September 13, 2017
Harvard Business School professor John Macomber’s course “Building Sustainable Cities and Infrastructure” and Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez’s (Universidad EAFIT) course “Ethics and Social Responsibility” are the grand prize winners of the Dr. Alfred N. and Lynn Manos Page Prize for Sustainability Issues in Business Curricula, given out by the Darla Moore School of Business. Each grand prize winner will receive $1,000 and a framed print of Aegean Sea #6, an original diptych by Lynn Manos Page.
The prize, now in its 10th year, is intended to encourage and support efforts to introduce or substantially upgrade sustainability courses or associated course work into the curriculum of business schools. Macomber’s case-based course explores increasing urbanization, scarcity of resources and the private sector’s role in sustainable infrastructure.
“The multidisciplinary approach of Macomber’s course is unique in that it focuses on infrastructure in business school curriculum,” said Kealy Carter, director of the Moore School sustainability initiative.
Gonzalez-Perez’s undergraduate course takes a broad view of corporate social responsibility and the role of businesses in sustainable development. This and the learning methods it uses made it stand out among this year’s submissions.
“This course is centered on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and involves a mixture of learning methods including experiential learning projects,” Carter said.
Olga Hawn’s (University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler School of Business) course “Sustainability Strategy” and Daina Mazutis’ (University of Ottawa, Telfer School of Management) course “Leadership, Strategy and Sustainability” received honorable mentions. Besides the honor itself, they will each receive $250 and a framed print of Aegean Sea #6.
Hawn’s course is the first Ph.D. course to receive Page Prize recognition. She also received an honorable mention for her MBA course “Sustainability Strategy” for the 2015 award, making this her second award.
The sustainable enterprise and development initiative at the Moore School is designed to facilitate a broad, multi-disciplinary discussion of how we can better understand and manage the large-scale environmental, economic and social systems that will shape the collective well-being of today’s and future generations. The Moore School is committed to preparing tomorrow’s business managers as leaders in sustainable development by achieving economic progress that is beneficial for communities and the environment.
As such, we examine sustainability at the intersection of public and private domains and consider a range of perspectives, including impacts of sustainability initiatives to firms, consumers, communities and economies. All award-winning Page Prize submissions are available in an online database as a resource for use in the development of courses focused on sustainability.
The 2016 prize received a record number of submissions from business school faculty both domestically and internationally. Carter said all submissions were of “top quality” and encourages those who did not win to resubmit next year. The submission period for the 2017 Page Prize will open in December.
By Madeleine Vath