Sustainable Business, MS
Introduction
Climate change, carbon emissions reform, and scarce resources create a strong demand for sustainability expertise. Are you ready to become an expert in sustainable business and make a global impact with your degree? Prepare for sustainability roles in both public and private sector organizations. Learn core sustainable business concepts and dive deep into two of six elective certificates that allow you to tailor your degree or customize the program to fit your career needs.
The Master of Science in Sustainable Business (SUSB) program offers seven different certificates, interdisciplinary courses, a large offering of 8-week online courses, and connections to our Sustainable Business Advisory Council and partners through events and guest speakers.
In the MS SUSB program, you’ll learn key concepts and issues in the field and gain knowledge and skills, including Sustainable Business Accounting, Managing for Sustainability, Sustainable Supply Chains and Circularity, and impact investing, including the opportunity to earn certificates of your choice along the way toward earning your MS degree. In addition to earning a certificate in the Foundations of Sustainable Business, you’ll gain targeted knowledge and skills in particular domains of your choice by earning additional certificates, including Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Energy, Risk Management & Resilience, Social Enterprise, Managing for Sustainability, or, if on campus, Urban Sustainability and Infrastructure.
With a career-focused mindset, you can use this degree to take a significant sustainable business role in your organization or entrepreneurial firm to drive successful outcomes and innovation.
Unlike an MBA, which covers a number of different business functions and typically only offers courses from across the Business School, with the MS in SUSB, you’ll dig deeper into the sustainable, environmental, and social aspects of running a business, as well as gain interdisciplinary and cross-college expertise to deepen your knowledge into specific sustainability domains of your choice. Sustainability requires interdisciplinary knowledge and skills, so this MS degree is designed to ensure you walk away with the breadth and depth of sustainability knowledge – beyond traditional business disciplinary knowledge - to be successful.
You'll have full access to the CU Denver Business Career Connections team for life. With 10 + years of recruiting and advising experience, they'll help you navigate the corporate recruiting process. Use CU Denver Business School’s connections with 300+ business partners to access exclusive opportunities and network with industry leaders. Their services include:
- Career workshops – perfect your resume, LinkedIn profile, and job search process.
- Individual appointments – explore what your personal career path looks like, review your resume, or schedule a mock interview
- Career events – hone your networking skills and meet hiring managers from top companies
- Job announcements – monthly emails with the latest job and internship opportunities specific to your degree
Program Requirements
Required Certificate
The following is the required certificate of the MS Sustainable Business program that sets the foundation for success in sequential certificates and coursework from within the Business School and beyond. As such, this certificate serves as a pre-requisite certificate that should be completed prior to beginning the elective certificates.
Foundations of Sustainable Business Certificate
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses: | ||
| SUSB 6000 | Key Concepts and Issues in Sustainable Business | 3 |
| SUSB 6821 | Managing for Sustainability | 3 |
| SUSB 6285 | Accounting and Finance for Sustainability | 3 |
| SUSB 6827 | Global Climate Change | 3 |
| SUSB 6828 | Sustainable Supply Chains and Circularity | 3 |
| Total Hours | 15 | |
Elective Certificates
Students will need to earn two of the following six elective certificates in pursuit of the MS Sustainable Business. Some individual courses appear as options toward the completion of multiple certificates. However, individual courses taken to fulfill one certificate cannot be double-counted and applied toward the completion of a second certificate. Alternative courses from the approved lists will need to be selected instead to avoid double-counting.
Environmental Sustainability Certificate
Modality: Online, with many face-to-face options
Description: This certificate is designed to introduce students to the various environmental challenges (e.g., water and natural resources, climate change, environmental wastes, and pollution) that companies face. Courses in this certificate will teach students not only how to manage and report on a company’s environmental performance, but how to develop sustainable and regenerative business practices to protect, restore, and improve our natural environments and resources.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Course: | ||
| SUSB 6826 | Environmental Sustainability and Stewardship | 3 |
| Complete 2 of the following: | 6 | |
| Water and Wastewater Treatment | ||
| Earth Environments and Human Impacts | ||
| Water Quality and Resources | ||
| Climate Change: Causes, Impacts and Solutions | ||
| Risk Assessment | ||
| Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Trends in Energy & Commodities | ||
| Carbon Markets: Navigating the Future of Business | ||
| Sustainability in Resources Management | ||
| Science, Policy and the Environment | ||
| Seminar in Environmental Politics and Policy | ||
| Global Enterprise Sustainability and Resilience | ||
| Environmental Justice | ||
| Environmental Planning/Management | ||
| Total Hours | 9 | |
Sustainable Energy Certificate
Modality: Online primarily with some in-person options
Description: Courses in this certificate introduce students to the key concepts for understanding and managing renewable energy resources, and how to lead the global energy transition to renewable energy.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete 3 of the following: | 9 | |
| Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Trends in Energy & Commodities | ||
| 21st Century Global Energy Issues and Realities | ||
| Technical Aspects of Energy Science | ||
| Strategic Management of the Energy Industry | ||
| Carbon Markets: Navigating the Future of Business | ||
| Project Development, Management and Leadership in Renewable Energy | ||
| Global History of Energy | ||
| Sustainable Energy Policy | ||
| Total Hours | 9 | |
Risk Management and Resilience Certificate
Modality: Primarily online, some in-person options
Description: Courses in this certificate introduce students to the concepts of risks, hazards, exposure, and resilience. Students will learn how to successfully manage and lead a company through periods of volatility, complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity typical of many sustainability and environmental challenges.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Course: | ||
| SUSB 6309 | Strategic Risk Management | 3 |
| Complete 2 of the following: | 6 | |
| Leading Organizational Change | ||
| Practical Enterprise Risk Management | ||
| Global Risk Management | ||
| Global Enterprise Sustainability and Resilience | ||
| Disaster/ClimateChangePlanning | ||
| Total Hours | 9 | |
Social Enterprise Certificate
Modality: Online with many face-to-face options
Description: Courses in this certificate build students’ abilities to design and launch successful businesses that are responsive and sensitive to social needs, equity and justice, and human well-being.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Course: | ||
| SUSB 6300 | Social Enterprise | 3 |
| Complete 2 of the following: | 6 | |
| Purpose-Driven Innovation in Social Entrepreneurship | ||
| Human Health and Environmental Pollution | ||
| Marketing Challenges at the Global Frontier | ||
| Civil Society and Nongovernmental Organizations | ||
| Managing for Social Equity | ||
| Public Private Partnerships | ||
| Environmental Justice | ||
| Community Development | ||
| Total Hours | 9 | |
Managing for Sustainability Certificate
Modality: Online only
Description: Courses in this certificate train students to launch and lead strategic initiatives in their enterprises that improve social and environmental outcomes, and build sustainable enterprises that thrive in any business environment.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete 3 of the following: | 9 | |
| Transformative Leadership for Sustainability | ||
| Leadership for New and Innovative Ventures | ||
| Project Development, Management and Leadership in Renewable Energy | ||
| Leadership and Decision Making in the Global Energy Environment | ||
| Leading Organizational Change | ||
| Strategic Management | ||
| Visionary Leadership | ||
| Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility | ||
| Managing for Social Equity | ||
| Total Hours | 9 | |
Urban Sustainability and Infrastructure Certificate
Modality: In-person only
Description: Cities are the most rapidly growing regions globally. They must be designed collaboratively with public, private, and civic sectors to make them more sustainable in the future. This certificate is designed for aspiring business leaders who plan to engage or collaborate with the public and civic sector to make our cities more just, livable, and sustainable through urban design, infrastructure planning, land use, and other urban sustainability concepts.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Course (Choose 1): | 3 | |
| Urban Sustainability | ||
| Urban Sustainability and Resiliency: Perspectives and Practice | ||
| Complete 2 of the following: | 6 | |
| Urban Design Economics and Equity | ||
| Urban Design and the Environment | ||
| Transportation, Land Use, and the Environment | ||
| Sustainable Transportation Systems | ||
| Total Hours | 9 | |