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In a press release Wednesday, the Brandeis International Business School announced the creation of an MBA in Socially Responsible Business or the “Global Green MBA.”

The creation of the “Global Green MBA” comes in the wake of other university efforts and initiatives to increase environmental sustainability, including most recently President Reinharz’s creation of a committee to discuss the presence of bottled water on campus and the distribution of reusable water bottles to undergraduates.

These efforts follow the hiring of a sustainability coordinator last semester and Reinharz’s signing of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment last September.

According to the press release, the new MBA program will allow students to integrate business studies with “economic and social development, corporate governance, and environmental policy.”

Along with the standard IBS curriculum, students in this program will take additional classes, amongst them a course entitled “What is Green Business?” and another entitled “Corporations and the Environment.” Students will also complete a field project addressing environmental issues.

Speaking of the new concentration, IBS dean, Bruce R. Magid said in the release, “[o]ur students will explore how businesses can differentiate themselves as they address pressing issues such as global warming and the development of clean technologies.”

“The program is available beginning this Fall,” wrote IBS Senior Associate Director of Communications Matthew Parillo in an e-mail to The Hoot.

As of yet, Parillo explained, “we don’t have a student count…it’s just too early right now to get a handle on the number.”

“Business and the Environment,” taught by Assistant Professor of Strategy, Preeta Banerjee, will be the first course taught in the program.

Parillo explained, “The new MBA concentration in Socially Responsible Business is a natural extension for Brandeis International Business School. It advances the principles and values of Justice Louis Brandeis and gives students the opportunity to explore tradeoffs between economic, social and environmental goals.”

Brandeis Sustainability Coordinator Janna Cohen-Rosenthal explained via e-mail message that while she had no hand in the creation of the new MBA concentration, “[l]earning about sustainability in the classroom, particularly in a business school context, is a crucial component of creating a more sustainable society and university. The world is changing rapidly in terms of sustainability work- and its wonderful to see our academic offerings stay ahead of the curve.”

She continued, “[s]tudents in this new IBS program will have a unique skill set and it would be exciting to tap their expertise for the university, while here, and to see where their careers take them in this new business world.”