Social Value Creation - Robert H. Smith School of Business

News & Events

New things are happening at the Smith School all the time. Check out the latest changemakers in the news, press releases, our calendar of events, and video podcasts.

What's New at Smith?

Smith Faculty Join Cross-Campus Colleagues in Integrating Sustainability
into the Curriculum

Smith School faculty joined others from across the University of Maryland campus in May for the Chesapeake Project, a two-day workshop designed by the University's Office of Sustainability to foster the integration of sustainability more broadly across the curriculum. The goal of the project is for every UM student to gain a multidisciplinary perspective on critical issues related to environment, society and the economy.

The workshop resulted in the revision of multiple courses at Smith - including BUMO 758K, BMGT 350H, BMGT 496, BMGT 495 and BMGT 385 - to better incorporate ideas of sustainability, an outcome that was highlighted in a recent issue of the Aspen Institute's Closer Look.
Read more about the Chesapeake Project

Smith School Named to "Global 100" in Aspen Institute Ranking

The Smith School's MBA program was recognized among the Top 100 in the world by the Aspen Institute in its biennial Beyond Grey Pinstripes ranking, released Oct. 21, 2009. The rankings highlight MBA programs that demonstrate leadership in integrating social, environmental and ethical issues. The Smith Schools recently launched Center for Social Creation spearheads these efforts at Smith, providing hands-on learning opportunities, coursework, career opportunities and faculty research support.
Read more

Leadership for a Better World: Creating Social Value through Innovation

Read Steven Pearlstein's column highlighting the Better World forum in the Washington Post.

Read more about the September 25th event that brought together more than 250 business leaders, academics, nonprofit executives and policy makers for a one-day forum on creating, leading and sustaining organizations for social impact.

Watch executive director Melissa Carrier's interview on Smith Business Close-Up, in which she previews the forum and discusses how creating social value is an important business strategy.

Fall 2009 Course for Conservation Practitioners

D.C. area conservation practitioners are invited to register for CONS 609-101 Adaptive Management for Conservation Projects this semester. The course, offered through the University of Maryland Graduate Program in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology, will focus on hands-on group work on adaptive management plans for real conservation projects. It will take place on Wednesday evenings, 4 - 7 p.m., beginning September 9 at the Smithsonian's Conservation Biology Institute at the National Zoo. Registration deadline is September 1. For more information, contact the instructors: Lou Ann Dietz, Marcia Brown, and Vinaya Swaminathan.

Four Reasons to Care About Business Ethics

Dean Anand shares his ideas about business ethics and corporate social responsibility with ExecutiveBiz.com as the Smith School prepares to formally launch the Center for Social Value Creation with a September 25th forum in Washington, D.C.

The Center for Social Value Creation Announces
Summer Research Grant Award Winners

The 2009 Summer Research Grants are designed to encourage faculty to develop/refine research topics in the fields of social and environmental impact. As defined by Aspen Institute, Social Impact Management is the field of inquiry at the intersection of business practice and wider societal concerns that reflects and respects the complex interdependency between the two and focuses on how to manage the complex interdependency between the two. Environmental Impact Management covers the spectrum of reactive to pro-active strategies that companies and organizations use to address environmental issues across the full range of their business activities including regulatory compliance, eco-efficiency, and business strategy.

$5000 Faculty Awards:

Anand Gopal: The Structure and Performance of Public-Private Alliances The Case of Global Development Alliances within USAID
Kislaya Prasad: Corruption in Hierarchies
Sunil Mithas: Doing Well by Doing Good? Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Performance
Siva Viswanathan and Mingfeng Lin: Lending to the Bottom of the Pyramid: Investor Incentive and Peer to-Peer Micro Lending to Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries
Yi Xu: Public Incentives for Pro-Social Innovation

$2000 PhD Award:

Russ Halper with S. Raghavan: Effectively Using Mobile Facilities in Humanitarian Relief Logistics

We congratulate the award winners!

Smith Speaker Series: Alex Counts, President and CEO of the Grameen Foundation, March 31, 2009

Alex Counts, President and CEO of the Grameen Foundation, has impacted the lives of an estimated 31 million of the worlds indigenous people through his dedication to social consciousness and change. This Smith Speaker SeriesMicrofinance as a Platform for Change focused on the interests that have lead to Counts successful engagement with the global finance industry, including innovations focused on capital investment in microfinance, poverty, human resources, and technology.
Read more & watch video

The Social Enterprise Symposium

The Robert H. Smith School of Business hosted its first Social Enterprise Symposium, a student-run program designed to introduce new approaches for making impactful, lasting social change around the world using market-based approaches on March 26, 2009. Video and event summaries are available. Read more about the program