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For-Credit Courses

Online Offerings: Sustainability & Social Impact

Our non-degree offerings are online, synchronous professional development opportunities for those interested in sustainability and social impact. The courses are designed to enhance skillsets and provide tools and strategies to impact change in the workplace and beyond.

Overview

Type of Course

12-Week, 4-Credit Courses

Start Date

Week of September 7, 2020

Prerequisite

Bachelor’s degree; participants with a genuine interest in sustainability and social impact

Time Commitment

6:00pm – 9:30pm, online once a week

Years of Experience

Designed for participants with all levels of work experience

Cost

$2,700 per course

Takeaways

Create Sustainable Environments
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Move beyond a “one size fits all” model and consider the kind of world you would like to create and be equipped with the tools to proceed.

People-First Everything
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Learn how to reach people, not consumers, by not only understanding what they need but also what they deserve.

Global-Minded Approach
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Gain insights on how to critically and strategically analyze challenges in the context of the global marketplace.

Induce Critical Thinking
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Approach problem solving by examining real-life scenarios that push you to ask the right and often difficult questions.

Effective Future Leaders
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Gain insights on how to develop comprehensive strategies that are results-oriented, sustainable and timeless.

Competitive Positioning
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Learn how to apply a range of analytical tools and frameworks for assessment and development of a firm’s strategic capability, competences and competitive position in a variety of global settings.

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List Of Courses

Sustainable Fashion Business Strategy

Course Description:

Building a new sustainably-focused fashion business, or shifting an existing business not currently managing sustainability considerations, requires a specific set of skills, considering all needs of the business from supply chain to marketing messaging. As the world changes and demands a new paradigm for operating a business – eschewing the former singular goal of profit for shareholders and replacing that with the need to serve a wide range of stakeholders – a new knowledge base, a greater flexibility and an entirely different skill set is required to succeed. Success under such a paradigm is not just doing better than before but actively doing good.

This module covers the range of considerations specific to operating with a common good lens but general to every fashion business, focusing on product creation including designing for reduced impact, material sourcing for sustainability and ethics, supply chain considerations, tools and metrics by which to manage sustainability/ethics/impact in your business, brand voice and impact messaging, circular economy considerations, risk management, positive impact opportunities, best business structures for positive impact, and shifting stakeholder perspectives. Through readings, lectures, class discussion, guest speakers, and development of a sustainability focused business outline students will develop the toolset needed to function at any level of a business – from independent contributor to CEO – to support positive impact.

Faculty:

Michelle Gabriel – Managing Director at Purslane

Michelle is currently the Managing Director of Purslane, the first zero-waste and carbon neutral catering and events company in the US. A sustainability and small business strategist with more than 15 years of experience, she specializes in company management, operations, product development, supply chain transparency, project management, and creative direction for hospitality, product, and apparel brands. Michelle’s current work focuses on pushing the hospitality industry towards greater sustainability by creating a more viable, healthy, and profitable future for the planet, people, and brands. Michelle earned her M.S. in International Fashion Marketing from Glasgow Caledonian New York College and her B.S. in Design from the University of Cincinnati.
Business Strategy as an Instrument for Economic, Social and Environmental Sustainability

Course Description:

This course aims to provide participants with the knowledge and tools to discuss and practice strategic management in a world characterized by rapid change and increasing concerns for economic, social and environmental sustainability. Additionally, the course seeks to address the who, what, why, where and how of strategic decisions, with an emphasis on generating sustainable growth across national boundaries.

GCNYC draws on nearly 150 years of our parent university’s commitment to the Common Good, something which parallels the shift in fashion business objectives from a mindset of increasing profits to adding value. Companies operating in the fashion and lifestyle space need to prove their commitment to the common good, or risk existing at all.

Faculty:

Amisha Parekh - Product Manager, Sustainable Finance Solutions at Bloomberg LP

Currently Product Manager, Bloomberg LP, Amisha was formerly Senior Manager, Corporate Strategy at Deloitte.  Her career has taken her to Proctor and Gamble and Walmart and Proctor in roles from brand management to sustainability strategy.  She earned her MBA (Corporate Strategy) from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, an MS in Environmental Policy and Behavior (also from the University of Michigan), and a BS in Computer Science from SUNY-Binghamton.  She is the co-author of High-Performance Hospitality: Sustainable Hotel Case Studies, one of the first books published on sustainability in the hospitality industry.
Navigating Global Change

Course Description:

Climate change. Population growth. Collapsing natural resource stocks. Economic inequality. Governance breakdowns. Automation. Ideological conflict. Distressed infrastructure.

We live in a world that will be forced to confront these challenges, whether we like it or not, whether we are ready or not. Do you know how these factors will affect your professional future and your organization? Businesses don’t operate in a vacuum. They simultaneously shape and are shaped by the geopolitical, economic, social, natural, and technological environments in which they operate. As companies seek to navigate the risks and opportunities presented by future changes, they urgently need curious, ethical, and responsible leaders who can look at these global trends and solve problems across corporate functions.

This course is designed to equip participants with the skills and tools to successfully face some of the most significant global issues for business managers. It asks participants to envision the future they would like to live in, and to consider the myriad ways of leading their communities and companies to that future. During the course, participants will be challenged to think about ways to rebalance equity across the value chain, promote circular economies, and integrate cross-sector approaches that lead to positive social and environmental impact.

Faculty:

Seisei Tatebe-Goddu – Chief Operating Officer at Future Now & Future Now Fund

Seisei is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Future Now Fund and Future Now, organizations which are building the power to improve Americans’ lives by winning state legislative majorities and working with them to achieve goals for the common good. Previously, she was the founding COO of Run for Something, Deputy Director of Operations for the North Carolina Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign, and founder/managing director of a consulting group that worked with over 70 clients across the Middle East, East Africa, and Europe on strategy and organizational development challenges. She earned her Master of International Affairs from Columbia University and her BA from McGill University.
Values-Based Leadership

Course Description:

Being an exceptional leader in today’s complex and fast-moving business environment demands specific skills and the ability to successfully predict and adapt to changing realities. Through their words, actions and behaviors values-based leaders seek to inspire, influence and motivate the people in their organizations to lead with shared values and implement them consistently to the benefit of their business and the common good. In Values-Based Leadership Skills for An Interconnected World, students will accelerate their leadership by reflecting on their own assets and developmental needs, learn how others perceive them and leverage this new self-awareness to create their own leadership development action plan.  Because performance in a leadership role requires more than just knowledge and skills, we will use group experiential activities to help students gain an understanding of the factors that drive effective values-based leadership across the spectrum of contexts affecting their ability to achieve great results.

Faculty:

David Grad – Co-Founder and CEO at Elevator9

David is Co-Founder of the learning and development Tech Start-Up, Elevator9 and Senior Consultant with the Kaufman Partnership, where he is an executive coach and facilitator of corporate leadership programs.  Previously, David had a 23 year career as an Emmy-winning creative strategist, producer & consultant for executives, brands & social enterprises.  His media career spanned roles including Executive Producer leading teams at MTV’s in-house agency, creative director of social impact campaigns, television host and actor in plays, independent films and commercials.  He earned his MS in Strategic Communication from Columbia University, a BA in Mass Communication and a BA in Theatre from Florida State University.
Building 21st Century Resilience

Course Description:

Are you and your business ready to adapt to rapid environmental, economic, social, technological and political challenges, safeguard people and assets, all the while maintaining profitable and impactful enterprise? What does it mean to have a complete risk assessment and planning that would assure continuity of your business and its mission? Business resilience is exactly a measure of your readiness for unexpected, any adversity that can test your enterprise to its limits.

In this course, students will work towards constructing a complete business resilience mapping and business continuity planning, all based on real life case discussions and up-to-date examples of dealing with management of extreme risks.

Faculty:

Dmitri Shuster – Co-Head of Global Markets Trading at Crédit Agricole

Dmitri is currently an advisor to QBIX – a social network and community app and most recently was a Co-Head of Global Trading Division & Global Head of Foreign Exchange, of Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank as well as a Board Member of Global FX Division of the Global Financial Markets Association. He received his BBA from Baruch College and his MBA from Stern School of Business, NYU and is presently a candidate for the DBA in Finance at the University of Manchester, UK.
Money as a Force for Social Good

Course Description:

This course aims to equip participants with a general overview as to how global and local circumstances shape social business and microfinance, and to equip them with the knowledge and skills to determine what factors they should take into account when developing their own social ventures, or when creating an enabling environment for social business and microfinance. Particular attention is paid to how different political, cultural and economic institutional environments favor the evolution of different forms of social business and how different forms of social business negotiate tensions between social and commercial objectives.

Through this course, we will explore the foundations of money, the evolution of financial tools and structures that enable social impact, and where the field will continue to develop. In the first section of the course, we will break down the role of money in society to understand the ways that it can be utilized as a potential force for good and/or bad. Next, we will learn about microfinance, venture philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, access to capital, market-based approaches to social change, and community initiatives through case students to analyze how money is being applied in the market. The course also explores the complexities of money’s role in society and the importance of multi-stakeholder analysis and partnerships across sectors to enable partnerships.

Faculty:

Diana Won - Program Manager at The Pershing Square Foundation

Diana is currently Program Manager, The Pershing Square Foundation where she manages a $20 million annual portfolio of grants across programs areas including sourcing, due diligence, grants management, communications, and monitoring and evaluation.  From 2015-2016, she was a Henry Luce Scholar and Social Impact Consultant for the M.Y. Social Company in Seoul, South Korea.  A former Fulbright Scholar, she received her MPP from the Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, and her BA from Rutgers University.