Students get 'Green' Diplomas at Presidio College

By Judith Kahn

Is it possible for businesses to maintain a healthy financial, social and environmental return to the community? According to the philosophy at the Presidio World College, an affiliate of Alliant International University located in the Presidio, it's not only possible, but necessary given our environment's rapid decline, the accelerating pace of globalization and recent corporate scandals.

The goal of Presidio World College's MBA program is to produce business leaders with strong, practical skills of scenario planning and systems-thinking grounded in ethics and environmental awareness. The program defines sustainable management as "the creative stewardship of resources to earn a profit while serving the common good." This is the core principle of the MBA program - profits become a means and not just an end.

On June 4, the college graduated its first class of 20 students in the two-year, full-time program. Graduates got their diplomas at the Presidio Golf Course Clubhouse.

The Presidio College maintains that it is not enough for business leaders to be financially responsible, but business leaders in the private, public or non-profit sector also need to practice sustainable management. They should provide investors with not only a healthy financial return, but also a social return to the community and environment.

According to Presidio World College Provost Dr. Ron Nahser, business leaders cannot run their businesses as usual - nor can colleges run their MBA programs as usual. He thinks it is essential to teach social and environmental values with the application of practical business skills and to make sure students possess strong practical skills of scenario planning and systems thinking to enable them to cope well with the modern pace of decision making and global change. Businesses need to be financially responsible and efficient in their use of people and materials as well.

The college's educational philosophy is to develop students to engage in the world as sustainable managers, leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals in business and government organizations. Traditionally, the goals of creating or maintaining a profitable business and a healthy environment have been thought of as mutually exclusive.

However, many faculty members at the college have held management positions in various companies while upholding the values of environmental sustainability.

Over the years, business profits have often come at the expense of the environment, according to Alison Weeks, dean of students at Presidio World College. Weeks said there is an urgent need to develop MBA programs that integrate traditional business courses with courses in ethics and the environment. It is imperative that students be grounded in these areas so they will be able to provide competent business leadership.

At present, Presidio College is the third college in the country to offer a "green MBA program," which integrates a traditional MBA program with sustainable goals. Only two other institutions, New College of California in the Mission District and Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Washington, offer the MBA program. Tuition at Presidio World College costs $18,600 per year, but part-time options are available for students.

Three tenets provide the foundation for the Presidio World College curriculum. First, learning is an active experience and its quality depends in large measure on the leader's participation - intellectually, physically, intuitively and ethically.

The second is systems thinking, sometimes called "whole systems thinking," which involves looking at areas, issues or problems as a whole and not as individual pieces of a puzzle. It is essential to effective business planning but, unfortunately, this type of thinking is often forgotten in today's highly technical and specialized world.

The third tenet of the curriculum is the integration and communication of knowledge. The college's curriculum culminates in the Integrative Capstone course, which requires students to develop a Venture Plan - also know as the "Adventure Plan." The plan incorporates values stressed in the college's program.

Students entering the Presidio World College program are primarily from the Bay Area, with a handful of students flying in from other parts of the country. They are men and women, ranging in age from their mid-20s to their mid-50s, who believe businesses can be sustainable as well as being a positive force in society to bring about lasting social and environmental change. They recognize the need to develop solid business models and to develop leadership skills that reflect their values.

Some students have the business know-how, but need the sustainability training to implement initiative in their workplaces. Students meet for five, four-day sessions each semester and have regular online lessons between sessions. Student interaction with instructors and their peers is a key element to the program.

Presidio World College is proud of its faculty, according to Weeks, because they unite the best of academic rigor and theory with the best business practices. "The faculty is composed of professors who have achieved high accomplishments in the academic world and have successfully practiced sustainable managing skills in the business world," she said.

For more information about Presidio World College, call (415) 561-6590 or go to the Web site at www.presidioworldcollege.org.