Academics
The University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business uniquely offers a nationally-acclaimed one-year Sustainable Innovation MBA, which directly addresses the current challenges in environment, ethics, poverty and inequality through the lens of enterprise and entrepreneurship. The program was designed at the school from the ground up, enriched by the innovative and green surroundings of Burlington, and “truly incorporates sustainability into its entire curriculum, instead of just adding a couple sustainability classes here and there as saddlebags.” Students take nine months of classes and then complete a three-month practicum in the summer, in which they a have full-time, hands-on experiential engagement with either existing companies or new ventures locally or around the world. A “holistic perspective on social business” and classes taught by “thought leaders focusing on disruptive innovation” round out the intense experience of a UVM SMBA degree, and the subject matter is “very relevant and necessary for navigating the challenges of the future of the global economy.”
All of the professors are “caring of students and experts in their field,” and the majority give “outstanding lectures” and are committed to “superior focus on sustainability, social responsibility and emerging markets” that underlies the mission of the Sustainability MBA. Small class sizes allow for an “all-consuming” environment where “every professor knows each student by name and students develop strong relationships with each other.” This is a new and rapidly growing program and so the administration is constantly facing new challenges, but students feel it is addressing them “well and in a timely manner” via “mandatory director check-ins every module to understand student concerns/experiences.” They “set an excellent tone and culture from the very first day.” Above all, the best thing about the program is “the culture that was created by the directors, professors, staff, and students.”
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