As MBA programs support sustainability, we’re setting the spotlight on how it’s incorporated into their curriculum, related resources for students, and more in our ongoing series. In this edition, we learn about initiatives at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Jennifer Graham from the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative provides insights into sustainability through the school below.
Clear Admit: How does the curriculum for full-time MBA students support leadership in sustainability, or how is it evolving to do so?
Jennifer Graham: There are 95 cross-disciplinary sustainability electives that MIT Sloan students can choose from across all five schools of MIT, including most major management disciplines. For those students who want to specialize in the topic, we offer a sustainability certificate that graduates approximately 100 students each year. In addition, all MIT Sloan students are exposed to sustainability through the core and core electives, in which 7/9 have sustainability content.
CA: What additional resources, such as clubs, centers, etc., are available for those who want to pursue careers in sustainability?
JG: Sustainability-related student clubs available to MIT Sloan MBA students:
- MIT Energy & Climate Club
- MIT Sloan Energy Club
- Mi3 (MIT Impact Investing Initiative)
- MIT Food & Agriculture Club
- Sloan Entrepreneurs for International Development (SEID)
- MIT Water Club
- MIT Sloan People & Organizations Club
Other student-led initiatives available to MBAs to organize:
- MIT Sustainability Summit
- MIT Climate & Energy Prize
- MIT Water, Food, & Agriculture Prize
MIT Sloan Career Development Office has a dedicated ‘sustainability’ industry community that promotes jobs, events, announcements for those seeking career resources in the space
Other sustainability-related centers at MIT (all open for MBA student involvement):
- MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR)
- MIT Climate Grand Challenges
- MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub)
- MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI)
- MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI)
- MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
- MIT Office of Sustainability
- MIT Mobility Initiative
- MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative
- The Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS)
- The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-Pal)
CA: How is your business school embracing sustainable practices in terms of campus life? Are there any environmentally-friendly features you would like to highlight about the facilities?
JG: The Sustainability Initiative within MIT Sloan embeds the following sustainability practices into its operations:
- We do not order beef or pork for any events
- We limit the number of single-use materials for events
- We offer all programs hybrid, to eliminate the need for guest speakers and attendees to travel long distances
Campus operations is led by the MIT Office of Sustainability: https://sustainability.mit.edu/
MIT Working Green Committee delivers programs to administrative and support staff to educate on recycling, reducing, and reusing goods. They oversee Collaborative Climate Action @ MIT, a group that provides tools and collaborative opportunities to MIT staff and the community.
Office of Sustainability oversees MIT’s Fast Forward Program: the Institute’s Climate Action Plan published in 2021: https://climate.mit.edu/climateaction/fastforward#ReduceMITsOwnClimateImpact
CA: Anything else you’d like to add?
JG: We collaborate frequently with our peer schools, working together to organize or promote events, conferences, and resources; emphasizing the importance of collaboration rather than competition among business programs. One effective example of this is ClimateCAP, a community that brings MBA students and industry leaders together to share everything an MBA needs to know about the business implications of climate change.
We prioritize incorporating Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice topics into our curriculum, programming, and projects.
