Donna Sockell

First Greetings of the New Year to CESR Friends and Family!

Our semester has gotten off to a great start in our widely-subscribed electives, among new students in our fast-growing Certificate in Socially Responsible Enterprise (SRE) program, and in our required offerings. Sadly, the steady stream of scandals in the press from LIBOR-rate fixing, to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, to Facebook privacy breaches, to alleged S&P rating abuses serve as fountains of "current events" to reference. But equally true, there are many examples of the great potential business has to improve the world, which we regularly discuss in class. In that vein, we are especially proud of our Francy Milner who led a CESR-sponsored trip to Nicaragua with her MBA students to investigate a social entrepreneurship project. 

Our efforts to get the CESR at Leeds name out have been picking up steam, thanks to the outstanding counsel and support of our communications consultant, Keith Decie. We just had an article published in Business Ethics, three articles in the Daily Camera, and a piece in the WSJ that should appear any day. More to come! The "community" seems to embrace what we are doing at Leeds.

With just nine weeks to go, our attention is focused on the CESR at Leeds Stampede: A Week of Driving Values in Business, April 15-19, 2013. We invite all of you to attend at least one event of the 16 we are offering. Information is provided in this and our next issue. Please help us make this week most memorable for our students, our faculty, our campus, and our community.   

Here's hoping that your 2013 has gotten off to a great start and that you join us in looking forward to a year full of promise, excitement and fulfillment!

With Warmest Regards,

The CESR Stampede at Leeds: A Week of Driving Values in Business is quickly rumbling toward us on April 15-19th! There will be 16 events over the week with highlights including the Sustainability Showcase, the 4th annual Conscious Capitalism Conference, and our headline speaker on Thursday night: Cynthia Cooper.

The Sustainability Showcase takes place on Tuesday, April 16th at the Leeds School of Business and is designed as an opportunity for the community to come together and witness all that Leeds has to offer in the form of student talent. This evening of impactful networking will feature a gallery-style exhibition of student work with the winners judged by our guests.

It's hard to miss the recent flurry of news coverage about CESR in local and national publications! Here's a roundup of the latest CESR mentions...

The Daily Camera focused on CESR and its integration of social responsibility into the curriculum at Leeds in the article "Social responsibility sets business school students apart at CU-Boulder." In it, Michael Leeds says, "We really want these kids to leave the Leeds school, not only prepared in traditional areas, but to be leaders in values and ethics and have positive impacts on their organizations, in whatever they do."

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Warren Buffet

Excitement is building at Leeds around the upcoming trip to meet Warren Buffett in Omaha. On March 15th, twenty lucky students will get the opportunity to have lunch and attend a Q & A session (and also go on two exclusive tours of Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries). Over the last several months applications have poured into the CESR office to meet the February 1st deadline. We are now in the process of selecting the students most aligned with CESR's mission to represent our school and values on this special trip.

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Catherine Milburn

It is challenging enough for companies to measure and report financial events, but when non-financial sustainability reporting is added, there are additional challenges to make sure the information is reliable, comparable and consistent. Integrated Reporting for Socially Responsible Strategies (ACCT/CESR 4827), explores this as a brand new undergraduate-level elective course for Leeds' students.  

Cathleen Burns

Two-thirds of CFOs say they are involved in driving sustainability strategies in their organizations, and more than

half say their involvement has increased over the last year, according to a global survey launched by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited. This course introduces the growing global practice of companies to measure, disclose and report for

socially responsible strategies.

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This spring 18 students will be graduating with the CESR Socially Responsible Enterprise (SRE) Certificate. Due to intense student interest and fabulous courses, SRE program enrollment has grown exponentially since its inception three years ago, deepening CESR's influence on students and the world. There are currently 46 students enrolled in the SRE Certificate Program with a total of 19 having graduated in past years. In order to receive the SRE Certificate students must complete three out of six CESR elective courses. These courses, often described as some of the best and most innovative in Leeds, are: Leadership Challenges: Exercises in Moral Courage, Sustainable Operations, Business Solutions for the Developing World, Microfinance, Privacy in the Age of Facebook, and Integrated Reporting for Socially Responsible Strategies.  

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On January 6th an MBA team from CESR's Social Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets class headed for Nicaragua to support a Nicaraguan nonprofit, FUPRSOMUNIC (Solar Program Foundation for Nicaraguan Women), in its business planning. The Solar Program Foundation, which was begun eight years ago by Nicaraguan native and Boulder resident, Mercedes Alvarez, is dedicated to helping rural Nicaraguan women improve their lives through the use of solar cookstoves and solar purification of water.

The student team included Emily Deemer, Lora Golann and Devon Wilton, accompanied by CESR Instructor Francy Milner. They joined FUPROSOMUNIC staff members and community leaders to tour rural areas of the country, meet clients, and gain first-hand knowledge of cooking with solar cookstoves. The students agreed that their experience on this site visit will prove invaluable as they prepare a business model to help FUPROSOMUNIC achieve financial sustainability through the sale and export of dried fruits and hibiscus leaves for use in tea and cold drinks.

Christine Buchanan

Christine Buchanan, a partner at KPMG in New York City, hopes students aren't under any illusions that challenging ethical situations won't happen in the workplace. "I don't want younger generations to be fooled by wearing rose-colored glasses. We are generally raised to believe that everyone has good intentions, but that's not the case in some instances. Teaching about ethics and values as well as giving live examples of challenging situations will help students prepare. I think it is inevitable that we will all be confronted with one of those situations at some point - it's better to expose people earlier."

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Spring semester is delivering high enrollments for sought-after CESR electives. The ever-popular Leadership Challenges course, with its high-level executive guest speakers, is filled to capacity. The consistently high demand for this course has led to consideration of adding a second class in the future. Business Solutions for the Developing World is jam-packed with students eager to learn how to develop sustainable business strategies that make an impact on global poverty. Unfortunately for some students, this course has a very long waitlist. Sustainable Operations, cross-listed with Management, boasts a crowded classroom of students who are examining business strategies in response to environmental and social challenges to improve operations across the value chain. The newly-offered Integrated Reporting for Socially Responsible Strategies, cross-listed with Accounting, has a strong enrollment of 25 students, which is impressive for a first-time course.