ASU School of Sustainability announces new leadership degree

Recognizing a gap in sustainability leadership education and development, the Arizona State University School of Sustainability – the nation’s leader in sustainability education – is launching a new executive master’s program focusing on organizational leadership. This new program will equip professionals with the skills to effectively integrate sustainability throughout all facets of their organizations.

Developed by ASU’s Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, a program of the Global Institute of Sustainability, and housed at the School of Sustainability, the new executive master’s for sustainability leadership is a 13-month program designed for mid-career professionals currently employed in or near sustainability roles, with its first class commencing in January 2014.

“This program exemplifies ASU’s commitment to connect learning with solutions in order to create a sustainable future,” said Christopher Boone, interim dean for the ASU School of Sustainability. "It will help sustainability professionals advance their personal career paths while adding value and creating impact for their organizations."

Designed through a collaboration of the university’s sustainability experts and leading practitioners from the corporate sector, the executive master's program features a rigorous hybrid curriculum of virtual learning and immersive in-person experiences at ASU and abroad, allowing professionals to enroll and participate from anywhere. The program’s structure was established with substantive input from a survey ASU conducted in partnership with GreenBiz of more than 400 sustainability executives and organizational leaders from across the nation.

“Many organizations with the best of intentions get stuck in the process of scaling sustainability within their organization,” said Bruno Sarda, director of sustainability operations for Dell and consultant for the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives. “The GreenBiz survey told us that CSO’s and sustainability professionals know what to do but identify a need for more tools and training to help them get it done. ASU has developed this program to address that need of teaching organizational leadership skills through the lens of sustainability.”

On Aug. 20, GreenBiz will host a one-hour webcast featuring the master's program, “The Secrets of Sustainable Leadership in Business,” featuring presentations by Sarda and George Basile, senior sustainability scientist at the ASU Global Institute of Sustainability.

For more information on the executive master’s for sustainability leadership at ASU, visit http://leadersinsustainability.asu.edu.