College of Business & Economics

Principles for Responsible Management Education

Sharing Information on Progress Report

April 2009 to May 2011

Contents

  1. Letter of Renewed Commitment3
  1. UW-Whitewater College of Business and Economics
  • Overviewof the College4
  • Vision / Mission5
  • Strategic Objectives6
  1. The Principles for Responsible Management Education
  • Purpose / Values / Methods8
  • New / Revised Courses9
  • Integration of Core Courses 11
  • New Emphasis and Minors 11
  • Codes of Conduct 12
  • Learning Communities 13
  • Student Organizations 13
  • 2009-2010 College Goals 15
  • 2010 -2011 College Goals 16
  • Timothy J. Hyland Hall 17
  • Research 19
  • Partnerships 22
  • Kachel Center 22
  • Whitewater University Technology Park 23
  1. Future Perspectives/Key Objectives 24
  1. Support Sought 27
  1. Letter of Renewed Commitment

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University of Wisconsin-Whitewater College of Business & Economics

On behalf of the College of Business and Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, I am pleased to present a report on our progress toward the United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) from our sign up date in April 2008 to the present. This progress report constitutes our renewed commitment to the principles.

As evidenced by the College’s mission and strategic objectives and goals, we embrace responsible leadership in a global business environment, and take seriously our commitment to instill high standards of professional conduct, and promote a curriculum and co-curricular activities to support the PRME agenda.

We are pleased to have the opportunity engage with the principles of PRME as a means of enhancing the decision making and leadership abilities of our students.

Christine Clements, Dean, College of Business and Economics

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University of Wisconsin-Whitewater College of Business & Economics

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University of Wisconsin-Whitewater College of Business & Economics

  1. College of Business & Economics

Overview

The University of Wisconsin- Whitewater's College of Business & Economics is Wisconsin's Premier Business School on the Right-Sized Campus. We serve approximately 3200 undergraduate and 800 graduate students on-campus and online, awarding the Bachelor of Business Administration degree (BBA), the Master of Business Administration degree (MBA), and the Master of Public Accountancy degree (MPA). All programs are accredited by AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB International accreditation is the highest assurance of learning standards that a college of business can earn, with less than 5% of business schools worldwide holding this distinction.

Using the AACSB definition, the College of Business has a team of 87 full-time faculty and academic staff, and a total non-academic staff of 36. The faculty and academic staff are a combination of academically and professionally qualified professionals who are committed to quality classroom teaching and current research in their fields.

Our curriculum provides students with academic rigor, relevant learning lab and field experiences, and the opportunity to pursue their degrees in several traditional areas of business as well as the specialized area of entrepreneurship. With 13 different undergraduate majors,students can choose many different career directions. Similarly, the MBA degree offers several areas of emphasis. Our newly-launched General Business completion program provides junior-level students the opportunity to finish their BBA degrees entirely online or in a mix of online and face-to-face classes. UW-W's Online MBA program has earned recognition and awards regionally, nationally, and internationally from sources such as the European CEO,the Princeton Review,GetEducated.com, Corporate Report Wisconsin, and GI Jobs.

Vision / Mission / Strategic Objectives

Vision Statement

Partnering with Wisconsin and the World

We envision being the center of an evolving learning community, reaching out to provide opportunities for critical learning experiences on campus and throughout the world. We foresee increasing participation of students and faculty in committed partnerships with increasingly diverse stakeholders. We will foster relationships among these stakeholders, encouraging pride and involvement and leading to consistent strength in education and research in the business professions.

Mission Statement

The UW-Whitewater College of Business and Economics is an inclusive and collaborative learning community dedicated to sharing values, knowledge and skills to prepare current and future business professionals to compete successfully and responsibly in a global business environment.

Our efforts to engage in high-quality instruction, research and professional activities add value by:

  • providing an engaging environment for educating undergraduate and graduatestudents that advancescritical thinking, entrepreneurial leadership, ethical behavior and an appreciation ofdiversity
  • developing and sustaining partnerships with key stakeholders that lead to mutually beneficial opportunities for students, alumni, faculty, businesses and the regional community
  • developing and retaining a high-quality faculty whose members strive for excellence, are current in their fields and make scholarly contributions through discipline-based, applied and pedagogical research.

College Strategic Objectives

Commitment to mission is evidenced in the work of theCollege. We utilize annual strategic planning to align our goals and objectives with those of our mission and that of the university. We also evaluate additional initiatives and day-to-day activities against the strategic priorities of the College as defined by our mission. Strategic management is part of the fabric of our College.

Programs and Learning

The College is committed to offering relevant and rigorous academic programs integrated with applied learning experiences. We will offer our curriculum under the guidance of academically and professionally qualified faculty, and make available to our students an array of applied opportunities, including internships, and outreach and consulting projects. We will maintain AACSB accreditation, the premier accrediting agency for the highest quality business and management education world-wide, which requires satisfaction of standards related to assurance of student learning, faculty qualifications and continuous improvement.

Research and Professional Development

The College is dedicated to the support of sustained scholarship and ongoing professional development. We believe an engaged and research active faculty is essential to quality professional business education. Relevant to the mission of the college and commitments to programs and learning objectives, we support a balanced portfolio of scholarship across the categories of pedagogical, discipline-based and contributions to practice.

Global Perspectives with Sensitivity to Multicultural and Diversity Issues

The College values diverse intellectual and cultural perspectives and strives to attract, respect and retain a diverse student and faculty population. We will foster and sustain a curriculum that is both global and intercultural in character, and promote programs that enhance diversity in educational experiences and a supportive culture for diverse perspectives and members.

Strategic Objectives (continued)

Regional Resource for Businesses, Not-for-Profits and Communities

The College embraces the Wisconsin Idea which states that the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state, and further extends those boundaries to the greater regional community beyond state borders. The business and economic development needs of the region and the state and the professional development of our faculty and students are closely integrated. We will serve as a valued educational and economic resource to the regional community through strong outreach activities and partnerships between the College and the business community.

Professional and Personal Integrity for Faculty, Staff and Students

The College is committed to the belief that business is a noble profession with a tremendous capacity to "do good" in the world. We embrace the Principles for Responsible Management Education as set forward by the United Nations Global Compact. We will cultivate high standards of ethical and professional conduct among our students, faculty and staff. We support an agenda which includes activities and curriculum related to professional integrity, sustainable business, social responsibility, globalization and social entrepreneurship.

  1. The Principles in Action

Purpose / Values / Method

Principle 1

Purpose: We will develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy.

Principle 2

Values: We will incorporate into our academic activities and curricula the values of global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact.

Principle 3

Method: We will create educational frameworks, materials, processes and environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership.

Curriculum

The College of Business has a history of teaching responsible management and ethics, largely through integration of such issues throughout the curriculum. One example is our spring 2011 semester’s Entrepreneurial Marketing(EM) course:

The Entrepreneurial Marketing course had a special focus on green marketing. Students were divided into groups and charged with the task of creating a non-profit entrepreneurial organization. One group created a marketing plan for The Nature Conservancy. Another group started a tradition on campus of workingwith the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to clean up hiking trails. Another group created, marketed and sold a snack product where all of the profits of this group were donated to no-kill animal shelters.

Out of this class, a new campus organization was formed, The UW-Whitewater Outdoor Club. The course instructor, Dennis Kopf, is the founding advisor for this group. The group’s mission is to seek out and enjoy a variety of outdoor experiences and to develop a greater appreciation of nature among the student body.

New / Revised Courses

The College has,over the past few years, revised and added a number of courses that specifically address issues of sustainable business and global social responsibility. Examples of these include:

  • MARKETING 490 GREEN & BLUE MARKETING – Blue and Green Marketing provides students the opportunity to learn about the effective marketing of water and other sustainability products/services. Students will learn about sustainability in the business world, strategies and tactics for marketing blue and green product/services, and will develop a marketing plan for a company launching these types of products and services.
  • ACCOUNTING 496/696 SUSTAINABILITYENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING- This course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive exploration of environmental issues at multiple levels and the effects of these issues on business, communities, and consumers. In addition, this course will provide students with an introduction and practical understanding of the broad paradigm of sustainability and opportunity to explore how the ideas associated with sustainability, specifically the connection between sustainable development and corporate and business strategy. The course will provide an in-depth analysis of accounting for the natural environment; e.g., water and other natural resources. Finally, readings, discussion and case analyses cover current issues, such as financial reporting and disclosure, management decision making and evaluation techniques, taxation, and the accounting profession’s role in environmental, social, and sustainability issues.
  • ECON 471 NATURAL RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS–This course covers topics such as: markets and the efficient allocation of resources over time; market failure- property rights, externalities, public goods; valuation of environmental benefits and costs; economics of renewable and non-renewable natural resources - land, water, fisheries, forests, energy, minerals; pollution abatement and environmental protection; and global issues - population, climate change, tropical deforestation, the oceans and atmosphere as global “commons”.
  • FNBSLW 455 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW - This course examines how modern corporations are governed and to whom they are responsible. The course explores business, financial, political, ethical, and legal issues affecting systems by which corporations are directed and controlled. Students will examine the nature of the corporation, the basic theory of the firm, the internal and external architecture of corporate governance, the role of regulatory authorities, models of corporate governance, principal-agent theory within the corporate context, as well as corporate culture, corruption, management and board compensation, sustainability, and conceptions of social responsibility. Although the central focus of the course is U.S. corporate governance, systems used in other countries, and the trend toward international convergence in corporate governance is also examined.
  • MANGEMNT 366 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY - This course will provide students with an understanding of the relationship of organizations with their stakeholders (e.g., customers, employees, society, etc.) and provide both an exposure to and an understanding of both ethical and unethical behavior. By investigating organizations and their linkages with various environmental entities, students will have a better appreciation of what produces socially responsible behavior so as to expedite socially responsible actions and prevent irresponsible ones.
  • FNBSLW 440 WATER LAW - This course covers legal and policy issues related to the allocation and protection of freshwater. Topics include the right to surface and ground waters in eastern riparian & western prior appropriation systems, public rights in water, federal and Indian water rights, resolving trans-boundary water conflicts, and

environmental law impacts on water rights. Particular attention is paid to Wisconsin and Great Lakes region water law issues.

Integration of Core Courses

Integration of core courses has historically been encouraged in the College. In 2009,the College discussed the integration by the inclusion of carbon emission topics. Subsequent department reports revealed a wide variety of approaches for doing so, including the preparation of a case addressing Kohl’s retail stores’ reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for use in the Operations Management and Administrative Policy courses; the Organizational Behavior course’s use of a videotaped interview of experiences/practices of Crave Brothers Dairy Farm; and the Marketing Principles course’s focus on corporate image as a result of efforts to curb greenhouse gases.

Although formal integration of the core courses has been discontinued, the College encourages faculty to incorporate issues related to water governance and water security into their curriculum in light of the College’s new focus on water business.

New Emphasis and Minors

In fall 2009, a new Water Emphasis was added to the existing Integrated Science/Business (ISB) Major. UW-Whitewater offers a unique major and emphasis that combines students’ excitement about science with business management expertise, giving them the skills and experience necessary to contribute to Wisconsin’s leadership in the business of science and water. Students can complete the ISB major through either the College of Business and Economics (BBA degree) or the College of Letters and Sciences (BS degree).

In fall 2011, students admitted to the College of Business will have the opportunity to pursue two new minors that were added to the curriculum due, in part, to our PRME implementation plans. The two new minors are Water Business and International Business. Students may pursue one or more of the College’s 13 different undergraduate majorsand also minor in one or both of these increasingly crucial business foci.

Codes of Conduct

Recognizing the following Core Values, the College expects students to subscribe to the College’s Student Honor Code.

  1. Commitment to the Pursuit of Knowledge and Understanding
  2. Development of the Individual
  3. Personal and Professional Integrity
  4. Commitment to Serve
  5. Commitment to Develop a Sense of Community, Respect for Diversity, and Global Perspective

Student Honor Code

As members of the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater College of Business & Economics community, we commit ourselves to act honestly, responsibly, and above all, with honor and integrity in all areas of campus life. We are accountable for all that we say and write. We are responsible for the academic integrity of our work. We pledge that we will not misrepresent our work nor give or receive unauthorized aid.

We commit ourselves to behave in a manner that demonstrates concern for the personal dignity, rights and freedoms of all members of the community. We are respectful of college property and the property of others. We will not tolerate a lack of respect for these values.

Faculty Honor Code

The UW-Whitewater College of Business and Economics recently adopted and subscribes to the Statement on Professional Ethics developed by the American Association of University Professors.

Learning Communities

The college offers two freshmenlearning communities founded on social and environmental responsibility, Conscious Capitalists (CCs) and Green Business is Good Business (GB2). These communities provide classes tailored to incorporate environmental and ethical concerns. The goal of the CCs is to encourage future business leaders to become more aware of and informed about the connections between business and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. The students in the group explore the UN Global Compact’s Ten Principles and globally responsible business practices in general. In GB2 the focus is on environmental issues; students learn from bottom up how to reduce a carbon footprint, and why ‘going green' is both profitable for businessesand less painful than they think.

Student Organizations

More than 20 College student organizations help students round out their classroom experiences and most include ethics and sustainability programming opportunities throughout the year. The following two student organizations place a specific emphasis onresponsible management issues.

  • Business Ethics Student Association –The Business Ethics Student Association (BESA)was created in the Fall of 2006 to promote ethics causes on campus. Over the years, BESA has been involved in many business ethics related activities such as work to support charitable causes, helping companies prepare the Better Business Bureau Torch Award portfolio and holding the annual Business Ethics week event.
  • Whitewater Water Council–The Student Water Council is an organization that has been charged with spreading awareness of water issues at local, regional, national and international levels, along with being a group that cultivates the talent of its students and promotes an atmosphere where ideas and solutions to water problems can flourish. The group’s goal is to increase understanding of water quantity, quality and accessibility concerns and how these concerns affect society and business.