  For particular questions or issues related to social and environmental coursework and MBA education, contact the Aspen Institute Center for Business Education (www.AspenCBE.org)

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The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education (Aspen CBE) seeks to create business leaders for the 21st century who are equipped with the vision and knowledge necessary to integrate corporate profitability with social value. To that end, it offers programs that provide business educators with the resources they need to incorporate issues of social and environmental stewardship into their teaching, research and curriculum development.

As part of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program (Aspen BSP), Aspen CBE maintains close ties with over 100 MBA programs in 23 countries. Its websites draw over 75,000 visits monthly and its events and networks attract over 1,000 participants each year.

The University of South Florida St. Petersburg is the oldest and largest regional campus within USF and offers students a strong liberal arts curriculum coupled with professional programs in Business and Education. USF St. Petersburg is fiscally autonomous and separately accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.  The College of Business at USF St. Petersburg currently teaches over 1500 students and is separately accredited by AACSB International in both business and accounting.  USF is one of the nation's major public research universities and is classified in the top tier as Doctoral/Research Extensive by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.