Passionate about sustainability? We have you covered at Rotman!

Michael Moses - Assistant Director, Recruitment & AdmissionsThis year Rotman launched its new major in Sustainability (which brings the number of majors we offer at Rotman to 14). To coincide with this, we thought it would be a great opportunity to speak to all of the incredible things our students can get involved in on campus and beyond when it comes to sustainability.

The Sustainability Major

If you are interested in:

  • Corporate social responsibility or corporate citizenship strategy and programs
  • Environmental, social and governance issues in business
  • Social entrepreneurship or social innovation
  • Responsible investment or social finance

Then this major might be for you! Here is a sample of some of the really exciting courses we will be offering to in this space:

  • Business Sustainability Strategy– Learn how companies design and deliver new business models by employing sustainability as the source of innovation to generate new growth. The course will also involve meeting with senior executives who have successfully made this happen.
  • Entrepreneurship for Social Ventures– Learn how entrepreneurs create organizations that address social problems using innovative, sustainable approaches. Students also get the chance to design their own social ventures.
  • Leading Social Innovation– Learn about new business models that tackle wicked problems and how to use those models to impact the social economy. This course also exposes students to guest speakers who share their insight and innovation that they’ve brought to the sector as well!

How Our Students Put Sustainability into Practice

  • Rotman NeXus– This is a consulting firm housed in the Rotman building that focuses
    The NeXus team at Rotman- 3 of our students of the class of 2016.

    The NeXus team at Rotman, comprised of 3 of our students of the class of 2016.

    primarily on social enterprise. While it is run by Rotman students (so you can do your summer internship here), it operates exactly like how any consulting firm would, pitching to clients, developing strategies for them, etc.

  • Rotman Net Impact– Net Impact essentially operates like a student club but is also part of the global organization of Net Impact, with chapters at schools around the world. The organization focuses entirely around sustainability. Here at Rotman, this means getting students involved in case competitions, meeting with guest speakers in industry and hosting networking events. Fun fact for you- this past year, the Rotman chapter of Net Impact was placed in the top 3 (out of 300) in the whole world!
  • The Hult Prize– This is a competition held throughout the world each year, aimed at solving the world’s toughest challenges. The goal of the competition is to identify and launch the most compelling social business ideas. The winner of the Hult Prize competition at Rotman goes onto the regional competition in one of the following cities: San Francisco, Boston, London, Dubai, Shanghai or Sao Paulo; and the winners from those regional competitions go to the finals at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City. The winner of it all receives $1 million in seed funding for their venture!

How Our Faculty and Research Centres Are Tackling Sustainability

Rotman also has a Sustainability Working Group, comprised of faculty, staff and students. This group meets a few times per year with the goal of discussing the latest trends and challenges in sustainability and how Rotman can do more in terms of teaching, research and other activities.

Finally, the actual Rotman building is LEED Gold certified. This means our building demonstrates excellence in traits such as: water saving, energy conservation, sustainable building materials and air quality. Talk about practicing what we preach, right? 🙂

So if you are looking to build your skills and connect to the professionals that are fostering positive change in our environment, you have plenty of ways to make this happen at Rotman!

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