In 2008, I began working with colleagues on the Earth Institute Education Committee to develop a new master’s program focused on environmental sustainability and management and geared toward creating a new type of management professional: A Sustainability Manager. Building on the successful introduction in 2002 of Columbia’s Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy program, which focused on the public sector, the Earth Institute was looking to create a program more oriented toward the private sector. Ironically enough, both programs—the Environmental Science and Policy MPA in the School of International and Public Affairs and the Sustainability Management MS in the School of Professional Studies—have both ended up being multi-sectoral as public-private partnerships play a significant role in the development of sustainability policy and management. The program began in September of 2010, and tomorrow night, we will welcome the 15th class into Columbia’s Master of Science in Sustainability Management Program. The entering class will include about 220 students, more than double the size of the first entering class in 2010. The program is designed for working professionals attending part-time, although about 40% of our students study full-time. About 500 students are now enrolled in the program, and since May of 2011, we have graduated over 1,500 sustainability professionals. The new class is the most international since we began. The program has evolved from 11 courses in our first year to over 75 this year. This fall alone, we are offering 51 distinct courses in 72 sections, including eight pro bono capstone projects. More details on our fall offerings can be found here.
We designed the curriculum of the program for flexibility and to evolve as our new field evolved. The program has only two required classes: a survey course in Sustainability Management at the program’s start and a capstone workshop project undertaken for nonprofit or government clients at the end of the program to establish a pro bono practice in our profession. In between, students must fulfill course requirements in five areas: 1. Integrative Interdisciplinary Studies, 2. Economics and Quantitative Analysis, 3. The Physical Dimensions of Sustainability, 4. Public Policy, and 5. Finance and Management. Most unique for a management program is the requirement for three graduate courses in what we call “physical dimensions.” This can include climate science, ecology, energy efficiency, hydrology, green building, renewable energy, and scores of other courses in environmental science, environmental engineering, and related topics. This category of course requirements is what makes this a unique management program. Ours is a field that requires scientific literacy and the ability to communicate scientific facts and model projections to decision-makers who are educated in fields like finance, management, and law but, in many cases, haven’t studied science in a very long time. Our management students are required to complete coursework that involves an element of environmental science.
In offering this exciting curriculum, I am joined by four other full-time Professors of Practice in the School of Professional Studies: Satyajit Bose, an extraordinary leader in the field of sustainability finance, Dong Guo, an experienced expert in sustainability metrics and a leader in the effort to promote sustainable development in China, Lynnette Widder, a brilliant architect and designer who has worked to develop the field of the sustainable built environment, and Christoph Meinrenken who has developed a pathbreaking course in Life Cycle Assessment and in his spare time directs another MS program at the School of Professional Studies. We have recruited about 100 noted sustainability professionals, drawn from the extraordinary talent we have access to here in the New York City metro region, as instructors in our program. The professional biographies of our faculty can be found here.
While I’ve served as the program’s director since it began in 2010, Professor Bose has been with me from the start and has led the development of our certificate program in sustainability finance. Professor Bose also chairs the program’s curriculum committee. His leadership and vision have been central to the development of this cutting-edge program. Columbia’s Master of Science in Sustainability Management has always been a cross-disciplinary collaborative effort to develop the new profession of sustainability management. We have been aided by environmental scientists throughout the program’s evolution. This has included colleagues from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory as well as many of the research units of the Earth Institute that are now folded into the Columbia Climate School. Michael Gerrard of the Law School has been instrumental in building our curriculum in environmental law. The program remains a university-wide partnership with many courses outside the program open to our students. This has included courses in the Climate School, the School of International and Public Affairs, and the science departments of the Arts and Sciences. About 20% of the program’s enrollments are in courses outside of our direct offerings, and many students from other parts of the university gravitate to our program’s unique set of classes.
On Tuesday night, about 60 of our faculty will introduce themselves and their courses to over 200 new students. Among these students will be the first two of our Luksic Fellows, who are sustainability professionals from Chile, along with our first CUNY Fellow and a new student from the School of Professional Studies’ HBCU Fellows Program. Students coming from outside the United States are required to attend full-time by their student visa, and they comprise most of our full-time students. We have students from China, Latin America, India, Israel, Indonesia, and many other countries. But, since 40% of the people who live in New York City were born in other countries, it is very difficult to distinguish domestic from international students when we teach our classes.
The program’s curriculum has evolved and expanded over the past 15 years. At the start, we taught about what I now call environmental sustainability, a subfield of the field of sustainability management. Along with those courses, we now offer courses on environmental justice, corporate governance, and community impact, along with an even wider variety of environmental sustainability courses. We offer classes on environment and fashion, sustainable art, corporate sustainability reporting, science writing, environmental law, life cycle assessment, greenhouse gas measurement, climate technology, and sustainable sports. We introduce new courses every semester, and the program’s structure and mission encourage innovation and experimentation.
A key value of our program is an ethos of creative problem-solving and cooperation. Our students work together on group projects and learn to communicate and problem-solve across their varied areas of expertise and life experiences. Students work together and network with alums on their job searches and often fill the human resource needs of organizations searching for sustainability professionals. In the New York region, our graduates are everywhere sustainability skills are in demand. Many of the people managing greenhouse gas measurement, life cycle assessment, and corporate sustainability reporting have had to learn these skills on the job. Our students have benefited from this on-the-job trial and error by taking courses on these topics taught by experienced sustainability professionals. Our graduates come to the sustainability profession with a unique set of skills and concepts and are ready to hit the ground running.
I confess that I will be thrilled and proud when I welcome our 15th class on Tuesday night and listen to our practitioner faculty discuss their courses and backgrounds. The education we offer represents the collaboration of a powerhouse of sustainability professionals. The faculty’s dedication and sense of mission is a key part of the program’s success and an indication that we have built an educational institution that is durable and, yes, sustainable.
I am confident in the future of our field despite the ideologically based promotion and opposition of what has been called “woke management” by opponents and ESG management by proponents alike. Organizations throughout the world are working hard to reduce the negative environmental and social impacts of their production processes. They are doing this because it is sound, competent management, and it helps them make money and expand market share. To succeed, they need the help of people who graduate from educational programs that specialize in sustainability management and environmental policy. Just like the program that welcomes its 15th class here at Columbia tomorrow night.
Views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Columbia School of Professional Studies or Columbia University.
About the Program
The Columbia University M.S. in Sustainability Management program offered by the School of Professional Studies in partnership with the Climate School provides students cutting-edge policy and management tools they can use to help public and private organizations and governments address environmental impacts and risks, pollution control, and remediation to achieve sustainability. The program is customized for working professionals and is offered as both a full- and part-time course of study.
