Professionals Can Build Environmental Resiliency Knowledge in Spring Courses

Environmental resiliency plays an important role in the business world, figuring into corporations’ business practices in several ways, according to University of Arkansas faculty members who teach in the field.

John Kester III holds a Ph.D. in environmental dynamics from the U of A and teaches part time in the new environmental resiliency program delivered online. The program offers a master’s degree and eight graduate certificates and microcertificates. Kester works as a consultant in the field, helping multinational corporations put their environmental policies into practice.

 

Vital Issues

One of the courses Kester is teaching this spring, called ESG Reporting (ENRE 53303), refers to environmental, social, and governance, all areas that corporations are concerned with, he said. Enrollment is open now.

“ESG is often used interchangeably with sustainability,” Kester said, “but is primarily used as the more formal framework for how companies are pursuing their impact-oriented activities. ‘Environmental’ covers issues including waste, energy, and climate change. ‘Social’ includes topics such as labor standards, health and safety regulations, pay equity, and inclusion. ‘Governance’ relates to how organizations manage decision-making, ethics, compliance, and accounting transparency.”

The ESG Reporting course offers practical knowledge for people in business, Kester said. It covers benchmarking, protocols, guidelines, communication strategies, data collection and sharing information with the public. Students, who are typically also working professionals, can directly apply skills to the work they are doing, he said. Other students who are still in graduate programs and doing internships can also leverage the information in jobs they are applying for.

“These are topics that companies continue to manage and pursue,” Kester said. “These skills set you apart from other people working in these roles. The course will cover best practices for reporting, and it will utilize case studies to review strategies of organizational approaches to annual improvements. Students will learn the skill to lead, organize, and implement reporting systems that can be applied across industries, from consumer goods to nonprofits.”

In a recent McKinsey & Company article, corporate commitments to nature have evolved since 2022. The authors state: “Increasing collective actions by companies underscore the private sector’s deepening commitment to nature while also highlighting the need for innovation and focus across all dimensions of natural resources.”

“The increasing commitments mean more job opportunities in ESG, which this class will help you prepare for,” Kester said.

 

Relevant Practices

Ken McCown is a professor and directs the Environmental Resiliency Programs and Sustainability Curriculums. The environmental resiliency programs, which are all delivered online, are a joint initiative between the U of A’s Graduate School and International Education and the architecture school. Environmental issues remain at the forefront of good business practices, McCown assured.

“This is an opportunity for students to skill up in the workforce,” McCown said. “Sustainability is still really, really important, and its importance extends over the long term. And, the program is relatively easy to access because of the asynchronous classes.”

Another strength of the environmental resiliency program, McCown pointed out, is that all of the instructors except him have Ph.D.s while also working in the field.

“They have the highest credential they can possibly have, and they are helping students access these ideas for the workplace,” he said.

In addition to this synergy that comes from the instructors, students can learn from their peers in class with them.

“Some of the students in our classes already have Ph.D.s and master’s degrees,” McCown said. “There is wonderful dialogue.”

 

Communicating a Passion

Kester is also teaching Science Communications for Executives (ENRE 51303) this spring. It will help students learn how to better communicate objectives and incorporate more robust and clear calls to action in their business operations, he said.

He earned his doctorate from the U of A in 2015; previously, he earned a master’s degree in sustainable communities from Northern Arizona University and a bachelor’s degree in biology and economics from Denison University in Ohio. During his doctoral program, Kester held a graduate assistantship with the Sustainability Consortium initially run jointly by the U of A and Arizona State University.

His own doctoral program, environmental dynamics, allowed Kester to explore sustainability aspects important to him.

“Studying and working in environmental issues brings an opportunity for impact in the real world, bridging your passions for the environment, being outdoors and conservation into directing companies that have broad impact in their space,” he said. “You can take that passion and put it into action, influencing leading companies into a path that’s ultimately more sustainable. I am also interested in how things change over time and how they can continue to change.”

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