MA in Sustainable Business and Communities Program

The low-residency MA in Sustainable Business and Communities Program is a 48-credit graduate program. Students can also choose to pursue a one-year, 24-credit certificate of graduate study. The MA in Sustainable Business and Communities Program views the concerns of social responsibility, sustainability, and social justice as inextricably linked. Communities around the world continue to become increasingly interconnected around issues of human rights, the distribution of wealth, climate change, and ethical leadership. The allocation of resources, the drive of the world’s people for self-determination, and the long-term vitality of the planet require new and innovative solutions to these social, political, economic, and environmental issues.

Studies within the program support students in their aspirations to be effective agents of positive social change as entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, leaders, managers, community organizers, environmental stewards, and social justice advocates. Students in the program acquire skills needed to create and lead just, sustainable, and socially responsible organizations and communities. Students in the program develop and carry out an individualized plan of study built around their chosen area of focus and an in-depth topic of inquiry. Students work in close partnership with their faculty advisor to design the work of the semester. This approach to student-centered study assures that each student’s academic work is deeply engaging and meaningful to their lives and learning objectives.

Faculty members in the MA in Sustainable Business and Communities Program work closely with students throughout their studies. Program faculty members are actively engaged in their fields, supporting students with in-depth theoretical understanding of their areas of inquiry and practical experience in diverse real-world applications. In addition to offering richly varied personal and professional backgrounds and a passionate interest in their subject areas, program faculty members provide one-on-one mentoring that is engaging, affirming, constructively challenging, and meaningful for students.

Each semester in the MA in Sustainable Business and Communities Program begins with an eight-day residency on the Goddard campus in central Vermont. During the residency, students and faculty members come together as a culturally diverse and progressively oriented community of learners. Students meet one-on-one and in small advising groups with their faculty advisor, plan the work of the semester, network with other students, attend skill-building workshops and program-related seminars presented by faculty members, guest speakers, and returning students, and participate in site visits to experience first-hand a wide array of organizational and community-based approaches to social responsibility and sustainability in Vermont.