MBA in Sustainable Management
MBA Program Overview
Presidio Graduate School’s MBA program prepares students to be skilled and visionary managers in any field or enterprise. Today’s business professionals must not only lead successful organizations but understand the many complex and interdependent issues that define sustainability, from climate change and cleantech to stakeholder engagement and social responsibility. Mastering them requires both a new skill set and new mind set we call Sustainable Management.
Our MBA degree connects rigorous management theory and practice with ecological and social awareness, systems thinking and sustainable leadership. Our MBA curriculum weaves these elements together to empower our students to become effective leaders, change agents and entrepreneurs in the service of a more just, prosperous and sustainable world.
Presidio Graduate School is an affiliate of Alliant International University. By virtue of this affiliation, the MBA degree program is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
The most distinctive element of our MBA program is our signature “integrated curriculum” designed around three fundamental concepts that together define competence in Sustainable Management:
Sustainable Systems
Principles of systems thinking and sustainability ground the entire curriculum and are woven into every course. A whole-systems orientation rests on coursework in systems thinking, sustainability literacy, ethics and social justice. Students learn to apply these concepts to shape business strategy and practice.
Leadership
The transition to a sustainable future requires the capacity to engender positive change through varying spheres of influence, from the self, to the team, to the organization and ultimately to society as a whole. With an emphasis on collaboration, engagement and cross-sector cooperation, the coursework is designed to build competencies in personal efficacy, resilience, adaptability, relationship management and organizational change.
Business Foundations
Foundational courses focus on building practical management proficiencies in economics, innovation, capital management and critical thinking. The coursework integrates business fundamentals, with an emphasis on designing, developing and managing sustainable businesses.
Program Format
The MBA program is a 60-credit curriculum with 15 required courses and one elective. The program combines face-to-face classroom experience with the flexibility of interactive distance-learning. Students have as much in-class time as a traditional MBA program. However, Presidio provides an additional level of learning through a robust online component that develops essential management skills and facilitates virtual collaboration among students.
The full-time program spans two years and the part-time program four years. Each semester, classroom instruction takes place over a four-day residency period (part-time students attend classes for two days). These residencies occur Thursday through Sunday once a month for five months.