2025-2026 Academic Catalog

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Sustainable Business, MS

Program Requirements

Required Certificate

The following is the required certificate of the MS Sustainable Business program that sets the foundation for success in sequential certificates and coursework from within the Business School and beyond. As such, this certificate serves as a pre-requisite certificate that should be completed prior to beginning the elective certificates.

Foundations of Sustainable Business Certificate

Required Courses:
SUSB 6000Key Concepts and Issues in Sustainable Business3
SUSB 6821Managing for Sustainability3
SUSB 6285Accounting and Finance for Sustainability3
SUSB 6827Global Climate Change3
SUSB 6828Sustainable Supply Chains and Circularity3
Total Hours15

Elective Certificates

Students will need to earn two of the following six elective certificates in pursuit of the MS Sustainable Business. Some individual courses appear as options toward the completion of multiple certificates. However, individual courses taken to fulfill one certificate cannot be double-counted and applied toward the completion of a second certificate. Alternative courses from the approved lists will need to be selected instead to avoid double-counting. 

Environmental Sustainability Certificate

Modality: Online, with many face-to-face options

Description: This certificate is designed to introduce students to the various environmental challenges (e.g., water and natural resources, climate change, environmental wastes, and pollution) that companies face. Courses in this certificate will teach students not only how to manage and report on a company’s environmental performance, but how to develop sustainable and regenerative business practices to protect, restore, and improve our natural environments and resources.

Required Course:
SUSB 6826Environmental Sustainability and Stewardship3
Complete 2 of the following:6
Environmental Life Cycle Assessment
Earth Environments and Human Impacts
Water Quality and Resources
Climate Change: Causes, Impacts and Solutions
Risk Assessment
Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Trends in Energy & Commodities
Carbon Markets: Navigating the Future of Business
Sustainability in Resources Management
Science, Policy and the Environment
Seminar in Environmental Politics and Policy
Global Enterprise Sustainability and Resilience
Environmental Justice
Environmental Planning/Management
Total Hours9

Sustainable Energy Certificate 

Modality: Online primarily with some in-person options

Description: Courses in this certificate introduce students to the key concepts for understanding and managing renewable energy resources, and how to lead the global energy transition to renewable energy.

Complete 3 of the following:9
Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Trends in Energy & Commodities
21st Century Global Energy Issues and Realities
Technical Aspects of Energy Science
Strategic Management of the Energy Industry
Carbon Markets: Navigating the Future of Business
Project Development, Management and Leadership in Renewable Energy
Global History of Energy
Sustainable Energy Policy
Total Hours9

Risk Management and Resilience Certificate 

Modality: Primarily online, some in-person options

Description: Courses in this certificate introduce students to the concepts of risks, hazards, exposure, and resilience. Students will learn how to successfully manage and lead a company through periods of volatility, complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity typical of many sustainability and environmental challenges.

Required Course:
RISK 6309Strategic Risk Management3
Complete 2 of the following:6
Leading Organizational Change
Practical Enterprise Risk Management
Global Risk Management
Global Enterprise Sustainability and Resilience
Disaster/ClimateChangePlanning
Total Hours9

Social Enterprise Certificate 

Modality: Online with many face-to-face options

Description: Courses in this certificate build students’ abilities to design and launch successful businesses that are responsive and sensitive to social needs, equity and justice, and human well-being. 

Required Course:
SUSB 6300Social Enterprise3
Complete 2 of the following:6
Purpose-Driven Innovation in Social Entrepreneurship
Human Health and Environmental Pollution
Marketing Challenges at the Global Frontier
Civil Society and Nongovernmental Organizations
Managing for Social Equity
Public Private Partnerships
Environmental Justice
Community Development
Total Hours9

Managing for Sustainability Certificate

Modality: Online only

Description: Courses in this certificate train students to launch and lead strategic initiatives in their enterprises that improve social and environmental outcomes, and build sustainable enterprises that thrive in any business environment.

Complete 3 of the following:9
Transformative Leadership for Sustainability
Leadership for New and Innovative Ventures
Project Development, Management and Leadership in Renewable Energy
Leadership and Decision Making in the Global Energy Environment
Leading Organizational Change
Strategic Management
Visionary Leadership
Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
Managing for Social Equity
Total Hours9

Urban Sustainability and Infrastructure Certificate 

Modality: In-person only

Description: Cities are the most rapidly growing regions globally. They must be designed collaboratively with public, private, and civic sectors to make them more sustainable in the future. This certificate is designed for aspiring business leaders who plan to engage or collaborate with the public and civic sector to make our cities more just, livable, and sustainable through urban design, infrastructure planning, land use, and other urban sustainability concepts.

Required Course (Choose 1):3
Urban Sustainability
Urban Sustainability and Resiliency: Perspectives and Practice
Complete 2 of the following:6
Urban Design Economics and Equity
Urban Design and the Environment
Transportation, Land Use, and the Environment
Sustainable Transportation Systems
Total Hours9