Written by: Taylor Reed, RBI Graduate Intern
February 15, 2015
Under the leadership of the Responsible Business Initiative, students of the College of Business and Economics (COBE) are producing what will be COBE’s first sustainability report.
While all public companies produce a 10-k detailing financial health, some companies realize that these statements are only portraying a small part of their story. Many companies, such as Wells Fargo and Starbucks, are now producing corporate social responsibility reports, or sustainability reports, to better share with consumers and investors how they are measuring success.
Why should the College of Business and Economics be any different? While financials are an essential part of COBE’s health and success, they are only a fraction of what the college does to be socially responsible, competitive, sustainable, and successful.
A team of 15 undergraduate and graduate students are currently researching economic, social, and environmental issues across the college’s seven departments to document what the college is doing well and where it has room for improvement. Following this collection of data these students will draft the report to effectively communicate some of the key stories and metrics that make COBE sustainable. In addition to this team, there will be three classes of COBE students; one class will perform a benchmark assessment of the draft report, the second will produce a spotlight story on the college’s living-learning community, and a third class, made up of graduate students studying accountancy, will serve as the auditors for the report.
To create the report students are utilizing two frameworks: the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UNPRME). GRI is a set of guidelines designed for larger corporations, however the rigorous guidelines are regarded by many as the “gold standard” in non-financial reporting. While GRI lends credibility and a clear structure for articulating metrics, the students are looking to UNPRME to inspire the storytelling aspect of the report. By using both frameworks students hope to produce a report that will measure concrete actions and share some of the unique stories of students and faculty who are using business to drive social and environmental efforts at COBE and in their communities.
COBE’s report is still in the early stages of production, however the Responsible Business Initiative believes that this report will eventually serve as a valuable tool to document and track COBE’s efforts to operate in a way that drives sustainable practices, ethical leadership, and educate students on the growing importance and practice of nonfinancial reporting in business.
Below are the students who are researching, writing, and producing COBE’s first sustainability report:
Taylor Reed, MBA Candidate (Reporting Project Leader)
Griff Tweeten, MBA Candidate
Emily Berg, Senior – Environmental Science
Rylee Lewis, Sophomore – Supply Chain Management
Spencer Cardon, MBA Candidate
Emily Border, MBA Candidate
Aaron Lockwood, MBA Candidate
Sam Johnson, MBA Candidate
Nickie Li, MBA Candidate
Jeff Dee, MBA Candidate
Braden Lawrence, MBA Candidate
Bruno Salas, Junior – Accounting
Jackie Presnell, MBA Candidate
Kyle Mutzel, MBA Candidate
Jesse Rutzen, Junior – Supply Chain Management