Graduate Coursework in Sustainability

Graduate level, sustainability focused courses offered at Smeal.

The following Penn State Smeal College of Business courses are offered at the graduate level and include sustainability-focused content: 

Smeal MBA Program

B A 597 Sustainability Business Strategies: Includes readings, cases, and speakers on sustainability issues in business. Students focus on products/services that have waste components. A group project on managerial decision-making and environmental issues on how bias can influence environmental/sustainability decisions is made.

ENTR 597E Social Entrepreneurship and Social Value Creation: Focuses on social entrepreneurship -- the use of innovative, market-oriented approaches to addressing the world's most challenging social and environmental problems. A range of start-ups intended to create social value while at the same time being economically sustainable and/or profitable will be examined. The course also considers how managers start grassroots initiatives inside larger corporations, similarly focused on creating social value in an economically sustainable manner.

Smeal Ph.D. Program

SC&IS 597 Sustainable Operations: Various elements that are needed to develop a sustainable organization will be explored, including closed-loop supply chains (product repair remanufacturing and recycling), environmental regulation (including recent EU directives on electronics waste, reduction of hazardous substances, tires, etc.), industrial ecology (basic tools including life-cycle assessment), voluntary environmental labeling (e.g., LEED, EPEAT), extended producer responsibility, servicizing, designing products for recovery, and developing a sustainability strategy.