NEW COURSE SPOTLIGHTS SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES
When people think about planning as a profession they may often perceive a job that works closely with federal, state, and municipal governments to come to agreements about the future of a given community.
A
unique Temple University graduate course will switch that focus entirely
and spotlight the private sector. Community and Regional Planning 481 - Sustainable
Business Practices will be offered for the first time during the
Spring 2004 semester. The course is being developed jointly by the Temple
University Ambler College Department of Community and Regional Planning
and Temple’s Fox School of Business and Management.
“This course will help expand our curriculum,” said Dr. Jeffrey Featherstone, Chair of the Department of Community and Regional Planning and Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities at Temple University Ambler. “It’s taking planning, with its emphasis on government, and bringing it to the private sector — what can be done by business and commerce to promote sustainability. The private sector is often the biggest player in planning decisions.”
Dr. Rajan Chandran, Senior Associate Dean for the Fox School of Business and Management, said be believes that accountability for sustainable issues is not only important to teach future business leaders, but is essential for businesses to practice today.
“There are many people that believe that business is only about the bottom line,” he said. “I think this course recognizes that if this generation and future generations are going to continue to survive on planet Earth, business in general has to take into account its use of non-renewable resources — land, water, air.”
Sustainable Business Practices will comprehensively explore environmental issues and their impact on business, communities, institutions, and the general public. The course examines the need for companies to effectively manage environmental issues in light of increased public demand for businesses to take a stewardship role over natural resources and environmental protection and provides students with a broad and practical understanding of environmental sustainability concepts.
“For the M.B.A. and Community and Regional Planning students, this is an important subject to explore. But I think this will also be a valuable program for those who manage and affect the types of resources we are talking about,” said Dr. Chandran. “Chemical firms, pharmaceutical companies, consultants in business would all benefit. Through this partnership between our departments, and the help of the Center for Sustainable Communities at the Ambler campus, we will hopefully be able to expand upon this notion and get companies truly thinking about managing the environment.”
According to Dr. Featherstone, the new course will be taught by Adjunct Associate Professor Dr. Ernest Weiler, who comes to Temple University Ambler with 35 years experience with Rohm and Haas.
“Rohm and Haas has always shown a keen interest in sustainability issues, he said. “Dr. Weiler recently retired and had been interested in offering such a course for some time.”
Dr. Weiler is a seasoned manager and environmental, health, safety and product regulatory professional with extensive global experience in the chemical processing industry. At Rohm and Haas, he held various management and executive leadership positions in research, technical development, technical service, toxicology, product regulatory compliance, and environmental health and safety. He managed global teams of specialists and integrated product safety, health, safety, and environmental requirements into various enterprise-wide work processes to meet corporate expectations as well as regulatory requirements.
“It’s a unique course in the curriculum in that it’s not necessarily a planning course per se,” Dr. Featherstone said. “It’s more a course on sustainability, which is the ultimate goal of planning.”
For more information on Sustainable Business Practices and other courses available through the Department of Community and Regional Planning, please call 215-283-1252.
Temple
University Ambler College is dedicated to promoting sustainable
communities, effective land use, and environmental awareness. Students can
choose from a B.S. and M.S. in Community and Regional Planning; B.S., A.S.,
or credit certificate programs in Horticulture; or a B.S. in Landscape
Architecture. Students may begin over 100 Temple undergraduate programs
and complete a variety of degree programs on the Ambler campus in areas
such as business, communication, education, liberal arts, and nursing.
For more information on Temple University Ambler’s undergraduate
programs, call 215-283-1252.
Temple
University Fort Washington is the graduate and professional center of the
Ambler campus. Students can complete graduate degrees in Business
Administration (M.B.A. and M.S. programs); Electrical and Computer
Engineering (M.S.E.); Educational Administration (Ed.M.); Pharmaceutical
Quality Assurance/Regulatory Affairs (M.S.); and Pharmaceutics (non-thesis
M.S.) at the Fort Washington location. Additionally, a Master of Social
Work degree may be completed at the Ambler campus. For more information,
call 215-283-1304.
CONTACT: James Duffy, (215) 283-1290, duffyj@temple.edu, release available by e-mail
