ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan Business School is one of the top six international business schools for excellence in preparing MBAs to manage the complex social and environmental challenges of the global marketplace, according to a report, Beyond Grey Pinstripes 2003: Preparing MBAs for Social and Environmental Stewardship, released today by the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program and the World Resources Institute.

The Business School is cited for:

• Internships in large corporations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations that focus on environmental and social responsibility.

• Events such as conferences addressing Corporate Governance and Sustainable Peace and Mobility in a Sustainable World: A Complex Systems Approach.

• Elective courses such as Strategies for Environmental Management, Systems Thinking for Sustainable Development and Enterprise, and Human Rights and Business. In all, the Michigan Business School offers more than a dozen electives that address environmental/sustainable business topics, as well as a joint degree program with the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE).

"We are pleased to receive this award for our work in the business area," said Business School Dean Robert Dolan, who will accept the outstanding school award at a Citigroup-sponsored reception Oct. 8 in New York. "Research and teaching about a corporation’s role in society, and particularly the creation of sustainable systems, is fundamental to producing leaders in organizations, the central goal of our school. We appreciate the great work of our faculty and students, which is having a substantive impact and is recognized with this award."

Beyond Grey Pinstripes Faculty Pioneer Awards will be presented to Business School faculty members Thomas Gladwin, Timothy Fort and visiting associate professor Andrew Hoffman.

Gladwin, the Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise and professor of corporate strategy and international business, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for impact over the course of an academic career on a broad range of activities, including teaching, scholarship, mentoring, institutional change, outreach and service, and impact on business practice.

Gladwin is being recognized for challenging convention and showing "how patterns of human behavior, including globalization, can degrade the integrity and resilience of natural systems."

Gladwin directs the University’s Erb Environmental Management Institute. Created in 1996 through the generosity of Frederick Erb, BBA ’47, and his wife, Barbara, the Erb Institute focuses on the roles and relationships among businesses, governments and nonprofits as they affect the environment. The Erb Institute is home to the Corporate Environmental Management Program, a joint MBA/MS degree program offered by the Business School and SNRE. "These graduates are sought after for positions in industry, public policy and environmental groups and prove every day that sound economic decisions can go hand in hand with a sustainable environment," said SNRE Dean Rosina Bierbaum.

Fort, associate professor of business ethics and William Davidson Institute co-director for the Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility area, will receive the Academic Leadership Award for substantive contributions to a field of study through research record, teaching and mentoring excellence, and influence in his academic discipline. He is specifically being recognized as "an innovator who has had a significant impact on the field of business ethics through his award-winning research, teaching and commitment to curriculum development. He has developed popular elective courses such as Business Ethics, Science and Technology."

Hoffman, a visiting associate professor from Boston University, will receive the Rising Star Award for extraordinary contributions early in an academic career. His research, classroom innovations and ability to stimulate public debate on key social and environmental issues were cited. "A notable intellectual contribution is his use of organizational theory to explain the environmental practices and strategies that affect modern organizations," according to Beyond Grey Pinstripes.

Also recognized for their cutting-edge MBA programs are George Washington University’s School of Business and Public Management, University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Yale School of Management and York University’s Schulich School of Business in Toronto. For more about the awards program, see www.beyondgreypinstripes.org.