Chatham University is offering a new program that it believes will push the school to the forefront of new business ideology.
The sustainable business track, which will complement programming within the School of Sustainability and the Environment, will attempt to expand students’ business knowledge.
Bruce Rosenthal, Director of the Department of Business and Entrepreneurship at Chatham, said it used to be that businesses only looked at profit margins, but now they look at the three P’s: people, planet, and profit.
“Companies in the 21st century, especially internationally, have to understand that they have a responsibility socially, they have a responsibility to the environment, as well as having a responsibility to financial stakeholders of the company,” Rosenthal said.
One course of this new track is titled, “Creativity and Innovative Thinking,” a class encouraging students to take unique approaches to problems. According to Rosenthal, one reason for this class is to reflect what modern business executives look for in potential employees.
“We need someone who can accomplish something,” Said Rosenthal. “We need someone who can communicate well, who can think outside the box. We need someone who can come to me with concrete solutions for things, not somebody who sits in their cubicle and waits for either a spreadsheet or a case study, because we just can’t use them anymore.”
The specialized track will include course work in business and sustainability, sustainability assessment and reporting, and sustainable supply chain management. The program will begin in the spring of 2013.
