Fall 2021 Undergrad Courses in Sustainable Business
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Stern undergraduate students concentrating in Sustainable Business examine the unique role of the private sector and gain a broad understanding of how embedding sustainability into core business strategy benefits financial performance and management practices. To learn more about the Concentration and its course requirements, click here.
To assist undergraduate students as they design their schedules, CSB has assembled the following list of Sustainable Business courses offered in the upcoming Fall 2021 semester. *New courses offered are marked with asterisks below.
Professor Whelan | MW 3:30- 4:45pm ET | In-Person
This course is designed to assist students in developing the knowledge, skills, and perspective they need to understand and address environmental and social challenges in business, so that as leaders they reduce risk, create competitive advantage, and develop innovative services, products, and processes, all while building value for society and protecting the planet.
BSPA-UB 41: Social Entrepreneurship
Professor Taparia | MW 9:30-10:45am ET | In-Person
Social Entrepreneurship is an emerging and rapidly changing business field that examines the practice of identifying, starting and growing successful mission-driven for profit and nonprofit ventures, that is, organizations that strive to advance social change through innovative solutions. This course is designed to provide a socially relevant academic experience in order to help students gain in-depth insights into economic and social value creation across a number of sectors/areas including poverty alleviation, energy, health and sustainability. Essentially, students will have the opportunity to find and test new ideas and solutions to social problems, create sustainable business models (using lean startup principles), identify funding options and alternatives, learn how to measure social impact as well as scale/grow a social enterprise to name a few. We provide students with a toolkit and frameworks that can be used in a social venture or within an existing organization to influence social change.
ECON-UB 9225 Business and The Environment
Professor Moerenhout | Time TBA | Blended (Online & In-Person)
This course is a broad overview of pressing questions regarding the relationship between business and the environment. It aims to give students a look at the major drivers of environmental change, the shifting roles of government and non-government organizations (NGOs), as well as ways in which there are business responsibilities as well as opportunities. It emphasizes the unique role of business in a rapidly changing, globalized world and gives an overview of environmental issues business leaders are facing and will face in the future .
* This course is open to all students, including students who are not studying away at the NYU Washington DC Campus.
FINC-UB 77 Economic and Financial Approach to Climate Change*
Professor Stroebel | MW 3:30-4:45pm | In-Person
Climate change presents one of the central challenges of our generation, with a wide range of possible effects on financial markets and the broader economy. This class: (i) Thinks about the effect of climate change on the overall economy; (ii) Studies the risks and opportunities that climate change hold for firms and financial institutions (distinguishing between a variety of types of risk, including transition risk and regulatory risk); (iii) Discusses how financial markets can help transfer and hedge climate risk; (iv) Explores the economic and financial foundations of potential climate regulation; (v) Analyzes how climate risk interacts with other risks, such as the risk of future pandemics.
BSPA-UB 44 Innovations and Strategies for Building a Progressive Social Enterprise
Professor Hollender | Thu 5:00-8:00pm ET | In-Person
Sustainable Business & The New Economy, taught by Jeffrey Hollender, Co-Founder and former CEO of one of the most successful sustainable brands - Seventh Generation - explores the future of sustainability and sustainable business, the role business plays in concentration of money and power, and how "net-positive" business can contribute to a world of greater justice, equity, and wellbeing. This class assumes that in some manner you desire to be an active contributor to a just, equitable, and regenerative world. That is my definition of a "social entrepreneur." The course is committed to equipping you to be more effective in that pursuit.
FINC-UB 75 Managing Climate, Cyber, Geopolitical, and Financial Risk
Professor Berner | MW 11.00 AM - 12.15 PM | In-Person
Businesses and governments now face a growing and immediate array of nonfinancial risks, including climate-related, cyber and operational, and geopolitical risks. This course will study these risks alongside financial risks. It will outline frameworks for measuring, assessing and analyzing them, and for actions needed to meet them. We will examine case studies of climate, cyber and geopolitical risks, including from current events. Finally, we will study whether and how the information in financial markets can both inform the assessment of these risks and potentially provide tools to transfer, insure against or hedge them.
BSPA-UB 103 Social Impact Consulting (P)
Professor Statler | Mon 2:00-4:45pm | In-Person
This course is an experiential learning seminar involving project-based collaboration among students, faculty and nonprofit organizations in New York City. Its two objectives are to provide students with an occasion to put the lessons learned in the Social Impact Core Curriculum into practice as consultants; and to produce project outcomes that have meaning and value for participating stakeholders.
BSPA-UB 51 Marketing for Impact: Strategies for Sustainable Business (P)
Professor Taparia & Bemporad | Wednesday 5:00-8:00pm ET | In-Person
The American corporate landscape is under assault. The average lifespan for a company in the S&P 500 is shorter than ever, approval ratings for corporations are lower than ever, and consumers are increasingly skeptical of advertising and corporate social responsibility messages that attempt to divert attention from unethical business practices. The ideas of stakeholder theory and shared value are gaining ground and increasingly being seen as necessary constructs for corporations. As part of this, the field of marketing is also undergoing significant change. This course will attempt to explore this “new normal,” study the evolution of the consumer, and explore what brands, both old and new, are doing and might do to succeed in the years to come. The course will rely on a series of cutting edge case studies and real-world projects brought to life by two entrepreneurs—one who is the co-founder of a leading health food brand and the other who is the co-founder of a leading creative agency
To assist undergraduate students as they design their schedules, CSB has assembled the following list of Sustainable Business courses offered in the upcoming Fall 2021 semester. *New courses offered are marked with asterisks below.
Foundational Course (Required for Concentration)
BSPA-UB.0068.01: Sustainability for Competitive AdvantageProfessor Whelan | MW 3:30- 4:45pm ET | In-Person
This course is designed to assist students in developing the knowledge, skills, and perspective they need to understand and address environmental and social challenges in business, so that as leaders they reduce risk, create competitive advantage, and develop innovative services, products, and processes, all while building value for society and protecting the planet.
Issue Area
BSPA-UB 41: Social EntrepreneurshipProfessor Taparia | MW 9:30-10:45am ET | In-Person
Social Entrepreneurship is an emerging and rapidly changing business field that examines the practice of identifying, starting and growing successful mission-driven for profit and nonprofit ventures, that is, organizations that strive to advance social change through innovative solutions. This course is designed to provide a socially relevant academic experience in order to help students gain in-depth insights into economic and social value creation across a number of sectors/areas including poverty alleviation, energy, health and sustainability. Essentially, students will have the opportunity to find and test new ideas and solutions to social problems, create sustainable business models (using lean startup principles), identify funding options and alternatives, learn how to measure social impact as well as scale/grow a social enterprise to name a few. We provide students with a toolkit and frameworks that can be used in a social venture or within an existing organization to influence social change.
ECON-UB 9225 Business and The Environment
Professor Moerenhout | Time TBA | Blended (Online & In-Person)
This course is a broad overview of pressing questions regarding the relationship between business and the environment. It aims to give students a look at the major drivers of environmental change, the shifting roles of government and non-government organizations (NGOs), as well as ways in which there are business responsibilities as well as opportunities. It emphasizes the unique role of business in a rapidly changing, globalized world and gives an overview of environmental issues business leaders are facing and will face in the future .
* This course is open to all students, including students who are not studying away at the NYU Washington DC Campus.
Discipline
FINC-UB 77 Economic and Financial Approach to Climate Change*Professor Stroebel | MW 3:30-4:45pm | In-Person
Climate change presents one of the central challenges of our generation, with a wide range of possible effects on financial markets and the broader economy. This class: (i) Thinks about the effect of climate change on the overall economy; (ii) Studies the risks and opportunities that climate change hold for firms and financial institutions (distinguishing between a variety of types of risk, including transition risk and regulatory risk); (iii) Discusses how financial markets can help transfer and hedge climate risk; (iv) Explores the economic and financial foundations of potential climate regulation; (v) Analyzes how climate risk interacts with other risks, such as the risk of future pandemics.
BSPA-UB 44 Innovations and Strategies for Building a Progressive Social Enterprise
Professor Hollender | Thu 5:00-8:00pm ET | In-Person
Sustainable Business & The New Economy, taught by Jeffrey Hollender, Co-Founder and former CEO of one of the most successful sustainable brands - Seventh Generation - explores the future of sustainability and sustainable business, the role business plays in concentration of money and power, and how "net-positive" business can contribute to a world of greater justice, equity, and wellbeing. This class assumes that in some manner you desire to be an active contributor to a just, equitable, and regenerative world. That is my definition of a "social entrepreneur." The course is committed to equipping you to be more effective in that pursuit.
FINC-UB 75 Managing Climate, Cyber, Geopolitical, and Financial Risk
Professor Berner | MW 11.00 AM - 12.15 PM | In-Person
Businesses and governments now face a growing and immediate array of nonfinancial risks, including climate-related, cyber and operational, and geopolitical risks. This course will study these risks alongside financial risks. It will outline frameworks for measuring, assessing and analyzing them, and for actions needed to meet them. We will examine case studies of climate, cyber and geopolitical risks, including from current events. Finally, we will study whether and how the information in financial markets can both inform the assessment of these risks and potentially provide tools to transfer, insure against or hedge them.
Practicum
BSPA-UB 103 Social Impact Consulting (P)Professor Statler | Mon 2:00-4:45pm | In-Person
This course is an experiential learning seminar involving project-based collaboration among students, faculty and nonprofit organizations in New York City. Its two objectives are to provide students with an occasion to put the lessons learned in the Social Impact Core Curriculum into practice as consultants; and to produce project outcomes that have meaning and value for participating stakeholders.
BSPA-UB 51 Marketing for Impact: Strategies for Sustainable Business (P)
Professor Taparia & Bemporad | Wednesday 5:00-8:00pm ET | In-Person
The American corporate landscape is under assault. The average lifespan for a company in the S&P 500 is shorter than ever, approval ratings for corporations are lower than ever, and consumers are increasingly skeptical of advertising and corporate social responsibility messages that attempt to divert attention from unethical business practices. The ideas of stakeholder theory and shared value are gaining ground and increasingly being seen as necessary constructs for corporations. As part of this, the field of marketing is also undergoing significant change. This course will attempt to explore this “new normal,” study the evolution of the consumer, and explore what brands, both old and new, are doing and might do to succeed in the years to come. The course will rely on a series of cutting edge case studies and real-world projects brought to life by two entrepreneurs—one who is the co-founder of a leading health food brand and the other who is the co-founder of a leading creative agency