University of Arkansas at Little Rock
ER-12: Sustainability Immersive Experience

MGMT 4375/5375: Sustainable Business Practices. Course Description: The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the emerging field of sustainability and the triple-bottom line focus on the social impact, environmental impact, and economic impact of business. Although environmental and social concerns have historically been the realm of nonprofits, the focus of this course will be on the growing involvement and powerful impact of for-profit businesses. This is not an ethics course, although ethics is inextricably tied to corporate social responsibility and sustainability. The course topics will be organized around a triple focus: social, environmental, and economic impacts and how businesses can use their enormous power to make a positive impact. Regardless of your major area of study, the issues covered in this course are cross-disciplinary. This course incorporates classroom learning and practical applied experience. Students engage in a pro-bono consulting project with a local business and apply the concepts being learned in class. Past student projects have included a campus greenhouse gas inventory, working with LEED consultants to help the university gain points on a building project, leading a local hospital through the Green Guide for Healthcare self-study, developing a sustainability ordinance for the City of Little Rock, completing a comparative study on urban sustainability indicators for the City of Little Rock, survey and market research for a local wastewater treatment plant consulting firm, and working with several local businesses and nonprofits on sustainability-related projects. In addition to this class, students can take semester-long internship courses through their major departments with any of several local sustainability-focused organizations (i.e., Viridian USA, Sustainable Business Network of Central Arkansas, Village Commons, Arkansas Sustainability Network, Heifer International, Arkansas Earth Institute, Arkansas Earth Day Foundation, etc