California State University, Long Beach
AC-4: Graduate Program

The Saturday Masters in Business Administration (SMBA) Program is designed to help students develop leadership skills, understand the triple bottom-line decision-making method, and learn how disruptive technologies can transform industries through sustainability and innovation. The 48-unit program offers an efficient schedule that can be completed in 23 months, with a hybrid format combining in-person classes on campus with classes that can be accessed online and a weeklong, study abroad learning experience. Separated into two units, the SMBA first focuses on key functional concepts to develop critical thinking skills through a set of discipline-based courses. The second part of the program focuses on Sustainability and the Business Organization where the students bring their foundational knowledge and apply it to multi-functional problems that businesses face in terms of sustainability. Sustainability is integrated into the curriculum with a special focus on ESG. Learning how to solve business problems such as reducing their carbon footprint and the negative impacts on the stakeholders while contributing to solving the climate crisis. We define sustainability as the triple bottom line which focuses on society, the environment, and the economic profit that a business organization must balance. This phase of the program includes 3 special components: • (1) a service-learning component through a research project with a client, • (2) an international study abroad to learn how other countries integrate sustainability into their business and governance structures, and • (3) a teaching project where our MBA students work with a vulnerable community to teach them some skills (e.g., how to interview for a job, training programs for teens). Overall, the MBA students focus on the region’s markets, consumers, institutions, and legal structure in the sustainability framework. The program now includes a third course that integrates what the students have learned in the 2-part course described above. The focus and context are on the global environment. The students go on an 8-day trip to another country to visit and learn from multinationals, large companies, and startups about sustainability practices, regulatory environments, etc.

The Master of Science in Sustainability Management and Policy (MSSMP) is designed to provide students with the advanced and highly sought-after expertise needed in the field of sustainability management. The program provides training to prepare students to apply the concepts of sustainability within an organization and the regulatory environment by engaging them in advanced and in-demand training. The program’s requirements comprise a 36-unit, lock-step sequence of courses covering three core components: i) developing an advanced understanding of sustainability in the management and policy realms; ii) acquiring data analytics, systems analysis, and design skills to tackle real-world problems in business and policy; and iii) demonstrating competency through a culminating project, in which students interact with local leaders. As part of the capstone portion of the program, students will engage with regional and national sustainability groups and collaborate with various professionals from a wide array of industries, government, non-government, and academic organizations, to produce a final professional deliverable that allows them to demonstrate mastery of the skills gained in the program.

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Reporting Period: AY 2023-24 Dr. Ingrid Martin, director of SMBA program