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Many students are in school in order to get a better job and make more money. The reason I ask you all your goals is so that I can design class to help you develop both hard and soft skills to help you reach your goals. Soft skills are important not only for career development but for life in general. I want to help you all succeed in life, no matter where your future takes you. Therefore, the activities we do in class are designed to help you learn the course content as well as develop the soft skills that are important for professional and personal development.

This course offers an introduction to the emerging field of sustainability in business and the growing focus on the economic, environmental, and social performance of businesses. The course presents scientific, ethical, and business cases for adopting sustainability. This course fulfills an MGMT elective.

Enrollment Prerequisites: ENVS 137 or UCSF 137 or MGMT 201 for Quinlan School of Business students.

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

1. Understand the dimensions of sustainability

2. Understand economics for sustainability

3. Understand the tools and techniques to apply sustainability in each functional area of the business

The central theme of this course will be the study and evaluation of sustainability in business environments. The primary teaching tools are lectures, class discussions, videos, speakers, quizzes, and projects (both individual and team). You are expected to read, watch, and listen to the designated material and all other assigned content before class. Please note that I video record class lectures and post them on this website to improve accessibility. Offering these recordings is done with the understanding and trust that they will not be used in any way against me or students whose classroom comments are recorded.

Access to the internet

Access to software

Sakai

Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint

Adobe Acrobat

Zoom

Tech support: ITSServiceDesk@luc.edu or 773-508-4487

I will provide links/files to articles, readings, videos, audios, etc. on this website

This syllabus is subject to change based on the needs of this class.

You are expected to attend class, come prepared, and participate to maximize your learning. I am here to help you learn and am likewise responsible for coming to class prepared to accomplish the objectives listed in this syllabus.

Be punctual for class. When you are tardy, you miss important course announcements and disrupt the learning process for others. If you do arrive late or must leave early, please do so quietly and respectfully.

If you cannot attend class or are late, you are only doing a disservice to yourself. College is about preparing you for life. Time management and prioritization are important skills to learn. You pay to take this class! Therefore, if you do not attend, you voluntarily forfeit the opportunity to participate in activities and discussions. You are responsible for the material you miss. If you know in advance that you will be late or absent from class, please email me to let me know. Your employer would require notice upon missing or being late to work; I expect to receive the same courtesy. Likewise, I will provide as much notice as possible if I need to cancel class or move it online.

Complete all assignments on time. If you fail to meet deadlines, you will not receive full credit.

Be courteous and respectful to me and to your fellow students. Put away cell phones and other distractions. If you choose to use a laptop in class, please sit in the back row so that your screen activity does not distract other students. This class is designed to benefit you, so take advantage and engage!

While I encourage you to participate in class discussions and team activities, I understand that students absorb knowledge in various ways. I intentionally provide content through a variety of outlets (e.g., reading, videos, audios, activities) to be inclusive of different learning styles. I will regularly solicit your feedback to better provide knowledge and content in ways that work for you.

I will treat you all with respect, courtesy, and empathy. I ask that you treat me and each other the same way. Bullying and all forms of harassment will not be tolerated. Please reach out to me if you feel that you are a subject of any form of bullying or harassment, whether it occurs in our classroom or elsewhere. 

You may eat in class as long as you are quiet, not disruptive, and you clean up after yourself. I may bring food for you all during the semester. Please let me know if you have any allergies or concerns and please don’t sue me for sharing food in good faith.

Ask questions and have fun!

Addressing one another by using appropriate names and gender pronouns honors and affirms individuals of all gender identities and gender expressions. Misgendering and heteronormative language excludes the experiences of individuals whose identities may not fit the gender binary, and/or who may not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth.

If you wish, please share your pronouns with me and the class when you introduce yourself. If you do not wish to be called by the name that appears in the Loyola system, please let me know. My goal is to create inclusive and affirming environments for all students.

If you feel comfortable, please also share any other concerns with me that relate to how you learn and how you are feeling in class. I cannot guarantee that our classroom will feel like a safe space to you. But I promise to try my best to make everyone feel included, heard, and valued to facilitate a safe and comfortable environment.

Please also reach out to the Student Accessibility Center (SAC) and Wellness Center to leverage their resources. All clickable links on this webpage are both a maroon color and also underlined in case colors are difficult to differentiate.

I encourage you to step out and/or let me know (directly or anonymously) if I say or do something that you don’t like. I also know that it might be triggering or uncomfortable to bring things to my attention, so I don’t want to retraumatize and sacrifice your well being for my growth. I will try my best to read the room, seek continuous feedback, and continue learning how to create a comfortable, safe, and nurturing environment.

However, I ask you all to recognize and understand that my job as an educator is to encourage you to explore outside your comfort zones. When I ask questions and facilitate (sometimes tough) discussions, I do so to help you practice navigating topics and scenarios to help you develop professionally and personally. But I am human; I will make mistakes. What I hope to model is not someone who tries to mess up but rather someone who is willing to mess up for the sake of growth. I don’t know everything and I won’t execute class perfectly every time. Please give me the same amount of grace as you would like me to give you.

During the year, if you find that health problems, life stressors or emotional difficulties are interfering with your academic or personal success, and you are therefore finding it difficult to cope or to complete your academic work, please consider contacting the Wellness Center. I am happy to help talk through some challenges, but I am not a trained counselor, therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist. I want to make sure that you are able to get qualified, trained help to serve you in the best ways possible. Just as I want you all to practice self care and what is best for you, I must also practice this and be mindful and respectful of my own boundaries. Healthcare services, crisis intervention, time-limited individual counseling, and group therapies are free of charge, and strictly confidential, having nothing to do with your educational records. You may also call 773-508-2530 for counseling appointments or 773-508-8883 to speak with a nurse about medical concerns.

If your medical or mental health condition requires ongoing academic accommodations, please register with the Student Accessibility Center (SAC). Loyola University Chicago provides reasonable accommodations for students. Any student requesting accommodations related to a disability or other condition is required to register with Student Accessibility Center (SAC), located in Sullivan Center, Suite 117. Professors receive the accommodation notification from SAC via Accommodate. I encourage you to meet with me individually in order to discuss your accommodations. All information will remain confidential, and I will ask for your permission before including anyone else for additional support. For more information about registering with SAC or questions about accommodations, please contact SAC at 773-508-3700 or SAC@luc.edu. Please also refer to the Center for Student Assistance and Advocacy for academic, food, housing, financial and other resources that may be available to you.

Resources:

Wellness Center

Student Accessibility Center

Ethic Hotline - Phone: 885.603.6988

Sakai support

Library - Subject specialist: http://libraries.luc.edu/specialists 

Writing Center

Technology support - 773-508-4487; helpdesk@luc.edu

Center for Tutoring and Academic Excellence

Loyola Bookstore

Financial Aid

I acknowledge that our university resides on the native homelands of the Indigenous people of the Odawa, Potawatomi, and Ojibwe nations, who joined together into the Council of Three Fires. Along with several other tribes, I know that their lives and livelihoods were destroyed in part by the historical events of displacement, conquest, and dehumanization leading up to the establishment of Chicago and Illinois.

I want to remember and honor what was lost, acknowledge how I directly benefit from other people’s pain and loss, and uplift the fortitude and resilience of Indigenous communities surviving and thriving today. I recognize their continued connection to this region and give thanks to them for allowing us to live, work, and learn on their traditional homelands. I offer my respect to their communities and to all Indigenous people, past, present and future.

All students must follow Loyola’s academic integrity standards. You are all responsible for reading and following these standards and regulations. Failing to meet these standards is a serious violation of personal honesty and the academic ideals that bind Loyola as a learning community. These standards apply to both individual and team assignments. Individuals working in a team may be held responsible if one of the team members has violated one or more of these standards. Ignorance of these standards is not acceptable justification for violating them.

All students shall refrain from academic dishonesty and misconduct in all forms, including plagiarism, cheating, misrepresentation, fabrication, and falsehood. Plagiarism or cheating on the part of the student in individual or group academic work or in examination behavior will result minimally in the instructor assigning the grade of “F” for the assignment or examination.  In addition, all instances of academic dishonesty must be reported to the chairperson of the department involved.

Further information about expectations for academic integrity and sanctions for violations can be found in the Quinlan School of Business Honor Code and Statement of Academic Integrity.

A+ = 98–100
A   = 94–97.99
A-  = 90–93.99
B+ = 87–89.99
B   = 84–86.99
B-  = 80–83.99
C+ = 77–79.99
C   = 74–76.99
C-  = 70–73.99
[Anything below a C- is considered not passing]
D+ = 67–69.99
D   = 64–66.99
D-  = 60–63.99F < 60

No late work will be accepted. If you are late and unreliable in a job, you will be fired. Consequences exist in school, too. Please take responsibility for your actions and do not ask for exceptions to this policy. Welcome to college and the real world! 

That being said, I am not unreasonable. I recognize that we are living in uncertain times with multiple economic, environmental, social, and health concerns that are beyond our control. I will work with you on a case-by-case basis as needed.

You are expected to be proficient in the use of Sakai. Sakai is the learning management system (LMS) that will be used for your online course. Specifically, you should be able to:

Read, upload, and download files

Read and send e-mail messages

Read and post messages on the discussion board

Hold chat room discussions

If you are unfamiliar with Sakai, a good place to start is: https://www.luc.edu/its/itrs/teachingwithtechnology/sakai/. Please refer to this website for log-in instructions if you are new to Sakai. You are expected to check Sakai daily for any changes, updates, and announcements. You are responsible for accessing and downloading all files needed. IT support and/or Sakai experts (not me) are responsible for assisting you with any problems related to Sakai. If you have any problems downloading or viewing files of any type or size from Sakai, please use the resources listed below:

Accessibility issueshttps://www.luc.edu/sac/accessibilityguidelines/sakaiaccessibility/

Sakai supportsakai@luc.edu 

Technology support773-508-4487helpdesk@luc.eduLUC.edu/its

This project is worth 35% of your total grade, which broken down as follows:

Intro (2%) due 02/09Provide the following information:

Name of company

Industry

Purpose of company (mission statement)

Describe the company, what are it’s main products / services / functions / activities / goals

Describe why you chose this company

Production and operation (3%) due 03/02Explore the economic, environmental, and social dimensions related to the production and operation activities in the company you chose. You must discuss each dimension to receive full credit. Don’t forget to cite your sources!

Accounting and finance (3%) due 03/16Explore the economic, environmental, and social dimensions related to the accounting and finance activities in the company you chose. You must discuss each dimension to receive full credit. Don’t forget to cite your sources!

Insurance and risk management (3%) due 03/23Explore the economic, environmental, and social dimensions related to the insurance and risk management activities in the company you chose. You must discuss each dimension to receive full credit. Don’t forget to cite your sources!

Employment and human resources (3%) due 03/30Explore the economic, environmental, and social dimensions related to the employment and human resources activities in the company you chose. You must discuss each dimension to receive full credit. Don’t forget to cite your sources!

Sales and marketing (3%) due 04/06Explore the economic, environmental, and social dimensions related to the sales and marketing activities in the company you chose. You must discuss each dimension to receive full credit. Don’t forget to cite your sources!

Analysis (18%) due 04/13Describe the main sustainability problems within the company. Explain if and how they can be solved. If they cannot be solved through the existing business structure, explicitly describe the barriers.

Offer solutions and describe how they can be solved. Try to think about opportunities both within the internal organization (e.g., company policies, structures) as well as those that might be required external to the organization (e.g., public policies, regulations).

This section is worth 18% of your grade because it will ultimately show whether you learned how to apply class topics to a business for real world implications. Dedicate some critical thinking to this section to push yourself to connect the dots. As always, cite your sources!

Y’all will do the same project, but you must choose a local firm. How you define local will be up to you and how you justify it. Because you are graduate students, I expect you to be more involved in collecting the information required for this project, come up with specific solutions, and detail their feasibility. Visit the business, talk with employees and consumers, take pictures and videos (only after obtaining explicit permission). This doesn’t have to be super formal; this project is not a research thesis. However, I want to see how you implement the tools and guidelines from class to interact with the business, identify specific problems, and uncover opportunities.

This project is worth 25% of your total grade, which broken down as follows:

Intro (2%) due 02/09Provide the following information:

Name of company

Industry

Purpose of company (mission statement)

Describe the company, what are it’s main products / services / functions / activities / goals

Describe why you chose this company

Production and operation (2%) due 03/02Explore the economic, environmental, and social dimensions related to the production and operation activities in the company you chose. You must discuss each dimension to receive full credit. Don’t forget to cite your sources!

Accounting and finance (2%) due 03/16Explore the economic, environmental, and social dimensions related to the accounting and finance activities in the company you chose. You must discuss each dimension to receive full credit. Don’t forget to cite your sources!

Insurance and risk management (2%) due 03/23Explore the economic, environmental, and social dimensions related to the insurance and risk management activities in the company you chose. You must discuss each dimension to receive full credit. Don’t forget to cite your sources!

Employment and human resources (2%) due 03/30Explore the economic, environmental, and social dimensions related to the employment and human resources activities in the company you chose. You must discuss each dimension to receive full credit. Don’t forget to cite your sources!

Sales and marketing (2%) due 04/06Explore the economic, environmental, and social dimensions related to the sales and marketing activities in the company you chose. You must discuss each dimension to receive full credit. Don’t forget to cite your sources!

Analysis (13%) due 04/13Describe the main sustainability problems within the company. Explain if and how they can be solved. If they cannot be solved through the existing business structure, explicitly describe the barriers.

Offer solutions and describe how they can be solved. Try to think about opportunities both within the internal organization (e.g., company policies, structures) as well as those that might be required external to the organization (e.g., public policies, regulations).

This section is worth 13% of your grade because it will ultimately show whether you learned how to apply class topics to a business for real world implications. Dedicate some critical thinking to this section to push yourself to connect the dots. As always, cite your sources!

When you present your findings, you will have more time than the undergraduate students to go into how you gathered your information, the interactions you had with the company, the problems you discovered, and the solutions you propose. The purpose of this project is the same as for the undergraduate students. Unfortunately, there’s not enough time to dig deep into every company chosen. So, we will be relying on y’all to share your experiences and insights with this project to learn about how to contribute real, meaningful change within our own communities. Fun, right?!