Bainbridge Graduate Institute offers a unique MBA in Sustainable Business. Our innovative program prepares graduates to create and manage successful, dynamic enterprises that build a better world.

Today, most MBA students get little exposure to social and environmental issues in their graduate curriculum and consequently tend to view them as peripheral to business success. BGI’s unique program preserves the academic rigor of a traditional MBA program, while infusing sustainability throughout every course. The program’s focus on entrepreneurship for sustainability prepares students to start their own sustainable enterprises or to be effective change agents within existing organizations.

Our MBA in Sustainable Business is offered in a  2- or 3-year Hybrid distance learning and in person format or an Evening weekly format. Both programs are designed for working individuals.

Our program is built upon a learning community model pioneered at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. The learning community formation begins with orientation retreat either at Channel Rock, our eco-retreat center on Cortes Island in British Columbia for the Hybrid MBA or at IslandWood an environmental learning center on Bainbridge Island for the Evening MBA.

MBA program credits are awarded for graduate course work in a combination of 3-credit and 1-credit courses. Individual courses may vary as to the distribution of lecture, lab and practicum.

Lecture/directed instruction can include a combination of:
     •     in-person and distance faculty lecture/presentation,
     •     faculty-moderated analyses and dialogue,
     •     case  studies,
     •     simulations,
     •     faculty-led exercises with debrief,
     •     facilitated classroom and web-based discussions,
     •     online conferences,
     •     guest speakers and panels of experts,
     •     threaded online discussions,
     •     computer-guided instruction, and
     •     other options.

Lab/practicum includes team-related work and collaboration to address assigned structured problems, beyond individual time reading and writing.

MBA Program Categories

The MBA course offerings fall into four categories that cover the program goals of the academic program.

• The MBA Core covers specific, traditional MBA topics, with an infusion of environmental responsibility and social justice in every course.
• Business & Sustainability is taught more explicitly in the Foundations, Systems Thinking, Social Justice, and Dal LaMagna Series courses.
• Management and Leadership courses, inspired by the work of co-founder Sherman Severin, cover the human side of business from the individual level to the organizational and societal levels, with an emphasis on methods and capacity for productive change.
• Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship & Innovation covers the process of developing a business from the creative vision of the individual through team-building and maturation into a business plan presented to potential investors.

MBA Comparison

Hybrid MBA  2 year or 3 year

Students and faculty meet in intensive classroom sessions for a 4-day weekend once a month, October through June, at the IslandWood environmental learning center on Bainbridge Island, 35 minutes by ferry from downtown Seattle. Between sessions, classes utilize a variety of distance-learning technologies to support student learning. This hybrid format combines our emphasis on building an immersive learning community with the flexibility, focus and self-paced engagement afforded by distance learning. BGI’s academic calendar uses the quarter system.  A typical quarter at BGI consists of weekly online distance learning and three weekend intensives.

Evening MBA

The Evening MBA will consist of face-to-face classes with minimal distance learning and be located at BGI’s downtown Seattle learning site location.  Distance learning tools may be used for team work or to enhance the learning experience with guest lectures. This program, like the Hybrid MBA, is designed for working professionals who are interested in focusing their MBA on environmental responsibility and social justice and as well as profit. The Evening program will run two nights a week year round for 2 and quarter years.

Program Highlights

Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship & Innovation

The fourth category of the MBA Program Goals is a unique offering at BGI, the Innovation & Entrepreneurship series in the final year. These courses build on insights from our co-founders Gifford and Libba Pinchot on the process of change initiatives in large corporations, including the relationship of intrapreneuring to entrepreneuring. Building from the ground level up, students start with market research experience in  Marketing and Sales, move into building a specific creative business plan with a team in Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship I, then develop the plan fully for a culminating presentation to potential investors at the close of Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship II.

Learning Community

The most commented-upon feature of BGI’s education is the learning community. BGI students are, literally, a community of adult learners committed to changing the world. Students come for a variety of backgrounds from non-profit management to for-profit management, from architects to engineers and consult each other widely to leverage the value of their diverse experiences. The learning community feeds and shapes the academic experience and continues to provide a framework for lifelong learning among the alumni and extended BGI community.

Course Delivery

To develop the learning community to best advantage, the Hybrid MBA courses are delivered through a combination of online and in-person experiences. In-person classes are held in the monthly 4-day intensives, and online structured distance learning activities are hosted on the Channel, BGI's powerful collaborative learning platform.  The Evening MBA courses are held in a traditional face-to-face weekly format. Both programs will have access and utilize the Channel. This format optimizes a combination of personal relationships, teamwork and community, together with the flexibility, focus and self-paced engagement afforded by distance learning.

Online Virtual Classroom

Our virtual classroom, which is available to the Hybrid and Evening program, allows groups to hold real-time meetings with audio and web sharing. This includes a shared whiteboard, slide show sharing, application sharing, and the ability to work directly on a classmate’s computer. Conversations take place using Voice-Over-IP (VOIP) technology, allowing participants to talk without incurring long distance fees. A computer headset is required to use this technology.

Change Agents in Residence

BGI hosts several Change Agents in Residents at each intensive of the Hybrid MBA. These leaders are advancing sustainable business practices, researching social and ecological sustainability, or engaged in social activism. These individuals share their stories in an evening fireside chat moderated by BGI President Emeritus Gifford Pinchot, and they share their professional wisdom both formally and informally throughout the weekend. Evening MBA students are welcome to attend the fireside chat and engage with the Change Agents in Residence.

Action Learning Projects

Action learning is a central component of BGI’s curriculum. Action Learning Projects (ALPs) are designed to bring real value to an organization as well as to meet course objectives for MGT 551 Foundations of Sustainable Business, MGT 567 Social Justice and Business and MGT 552 Systems Thinking in Action.  We believe that working with community and business organizations not only deepens students’ educational experience but also provides a context for coursework beyond traditional syllabus expectations by immersing students in the challenges businesses face every day as they try to implement sustainability practices. Past ALPs have included work for Nike, Nature’s Path, REI, the City of Corvallis, OR and others.

Industry Concentrations

Joining an industry concentration gives BGI students the opportunity for focused learning and greater impact in selected critical industries. Students enrolled in a concentration work with BGI’s regular faculty and a committed Industry Advisory Council to analyze challenges and implement on-the-ground solutions to sustainability within a particular industry. Industry concentrations allow interested students to come together for industry-specific workshops, mentoring from industry leaders, and access to industry internships and placements.

Licensing

Bainbridge Graduate Institute is authorized by the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) and meets the requirements and minimum educational standards established for degree-granting institutions under the Degree Authorization Act. This authorization is valid until November 5, 2010, and authorizes Bainbridge Graduate Institute to offer the following program: Master of Business Administration. Any person desiring information about the requirements of the Act or the applicability of those requirements to the institution may contact the HECB office at P.O. Box 43430, Olympia, WA 98504-3430.

Washington State authorization must be renewed every two years. Bainbridge Graduate Institute intends to apply for re-authorization during the fall quarter of 2010.

Accreditation

The Bainbridge Graduate Institute is a graduate school accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools to award the degrees of Master of Business Administration in Sustainable Business and Certificates in Sustainable Business and in Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship.  The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools is listed as a nationally recognized accrediting agency by the United States Department of Education and is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

To speak with someone about the program, please contact our Admission department.

BGI is now accepting applications for 2010-2011. Apply on-line.