PSU: Practicing sustainable business

Portland State’s School of Business Administration has opened a new sustainability center on campus, which business faculty say will increase sustainable business education on campus.

Darrell Brown, associate dean of business administration undergraduates, said the Center for Design and Innovation for Business and Sustainability is intended to offer students with ideas for sustainable practices a means to explore their ideas.

Center director Scott Marshall said the facility was initiated in spring, after Beyond Grey Pinstripes ranked PSU’s School of Business Administration among the top 25 business schools in the nation. Beyond Grey Pinstripes is a nationally recognized group that surveys business schools and PSU was ranked 22nd overall for 2006-07.

Marshall said that due to the positive Beyond Grey Pinstripes ranking, student enrollment in the school increased and as a result, he and other business faculty formed the center as a way to focus attention on sustainability among business practices. Sustainable business practices include using recycled materials, reducing fossil fuel use and creating longer-lasting products.

“It was a wake-up call to be ranked so well,” Marshall said. “And the center is a way to harness that energy and to retain it, to increase the amount of research being done on sustainable business.”

Brown said that the newly dedicated office, located in room 230 of the Business Administration Building, is a positive step for the center after it existed for most of the year without any dedicated space.

To inaugurate the opening of the center, the school held a conference two weeks ago, called the International Conference on Business and Sustainability. About 220 attendees attended the conference, which took place Nov. 1 and 2 and was organized by the center. Among the conference’s speakers were Jenette Ramos, general manager of Boeing Portland, and Janelle Kearsley, director of corporate strategy and sustainability for Wal-Mart.

Also involved with the conference were Portland State provost Roy Koch and accounting professor H. Thomas Howell, who spoke during the second day of the conference. Marshall said the center is planning to host a similar conference next year, and that he expects an even greater turnout.

“This year’s conference was great, and I think it can get even bigger and better next year as the center continues to grow,” Marshall said.

“Following the conference, the center has received getting plenty of attention,” Brown said. “And it needs a place to call home, and the office in the SBA is beneficial, for sure.”

Marshall said the conference was the first of many steps to increase visibility for the center. He said there is also a pilot fellowship program underway, and that students involved will perform case studies starting winter 2008 and that he expects results to be published by spring. The fellowship will examine a live business for its sustainability and practicality, he said.