It’s not just business as usual. At the University of Wisconsin, the Bachelor of Science Sustainable Management program, which will begin its second year this fall, is attracting students in big numbers. Many who complete the program will work in business management. But they will be schooled in more than how to balance books.

The three pillars, or “triple bottom line,” accounting principles of this program are profits, planet, people, said Greg Trudeau, accounting professor and chairman of the UW-Superior Department of Business and Economics.

Viewing corporate or organizational practices as bigger than just profits is a growing trend as generations now coming of age become increasingly aware of sustainability issues and environmental impact. The net result is that corporate actions are increasingly under scrutiny and a perceived poor environmental track record may come with an economic cost.

It’s a reality of which many large corporations are becoming keenly aware. Those corporations embracing sustainability may even be on the cutting edge. A September 2009 Harvard Business Review story, “Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation,” reported that large corporations are netting big financial gains from sustainable practices.

“Executives behave as though they have to choose between the largely social benefits of developing sustainable products or processes and the financial costs of doing so. But that’s simply not true. We’ve been studying the sustainability initiatives of 30 large corporations for some time. Our research shows that sustainability is the mother lode of organizational and technological innovations that yield both bottom-line and top-line returns,” wrote Harvard Business Review authors Ram Nidumolu, C.K. Prahalad and M.R. Rangaswami.

“In addition, the process generates additional revenues from better products or enables companies to create new businesses. In fact, because those are the goals of corporate innovation, we find that smart companies now treat sustainability as innovation’s new frontier.”

The sustainability degree program is a partnership of four UW campuses – Superior, Stout, Parkside and River Falls along with UW – Extension. That collaboration increases the effectiveness of instruction.

“One of the strengths of the program is having multiple campuses involved. That way, you can play to the strength of each campus,” Trudeau said.

The online-only program consists of 21 courses, tailored for students who already have an associate of arts degree. Coursework was developed with input from adult students and participating campuses. Courses in the program include: “Triple Bottom Line Accounting for Managers,” “Organizational Behavior and Sustainability,” “Marketing for a Sustainable World” and “Systems Thinking.”

The degree program was developed as an online-only venture because it was designed for nontraditional students, many of whom are already employed full-time.

“It’s deliberately about accessibility,” said Crystal Fey, program manager.

Curriculum developers had hoped to attract about 40 students the first year. Fey said its first three semesters – fall, spring and summer of 2009-2010 – brought in more than 100 students.

“We’ve heard that many were looking for a program like this,” she said. Today, “everyone’s talking about sustainability.”

University officials hope to double enrollments in 2010-2011.

“A variety of things have aligned perfectly” to make the program popular, said Trudeau. “This younger generation is very in tune with sustainability issues.”

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