Seattle Pacific University’s School of Business, Government, and Economics (SBGE) has once again garnered the prestigious PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) Champion designation through the United Nations Global Compact. SPU is one of only three schools in the United States and 47 throughout the world to receive this status.

As a worldwide PRME Champion member, SBGE has demonstrated a proven, long-term track record of making impactful contributions in thought and praxis, developing leaders equipped not only to address barriers to sustainability, but also to promote peace and prosperity for all people—and the planet—well into the future.

A unique feature of the 2023 PRME Champion cycle is engagement in The Impactful Five (i5) Project, a knowledge-sharing and peer-learning project with the aim of inspiring creativity and bolstering sustainable development across all disciplines of business education—a wholistic approach that SBGE has practiced for decades.

According to Geri Mason, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics at SPU, this mission intersects with SBGE’s roots in the Christian faith. Take the Faith & Co. film series, for example.
“Faith & Co. is a seamless integration of our PRME Champion engagement and our Christian values,” said Dr. Mason.

“The Faith & Co. film series is a curricular innovation that showcases the synergy between the Principles of Responsible Management Education and our faith – this is our mission in action,” Dr. Mason noted. “The entrepreneurs featured in these films are living out a Christian faith by doing business responsibly. This is the sweet spot.”

Additionally, the Center for Faithful Business hosts the Bill Pollard Scholars, who come together in a cohort model for a weeklong residency at SPU. After the week on campus, scholars return to their respective learning communities to develop research projects based on the ServiceMaster model and Bill Pollard’s own example of responsible leadership.

“Our faith informs our engagement as a PRME Champion, because it teaches us that we need to see business as service to others and society,” said Dr. Mason. “Our primary purpose is to reclaim business, government, and civil society as a force for flourishing. It’s embedded in who we are. It’s not optional for us.”

As a PRME Champion member, SBGE is developing research and curricula offerings within a broader community of schools, both nationally and globally, creating real-time learning opportunities for students.

“We have earned our PRME Champion designation through curricular innovations, ongoing research, and partnerships with other schools to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG),” said Dr. Mason. “Our students are engaged with stakeholders around the globe. It’s a huge value-add for them. They’re getting a whole other layer of learning, which sets them apart as responsible business leaders.”

In this and many other ways, SBGE is engaging in the PRME Champion space for developing and sharing collaborative educational projects. In the process, it is essentially developing a real-time “living lab” for ambitious new ideas for the next generation of sustainability-driven business schools. SBGE is honored to be part of the important, globe-changing work of the PRME Champion schools.