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Leeds School of Business was ranked 19th for sustainability in BusinessWeek's 2010 Undergraduate Specialty Rankings. And while infusing a greener way of thinking into higher education is growing in popularity across college campuses, the Leeds School has been committed for more than 20 years to the importance of teaching sustainable business practices through our coursework, centers, faculty research, conferences and community involvement.

As an active citizen of what the Sierra Club recognizes as the greenest university campus in the United States, we train future business leaders to emphasize sustainability in all its forms -- economic, environmental, and social.

Our LEED-certified Koelbel Building is located at the heart of the New Energy Economy in Colorado, an exciting renaissance which will impact the business world far beyond the Rocky Mountains. The Leeds School provides a home base to our students as they pursue sustainable business opportunities, social enterprises and startup companies here in the innovative Boulder area and around the globe.

For example, our MBA candidates have interned at the National Research Energy Laboratory, the only federal laboratory dedicated to renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. Our students consistently place in national and international competitions in the cleantech sector and real estate. Through student organizations like the Outdoor Industry Club and CU Energy Club, Leeds School students are connecting with like-minded peers interested in eco-friendly business ventures.

As for alumni, we easily devoted recent issues of the alumni magazine Portfolio here and here to the contributions that our alumni and students have made in renewable energy technology, green construction, organic and natural foods, among other sustainability-related industries. For instance, distinguished alumnus and advisory board member Joe Pettus has led initiatives in green energy, carbon footprint reduction, and LEED-certified retail locations for the grocery chain Safeway.

Sustainability is a thread running through our Centers of Excellence. Faculty member Stephen Lawrence, academic director of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship's program "Entrepreneurs Pioneering a Sustainable World," is a leading voice on how sustainability is now in the best interests of business success through a triple bottom line-- people, planet, profits-- and that these factors are far from mutually exclusive.

Our Center for Education on Social Responsibility (CESR) develops and delivers sustainability content across the Leeds School curriculum through its focus on social responsibility to consumers, shareholders and local communities.

Our Real Estate Center offers courses on sustainable real estate development and land use, which was galvanized by the recent hiring of Stephanie Gripne, a scholar with an extensive background research and industry experience in conservation real estate, as the new director of the Initiative for Sustainable Development.

Sustainability is at the center of our integrated curriculum, faculty research, student engagement, and alumni ventures. This culture of sustainability, with the Leeds School as a significant contributor, is shaping the next generation of business leaders with the understanding and values needed to achieve a cleaner planet and a more equitable economy.

There have been several recent studies linking higher education to a higher quality of life for not only individual graduates, but their communities. In a recent New York Times blog post by Harvard economics professor Edward L. Glaeser, research showed that not only does a higher level of education help an individual's career prospects, but that a community of such people multiply the effect for the entire community, educated and not. So a higher degree becomes an engine that drives a community's overall economic resilience and growth. As Glaeser states, "teach your neighbors well" and reap benefits that far outweigh just one individual's success.

Here at the Leeds School, we know that we help drive the success of our community and state through a variety of programs and pathways:

• Our faculty engage in research and research-based teaching to address current relevant issues ranging from green business innovation to the economic meltdown and recovery.
• Our energetic graduates, both undergrad and MBA who contribute their passion and knowledge and dreams to all levels of Colorado and national businesses spanning roles from C-level executives to entrepreneurs to a variety of positions in management, marketing, accounting and finance.
• Our Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and CU Real Estate Center which bring the best of real-world experience and cutting edge academic research to our students and the business community. 
• Our newly named Center for Education on Social Responsibility which rounds out our "whole person" values to deliver critical thinkers who are grounded in business fundamentals as well as in ethics.

And as University of Colorado President Benson has stated repeatedly:

"Higher education is not only good for an individual, it's also a societal good. Colleges and universities, particularly research universities like CU, create jobs, start companies, provide an educated work force and have a significant economic impact on a state (some $7 billion annually in CU's case, including the University of Colorado Hospital)."

I encourage you to share your thoughts on the value of higher education. For in these tough financial times, higher education and the Leeds School are here to help point the Colorado economy in a positive direction

Here at the Leeds School, we have more than 20 years of commitment to sustainable business practices and we continue this dedication through our programs.  In fact, we were recently featured in an article on sustainable education in Delta Air Line's Sky Magazine.

In the article, the section on Integrated Learning Opportunities describes our approach to teaching sustainability (and includes a quote from our own Paul Jerde of the Deming Center and a photograph of Professor Steve Lawrence, who was an instructor of the clean and renewable seminar RETool).  The Industry Focus section of the article describes the work at our Deming and Real Estate centers.

As interim dean, I am working hard to grow sustainability opportunities for our students and we have recently shared an overview of how sustainability infuses all that we do:

The Leeds School believes that environmental stewardship and social responsibility are consistent with running a profitable business.  Indeed, a central message underlying the entrepreneurial emphasis of the school is that enormous opportunities exist to "do well by doing good" in environmental, social, and ethical terms, all while maintaining and enhancing economic sustainability.

The Leeds School's overarching goal with its sustainability initiatives is to educate and inspire students to become values-driven leaders who create sustainable businesses and develop new innovative models that transform how we do business in all sectors. It is noteworthy that a broad array of Leeds' business partners, such as the natural and organic products industry in Boulder, the sustainable real estate development community, and the burgeoning Colorado renewable energy industry, have all contributed significantly to the realization of this goal. In addition, local and nationally-recognized, values-driven business leaders are woven into the Leeds educational experience; students regularly engage with such leaders in the classroom and the workplace through projects, speaking engagements, and internships.

Learn More about Sustainability at Leeds

In early February, my Development colleagues and I attended an event at a private home in Palm Springs.  The program included remarks by President Benson, Chancellor Distefano and me.  The keynote speaker was Leslie Leinwand of CU Boulder's Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology (CIMB).  When introducing me, the chancellor mentioned that the Boulder Campus "needs a strong Business School," a remark that pleased all of our alumni at the event.  

In my remarks, I emphasized the need for collaboration with other academic units including CIMB.  Collaboration has always been part of our culture.  We currently offer dual MBA degrees with Law, Anthropology, Computer Science, Environmental Studies, Fine Arts, Germanic and Slavic Languages, Telecommunications and Theater.  Entrepreneurship certificates in collaboration with the College of Engineering and the School of Music are also in place and we are in the process of establishing a partnership with the School of Journalism.

The Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology represents a very exciting opportunity for collaboration.  CU's commitment to this initiative is largely responsible for attracting Nobel Laureate Prof. Tom Cech back to the Boulder Campus.  The CIMB vision is to formulate a new model "for discovery, development, and commercialization of therapies to address world-wide health issues."  As such, the "Leeds School of Business will be a critical partner in the CIMB program by helping to build new programs for entrepreneurs that are prepared to lead in the global, competitive, and complex bioscience industry".  Our goal is to establish programs that would include courses such as UC Berkeley's "Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology", which are designed for both those who would like to commercialize research outcomes (i.e., the entrepreneurs) and those who may someday work in startup companies in the biotechnology or medical device space.  The collaboration is powerful because "not only will science students be welcome, but business students who are learning how to transfer technologies into the marketplace will be an essential part of the new education paradigm".

The most compelling argument for the CIMB/Leeds partnership is best stated by Damian Hine and John Kapeleris in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology, An International Perspective: Concepts, Theories and Cases: "biotechnology is at a crossroads; to date the science has been solid, yet commercial success remains elusive, and that it will be ... commercial success ... which will dictate the long term viability of this crucial industry." The Leeds school is proud and excited to work with our partners in CIMB to help bring the commercial possibilities of biotechnology to fruition.

To that end and in the larger realm of collaboration, I ask my readers: In what other partnerships would you like to see Leeds school involvement?