Sustainable Business COGS
Sustainable Business COGS
Sustainable Business COGS
The Sustainable Business Certificate of Graduate Studies (COGS) will offer graduate students a credential demonstrating their ability to apply sustainability concepts to the ‘real world’. This certificate is aimed at helping students in diverse graduate disciplines to develop and implement comprehensive sustainability solutions. This program is ideal for students in STEM, business, education, social sciences, humanities, and communication arts departments at the University. The courses may be offered online. For more information about this program click here
Professional Studies Core Courses (required for all MPS students)
Professional Studies Seminar
This course acquaints students with the Master of Professional Studies Degree program. The course allows students to engage in assessments that evaluate their knowledge, skills, abilities, and interests as they develop and/or refine college and career goals. Additionally, students will develop key communication skills for the 21st century workplace. Students also explore their own role and ethical considerations within a workplace.
Foundations of Agile Management
The course teaches principles and values of Agile frameworks and helps students apply Agile practices and techniques to real world project management. Moreover, the course is designed to demonstrate the value of project management that fosters continuous organizational development where project management is at the center of organizational change.
Foundations of Data Analytics and Reporting
This course will introduce business analytical models and tools used to interpret data and their implications for management decision making. The data analysis will enable students to make data driven decisions to optimize the business process and enhance organizational efficiency. Moreover, the use of data in the creation of enhanced business documents and oral presentations will be a key component of the course.
Project Management and Team Building
This course is designed to introduce project management principles and help organizational leaders strategically build teams to achieve goals related to organizational output. The course will cover core elements of project management including project scope, time and cost management, quality management, human resource considerations, communications, risk management, and procurement management. Moreover, the course examines leadership styles and the analysis of group dynamics from an interdisciplinary perspective including psychology, sociology, organizational management, and cultural anthropology.
Action Study: Master of Professional Studies
This course is designed to serve as the capstone course for the Master of Professional Studies Program. The goal of the course is for students to be able to articulate, define, research and analyze a problem or challenge in their current profession or field and integrate theory, data, and practical applications to address and develop a solution to the issue. More specifically, the course will incorporate an "action study" in which the student will use their academic experiences and knowledge to actively address the issue during the course, as part of an action-based plan that will be developed in the context of an internship experience with support from a faculty member. The capstone course serves as the final course in the Master of Professional Studies.
Sustainable Business COGS Courses
Sustainable Commerce
Students will examine the notion of “sustainable business” in this course. Students will learn about different types of ‘green’ and sustainable businesses and evaluate many case studies of businesses that have been successful in improving their environmental and social performance while also remaining profitable. Students will gain an understanding of social venturing and continue to develop their entrepreneurial skillsets and mindsets. Students will develop their own approaches to evaluating the sustainability of a business while also learning about emerging norms and frameworks. Students will examine sustainability as a concept impacting all aspects of a business, from operations and product design to finance, marketing, and human resources management. The impacts of “green” industries, products, and business practices are also examined. This course may be offered online.
Sustainable Assessment
Students will learn different approaches for setting sustainability goals, measuring progress towards sustainability outcomes, and managing so-called “sustainability transitions”. Students will learn about the increasingly important role of sustainability officers in different firms, and gain exposure to concepts and practices in sustainability reporting for both shareholder, regulatory, and scientific purposes. This course may be offered online. Students will learn different approaches for setting sustainability goals, measuring progress towards sustainability outcomes, and managing so-called “sustainability transitions”. Students will learn about the increasingly important role of sustainability officers in different firms, and gain exposure to concepts and practices in sustainability reporting for both shareholder, regulatory, and scientific purposes. This course may be offered online.
Topics in Sustainability Innovation and Problem Solving
Students in this seminar/practicum type class will study the implementation of sustainability transitions, in the context of current events and emerging ideas related to sustainability studies. Students will identify industries and/or societal challenges that could benefit from sustainability thinking and develop plans for implementing a new product, system, or structure. This course may not be offered every year. This course may be offered online.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
This course provides a broad framework for understanding the nature of entrepreneurship in multiple organizational settings. The course introduces students to the innovation and idea generation process and helps students apply an alternative way of "thinking" to assist in solving difficult issues for government, business, and the non-profit sector.
Corporate Entrepreneurship
This course provides an overview of the potential for innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities or new ventures within a corporate environment. The course covers various aspects of corporate entrepreneurship. Major topics include understanding the corporate entrepreneurial revolution, learning about the nature of entrepreneurship within established organizations (intrapreneurship), understanding the requirements for setting up an environment conducive to being intrapreneurial within a corporate setting, and learning about the entrepreneurial direction of firms as they grow and evolve. Among the issues discussed are the role of creativity within corporate entrepreneurship, the relation to product innovation and technology, the importance of corporate strategy within an entrepreneurial framework, and what it takes to create an entrepreneurial culture in a corporate setting.
Government and Non-Profit Accounting
This financial accounting course focuses on the contemporary accounting issues of governmental and non-profit organizations. It includes financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting and strategic planning in the environments of local, state, and federal government, colleges and universities, hospitals, and voluntary health and welfare organizations.