GSOM continues its important relationship with the United Nations as an official signatory to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). Its latest PRME Update Report, details the projects and initiatives that demonstrate GSOM’s commitment to responsible management education.
GSOM joined the United Nations’ PRME initiative in 2011. Business schools across the world that become signatories to PRME adopt six principles – purpose, values, method, research, partnership and dialogue – and pledge to prepare students to lead responsibly for social, environmental, and economic sustainability. After submitting its first report to the United Nations in 2012, detailing the school’s first efforts to incorporate the PRME principles throughout the curriculum, GSOM submitted an update in 2013, and a more comprehensive update in 2015, covering two years of activity.
“As a PRME signatory, GSOM continues to enhance its educational programs, research, and activities by integrating ethical, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable principles and practices,” noted GSOM visiting lecturer, Will O’Brien, JD, MBA, who chairs the school’s PRME Committee. “Clark’s track record and progress in these areas over the last two years is impressive.”
The latest report details the ways GSOM reinforces the PRME principles both singularly and in concert with the University. From faculty research, course curricula, and engagement with the business community, the report highlights a number of campus curricular and extra-curricular activities. For example, in assistant professor Rita Wang’s Foundations of Accounting course, she includes a focus on ethics, discussing the factors that contribute to corporate fraudulent behavior, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and internal controls. Professor Wang also includes exam questions to test the students’ ability to identify fraudulent activities and the consequences of engaging in them. In addition, the Clark Community Thrift Store, managed through the Innovation and Entrepreneurship program, is a student-founded and student-run non-profit that serves the Clark campus and surrounding community. A core of dedicated and passionate Clark graduate and undergraduate students re-opened the store in 2014.
“GSOM’s efforts toward PRME integration have grown beyond our unique sustainability and social change concentrations,” stated Dean Catherine Usoff, PhD. “We are proud of the numerous examples of student and faculty accomplishments that demonstrate the depth and breadth of our dedication to preparing the next generation of responsible leaders.”
“I encourage our alumni and the community to browse this inspiring report and see the remarkable work being done by the GSOM community,” Dean Usoff added.