Bentley University (Waltham, MA) is a leading business school offering undergrad and MBA / MBS degrees. There are 4,200 undergrad and 1,400 grad students enrolled, studying accounting, finance, marketing, managements and liberal arts, all (the university says) “anchored” in technology.  This private, not-for-profit institution of higher learning offers a blend of business, technology and liberal arts to prepare students with “relevant, practical, transferable skills.”  So where does Bentley the institution stand on matters regarding sustainability, corporate responsibility, ethical behaviors and other important aspects of 21stCentury business?
For starters, we note the university has a director of sustainability (and special advisor to the president), Amanda King.  She oversees the Office of Sustainability, guiding initiatives aimed at engaging the institution in environmental matters, including making the business case for environmental sustainability and CSR. “Sustainability” is a lively topic of discovery and discussion at the institution.
The Bentley Research Council organized the university’s October 30, 2015 Research Colloquium — “Sustainable Worlds: Individual, Business, Societal, and Scientific Perspectives.” The event was centered on presenting highlights of sustainability-related scholarly work conducted by the institution’s academic departments.
Kristen Walsh, a Boston-based freelance writer interviews Ms. King and a host of involved Bentley scholars and professors in our Top Story this week.  The experts in management, taxation, financial planning, natural & applied science, IT, sociology, marketing, economics, and other fields offer their predictions as they prepared for the meetings.  Their brief list of 28 “Predictions for the Future of Sustainability” is worth a read.
The topics and subject matter will be familiar to sustainability professionals – and there are some not-so-familiar items as well.  Example: “Traditional burial practices pose a threat to the environment…” – Susan Dobscha, marketing scholar. And, “environmental psychology helps us examine and understand our human connectedness to our environments and ecosystems…”  Virginia Egan, natural and applied sciences.
And this should be familiar and welcome to the readers of our Highlights:  “The future of sustainability lies in its integration with organizations’ operations and decisions. This integration enables the business leaders to achieve the goals of doing good things and doing things good simultaneously,” Gang Li, management scholar.
While you read the Bentley U post, check out Bentley’s “PreparedU Project,” designed to examine challenges facing Millennial workers, companies employing members of the generation, and colleges and universities that prepare them for their careers.
At G&A Institute, we are doing our part in working with colleges and universities on sustainability topics, and bringing classes of interns each academic year to work on real-world sustainability research projects as they complete their academic work.  Our Honor Roll on the G&A corporate web site has profiles of these outstanding men and women who will be leading organizations in the business world, in academia, in not-for-profit institutions, and other career paths.  We note, as example, our colleague from the first class of interns (2011), Michelle Thompson, who is now completing her final year as doctoral candidate at UCLA, getting her degree in environmental science and engineering.  Check out her profile and our other outstanding interns profiled on the Honor Roll:  http://www.ga-institute.com/the-honor-roll.html
And check out the 28 predictions for the future of sustainability in the story below:
28 Predictions for the Future of Sustainability 
(Tuesday – October 27, 2015)
Source: Bentley University – Where is the environmental sustainability movement headed? Experts offer their options