A short-term summer course at 91短视频, “Stewardship, Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship,” will include field trips in the city of Staunton and in the great outdoors, specifically in the Big Meadows area of Shenandoah National Park.

Dr. Anthony E. (Tony) Smith, associate professor of business and economics and co-director of 91短视频’s MBA program, will lead the course.

Dr. Smith said the course has three objectives: developing and applying a strategic framework for stewardship design principles in organizations; increasing theoretical and practical understanding of the sources and types of innovation; and developing an understanding of social entrepreneurship and how businesses and nonprofit organizations apply these strategies.

The course will combine field trips, classroom and online discussion and case studies “with a systems approach to stewardship, innovation and social entrepreneurship,” Smith noted.

The class will meet each Thursday evening in, starting on June 2 from 6-10 p.m., and two Saturdays for the daytime field trips, on June 11 and 18.

“Organizations, and people who manage them, shape our world,” Smith said.聽 “Those who understand and master innovation, stewardship and social entrepreneurship increase their effectiveness as civic and business leaders and as leaders in their own chosen field. That’s the intent of this special course.”

Smith noted that 鈥渢he field trips enable students to directly engage with entrepreneurs in the city of Staunton and to directly observe how stewardship design principles operate in natural ecologies and how those same principles also apply to human ecologies.鈥�

For more information on the course, contact name Patty Eckard at 540-4320-4150 or email her at eckardp@emu.edu. See for more information about the course and a course syllabus.

Few business programs encourage students to use Facebook and Wikispaces to develop collaborative team strategies outside the classroom. But then, the Steward-Leadership Masters in Business Administration at 91短视频 is no ordinary MBA program.

MBA students in a summer class on “Stewardship, Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship” interact with rangers at Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park.

“Given its history of increasing leadership strengths, building management skills, and developing stewardship strategies, 91短视频’s MBA program is uniquely positioned to serve the needs of today’s demanding work-place and regional employers, as greater emphasis is now placed on ethics, stewardship of natural and human resources and effective collaborative strategies for a fast-changing global marketplace,” said Anthony E. (Tony) Smith, MBA co-director. “These very qualities lie at the heart of 91短视频’s institutional core values.”

Innovative course includes live projects

Dr. Smith has been teaching a summer course in the MBA program “Stewardship, Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship,” that engaged students in systems approaches to stewardship and innovation and involved them in live projects with local corporations and non-profit organizations.

The clients included:

• Shenandoah National Park
• Rosetta Stone
• American Shakespeare Center
• Staunton Creative Community Fund (SCCF)

“I’m very impressed by the amount of research on a complicated topic, in a short period of time that the MBA students have achieved.” said Tim Taglauer, assistant chief of interpretation and education for Shenandoah National Park, after MBA students gave a presentation on business strategies for increasing the “sustainable advantage” for the Park.

Their recommendations included repositioning the park as a center for increasing eco-literacy and for the park to develop and strengthen strategic partnerships with local communities and schools.

Meghan Williamson, executive director of SCCF, found that the MBA students had developed an innovative “business to environment” model that could strengthen the success of their small business clients and outlined innovative financing methods to support SCCF’s programs.

The course ended Aug. 4 with MBA business strategy presentations to Rosetta Stone and to the American Shakespeare Center.

Linda Manka, naturalist ranger at Shenandoah National Park, discusses stewardship design principles and their application to real-life business situations as MBA students Kim Shipe (l.) and Juanita Zban listen.

“This course is but one example of how the 91短视频’s Steward-Leadership MBA program offers a distinctive approach to preparing business leaders for the challenges of an increasingly uncertain business environment,” Smith stated. “The program works with the busy schedules of full-time working professionals who are seeking to strengthen their careers.”

For more information about the Steward-Leadership MBA program, contact Smith at anthony.smith@emu.edu or visit the website at www.emu.edu/mba or the MBA Facebook page, entitled “Steward Leadership MBA at 91短视频.”

Questions/additional comments: Dr. Tony Smith, 432-4095