Education

The Susilo Institute promotes educational offerings that utilize Questrom’s ecosystem of faculty, partner organizations, alumni, and the public at large.

As a part of this education, the Susilo Institute draws on multiple academic disciplines, including strategy, economics, law, psychology, and public policy, to raise organizations’ awareness of the benefits of embracing ethical values and enhancing social good and to develop tools to measure and advance social impact.

For example, in their first year, MBA students are taking the course Ethical Leadership in the Global Economy (co-taught by Susilo Fellow Prof. Evan Apfelbaum and Nina Mazar). Every year this course hosts prominent guest speakers that cover current topics on ethics and business. Previous speakers include Prof. Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland from the MIT Media Lab (spring 2020; Topic: Data Collectives, Privacy and Security), Prof. Michelle Amazeen from BU’s College of Communication (fall 2019; Topic: Negotiating Political and Consumer (Mis)Information in the Digital Age), former Governor of MA Michael Ducacis (spring 2019), film director Yael Melamede (fall 2018; Topic: her documentary film “(Dis)honesty — the Truth about Lies”).

Specialized Degrees

Social Impact MBA
Business was once viewed as separate and distinct from the social sector—now, the two are firmly linked, creating new domains of partnership and possibility. Questrom’s Social Impact MBA program focuses on the vital juncture where business fundamentals meet opportunities to create social value.

For example, it offers a Social Impact Field Seminar. Here is the link to MBA students’ reflections on their learning experience in the spring 2020 seminar with Dean’s Research Scholar and Susilo Fellow Prof. Caroline Flammer (Strategy and Innovation department) in Brazil: http://sites.bu.edu/socialimpactblog/

Another example is the course, The Behavioral Change Practicum (or Behavioral Insights Lab) led by Susilo Co-Director, Prof. Nina Mazar, that teaches students how to apply insights from behavioral economics to effectively produce behavior change. Two of the hands-on projects in spring 2020 were done in collaboration with Save the Children in Bangladesh (on early childhood care and development) and in Indonesia (on family disaster preparedness). For details see here: https://sites.bu.edu/behaviorchangeblog/

Energy & Environmental Sustainability MBA
On Questrom’s Energy & Environmental Sustainability track, students gain the skills necessary to lead organizations increasingly concerned with climate change and environmental sustainability.