A different kind of business school

Many college students choosing a major or graduate program grapple with this question: Do I want to turn a profit or change the world?

By Rosemary Winters
The Salt Lake Tribune

http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jun/06062004/business/172930.asp

But a growing number of business educators and professionals say they can have it both ways. Many businesses are distancing themselves from corporate scandals such as that which occurred at Enron by emphasizing corporate responsibility, sending the message that businesses can be profitable and be good for communities and the environment.

A few Utah students have discovered a place to learn altruistic business skills. Four Utahns have enrolled at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, which offers one of the nation’s only master of business administration degrees in sustainable business. The Bainbridge Island, Wash.-based school, which opened in fall 2002, finished its second academic year with 39 students, but expects rapid growth with 50 new students this fall.

The school has been able to attract high-quality faculty, including executive director Rick Bunch, former director of business education at the World Resources Institute; Amory Lovins, co-author of Natural Capitalism and chief executive of the Rocky Mountain Institute; and John Ehrenfeld, former director of the technology, business and environment program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

School co-founder Gifford Pinchot III and Utah students James Soares and Brooke Williams will be in Salt Lake City on Monday night to discuss the MBA program and the sustainability movement in business. The open house will run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Squatter’s Pub Brewery, where Soares has been involved in making company practices more environmentally friendly.

The Bainbridge Graduate Institute teaches traditional business skills, but in the context of conserving the earth’s resources and promoting human rights. Students are taught to look at the triple bottom line: people, planet, profit.

"We have to produce returns to shareholders, but we also have to take care of the environment and the communities that we operate in," Pinchot says.

He says the program appeals to people involved in environmental or nonprofit work who might never have considered entering the business world, but realize they need business skills to be more effective.

"What interested me was that it matched my values on how to be a responsible citizen and a responsible corporate citizen," 2004 graduate Mary Morrison says. "It wasn’t just about making money, it was about how can we take care of people, take care of the environment and make money."

Morrison, who helped manage the Ten Thousand Villages store in Salt Lake City while she completed her MBA, says her degree gives her more leverage for jobs. She is applying for an executive position with an international fair trade organization, and she has been offered a community development director position.

The MBA program is designed for working students — the average student age is 35 — and can be completed in two or three years. Students visit Bainbridge Island once a month for a four-day intensive course. The remainder of the course work is completed online through distance education technology, but students are part of "learning communities" to increase interaction with other students.

"I feel like I’m closer to the students than I would be if we met twice a week for a quarter," says Williams, a business consultant in Castle Valley. "The great thing about the program is you don’t have to uproot your whole life."

Open house

* The Bainbridge Graduate Institute, based in Bainbridge Island, Wash., will hold an open house from 6-9 p.m. Monday at Squatter’s Pub Brewery, 147 W. Broadway, Salt Lake City. School co-founder Gifford Pinchot III and Utah students will be there to discuss the institute’s master of business administration degree in sustainable business.

For more information, visit http://www.bgiedu.org.

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