Sustainable Business

At the Clark School of Management (SOM), our mission is to prepare leaders for a lifetime of success founded on the principles of social responsibility, sustainability, and ethical business practice.

It’s not just because this is the right thing to do today. Social innovation has been central to the ethos of our business school since its establishment in 1982. We also know this is what students want and employers are looking for. With their evolving talent needs, businesses today reward graduates whose business education extends beyond accounting and finance to include an understanding of how business performance and social good can work hand in hand.

Our focus is on experiential, project-based learning and community engagement. SOM faculty and students have long collaborated with business and community organizations at the local, national, and global levels to challenge the status quo and effect positive change.

Sustained commitment to sustainable business

Clark University’s SOM is a long-time signatory to the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Education (PRME), reflecting our commitment to education, research, and collaboration that fosters on sustainable social, economic, and environmental change. Our faculty also approved the integration of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into our academic programs.

In April 2023, SOM hosted its first annual conference on Social Innovation. Use the following link for more details on the event.

Click here for session videos and conference recap!

Faculty focus on sustainable development and social innovation

SOM faculty are actively engaged in conducting, presenting, and publishing research that advances knowledge of important financial, social, economic, and environmental issues relevant to current management best practices. Our scholar-practitioners include investment market experts, portfolio managers, analysts, applied researchers, and executives whose research aims to drive innovative management theory and practice. Here are highlights of their recent work and activities related to the UN SDGs:

Professor Jing Zhang published an article in Government Information Quarterly (GIQ) on smart city initiatives, a crucial topic in the discussion of societal and environmental impact. GIQ is the premier journal in the field of digital government research, with an impact factor of 7.629 in 2021.

Laura Graves

Professor Emerita Laura Graves published an article on leader behavior and employee motivation to engage in sustainability initiatives in The Journal of Cleaner Production, which is a leading journal on sustainability, with an impact factor of 9.297. Professor Graves’ scholarly work has drawn media interest, serving as a source for Fast Company on two topics: the attributes needed to manage and flexible work hours.

Tom Murphy

Professor Tom Murphy has a niche area of expertise in sustainability marketing and sustainability branding, working retail companies known throughout the world. He is a decision consultant to CXO’s of global companies, universities and health care firms, helping them prioritize and improve business plans and investments across global markets.

David Jordan

Dr. David Jordan, Social Entrepreneur-In-Residence, presented his applied research on food insecurity at the United Nations COP 26 meeting in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021.

Professor Mary-Ellen Boyle received a grant from the Leir Foundation for organizing a workshop that supports the advancement of high-quality education, cultural institutions, medical research and care, services for children and the disadvantaged, and programs that enhance multi-cultural understanding and diversity.

Will Wu

Professor Da (Will) Wu’s research examines how gender diversity on company and institutional boards affects investment behaviors. He also studies how growing inequalities between employee and executive compensation impact business performance.

Student engagement, community impact

Since our founding in 1982, the SOM has demonstrated its commitment to the Worcester community overall and the Main Street South neighborhood in particular, as well as to national and global community organizations. Through our hands-on and experiential approach to learning, we empower our students to become engaged global citizens committed to making a positive societal impact. Here are several recent highlights:

Social Innovation Conference Highlights School ...

Interdisciplinary conference brought experts from around the country to ...

When Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Developme...

It’s Meaningful Business Supporting Worcester...

For Clark’s Women in Business Club, it was a special winter break.

Ivette Olmeda, MBA/MA ’17, is the 2022 PRME A...

Contact Information

School of Management

Office Location

950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610

SOM is located in Carlson Hall, close to the Maywood Street parking lot.
Telephone: 1-508-793-7543
Fax: 1-508-793-8822

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