Social Impact Core
Social Impact courses are taught by talented faculty boasting a variety of impressive backgrounds.
Curriculum with a lasting impact
A central theme of the Stern education is how business shapes and impacts the world around us. We recognize that business is the dominant social institution of our age and seek to provide a curriculum that ensures our students are thoughtful about their ability to influence society as business leaders. Nowhere is that more evident than in the Social Impact Core, a four-year sequence of courses designed to give students a deeper understanding of how businesses and their leaders impact society.
Overview of Social Impact Core Courses
- Business & Its Publics (freshmen year)
- Organizational Communication & Its Social Context (sophomore year)
- Law, Business & Society (junior year)
- Professional Responsibility & Leadership (senior year)
Business & Its Publics, the Social Impact Core foundation course, introduces students to the many interconnections between business, society, markets, politics, sustainability, social entrepreneurship and social justice. Through a series of lectures featuring a broad range of visitors that allow the students to hear, see, and question key people in business and its surrounding institutions, and a complementary discussion and writing course that takes place in intimate sections with Stern's most prominent faculty, students form their own perspectives on the meaning of business and its role in society and their lives. Past speakers have included CEOs, politicians, regulators, entrepreneurs, non-profit leaders, activists, artists, and writers.
In the spring 2011 semester, we piloted the NYU Stern Undergraduate College's Microgrant Lab program, a co-curricular experience designed to provide a select group of NYU Stern freshmen enrolled in a section of SOIM-UB 125 the opportunity to obtain seed funds for projects that create triple-bottom line value within the NYC community. The application for the spring 2012 semester will be available in the fall 2011 semester. Please check back for updates.
Interested freshmen students need not have a fully formed project in mind when completing the application. We are looking for students who are motivated and passionate about developing their idea.
Questions? Contact Matt Statler at mstatler@stern.nyu.edu, Richman Family Director, Business Ethics and Social Impact Programming
The Organizational Communication & Its Social Context course teaches students about stakeholder theory and how companies manage the expectations of their wide ranging stakeholders through strategic decision making and communication. Students spend the semester closely analyzing a company known for its high performance in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and use their own communication skills to analyze and make recommendations on how the company can further its CSR efforts.
The Law, Business & Society course challenges students to think more deeply about legal systems and appreciate how they have evolved and continue to evolve in relationship to business and society. The interaction between law and business is multi-dimensional involving social, political, ethical and technological considerations. In the course, students will examine how key areas of business law influence the structure of domestic and international business relationships, while honing their analytical, communication, conflict resolution and team problem solving skills.
The Professional Responsibility & Leadership capstone course facilitates student development of a personal sense of business professionalism and leadership. Students consider how individuals should behave in ambiguous situations, balancing self-interests and those of the firm within the larger context of society, ethics, and law. The course builds on content discussed throughout the core while introducing new themes pertinent to students about to enter the workforce including the economic and ethical aspects of acting as a business professional and several models, or approaches, to leadership.