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Brandeis University (Heller)

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Brandeis University (Heller) 415 South Street
Waltham, MA, 02454
United States
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Demographic Information

Number of full-time MBA students (2011): 

28

Number of part-time MBA students (2011): 

5

Total duration of full-time MBA program: 

16 months

MBA faculty (Fall 2010): 

15

Females as percent of student body: 

79%
Who Are the Students? See what percentage of the 2010-2011 graduating class came to this MBA program from the private sector, the non-profit sector and government jobs
 
Private Sector (10%)
 
Non-profit (90%)
 
Government (0%)


Description of MBA Program: 

The Heller MBA program was born and grew up in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, a world-renowned school dedicated to social justice issues. The Heller School was founded just over fifty years ago and was named after Florence Heller, a social worker and community activist. The mission of the Heller School is ‘Knowledge Advancing Social Justice.’ As we like to say – social justice is in our genes. Every student at Heller, no matter which continent they come from or which program they have chosen, is on a mission to make the world a better place. So, the Heller MBA is quite unique in that it was founded based upon the principles of delivering education related to social, ethical and environmental issues and then rigorous core management skills were added to form the MBA curriculum (in contrast to MBA programs born in traditional business schools).

The Heller MBA is preparing the next generation of managers to lead organizations in the pursuit of social missions in the non-profit, for-profit and public sectors.  The Heller School's high standards for management education and its history of excellent policy research and activism are important assets for people contemplating careers as leaders of organizations with a social mission.

The Heller MBA provides students with the skills necessary to lead organizations that are pursuing multiple bottom lines: meeting financial goals, fostering staff development, preserving the environment, and working to resolve society's most pressing problems. The Heller MBA prepares students to be leaders and decision-makers who can find resources and use them efficiently and effectively to help underserved and vulnerable populations, and to improve social and environmental outcomes more broadly.

The Heller MBA's 16-month structure condenses two years of curriculum into four consecutive intense semesters of learning, ideal for people who want to return to work quickly and put their ideas into action.

The curriculum offers a full range of management courses.  Through these courses, students gain the working knowledge to meet the practical challenges they will face when managing for a social mission.  All core MBA courses from Leadership and Organizational Behavior to Corporate Finance are taught from the perspective of mission-driven organizations and the special skills needed to lead these organizations.  Students also take non-traditional courses like Social Justice and Management to develop their own perspective on social justice and to incorporate that perspective into their role as manager; and Social Policy Frameworks, to develop their ability to analyze, evaluate and advocate for the policies that are critical to the social mission of their organization.  In addition, MBA students specialize in one of five management concentrations -- Social Policy & Management; Social Impact Management; Health Care Management; Child, Youth, Family Services Management; or Sustainable Development.



How does the MBA program 'walk the talk' of social and environmental impact?: 

Brandeis University has been at the forefront of implementing sustainability programs, long before this topic received national attention. As Louis Brandeis, the founder of the University, was passionate about social causes, it is natural that the entire Brandeis community had the foresight to see environmental concerns very early on.  A summary of these efforts is described in the following paragraphs.

Brandeis is a charter signatory to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, a national effort of hundred of Universities. In Fall of 2009, the Brandeis Climate Action Plan was released, outlining plans to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions. Actions towards this impressive goal currently include: a 171 KW Solar PV system, a comprehensive energy efficiency program, behavioral change campaigns, alternative transportation incentives and programs and much more.

Waste Reduction & Recycling

Two years ago, the president of Brandeis prohibited the use of plastic water bottles at all meetings, events and in student cafeterias. Students are given reusable water bottles to help break the bottled water habit. All waste from dining facilities is sent to a commercial composting facility. The end of the year Give & Go donation drive reduces student waste and provides reusable items during the Move in Market.

Renewable Clean Energy

One of the largest Solar Electricity systems in Massachusetts was installed in January 2010 on the Gosman gym. The 171 KW solar panel array annually produces enough electricity to power 30 average homes. The university purchases 15 percent of its electricity demands from GreenE certified off-site wind power and is researching a campus wind turbine, as well as other ways to use renewable energy.

Green Buildings

All new construction is built to LEED Silver Standards, a green building standard resulting in energy savings and increased use of local materials.

Transportation

Commuters are encouraged by Green Commuter Days to walk, bike, take transit, and carpool to work. ‘Deis Bikes provides free bike rentals run by student volunteers. ZipCar is a campus carsharing program. A public transit brochure (PDF), written by students, is available around campus and online. The University is also partnering with neighboring organizations to provide local shuttle buses to and from public transit stations in the Metro Boston area.

Sustainability Education & Action

Eco-Reps conduct peer education in their dorms-  helping to obtain over 30%  student participation in declaring a Certified Green Room. Students participate in many campus clubs such as S.E.A. to educate, volunteer, and make changes.

Food

An on-campus Farmers Market, organized by students in the Greening the Ivory Tower brings fresh local produce to the community and the Patchwork Garden is a campus organic vegetable garden. Dinning services works to provide local and vegetarian options.

HellerSAVE

HellerSAVE (Sustainability, Awareness and Valuing the Environment) is an environmental initiative of the Heller School; its mission is to work cooperatively with the entire Heller community—students, staff, and faculty—to maximize the level of environmental responsibility practiced by the Heller School. Numerous programs are tremendously successful, such as Coffee with the Dean, a monthly event, which requires you to bring your own coffee mug!

Academics & Community Outreach

Students in the Greening the Ivory Tower go outside the classroom to create innovative projects including wetlands protection, environmental education for low income children, and labeling storm drains to prevent pollution. Academic programs and internships are available in Green Business, Sustainability Development, and Environmental Studies. The Brandeis Sustainability Fund provides grants, advice and support to any student for their projects promoting sustainability. Projects that receive funding could relate to energy efficiency, green buildings, waste management, renewable energy purchases, or greening student events.

Energy Efficiency

Since 2004, the Energy Savings Program has saved millions of dollars through energy efficient lighting, steam line improvements, and energy management systems.
 

Academic Department

Course Name: Team Consulting Project
Instructor: Carole Carlson, Lawrence Bailis

This course requires students to form teams (typically three to five students) and then select and complete a consulting project for a mission-driven organization in the Greater Boston area. It is intended to achieve the following goals:

- Provide opportunity for students to apply ideas and approaches from course work in business settings and reflect on what they have learned

- Provide significant teamwork experience for students

- Develop and apply students’ consulting skill set

- Create an experience that expands students’ professional opportunities

- Provide service to the community and carry out the Heller mission of knowledge advancing social justice

The organizations that student teams work with are selected through several processes, including a request for proposals process that the instructors carry out (with input from students) and organizations that are invited to participate through student initiative with approval by the instructors.

Each student team works closely with a Heller faculty adviser to give overall direction and oversight to the project. In addition to the project itself, the course will involve a series of workshops designed to provide students with the team building and consulting skills necessary to meet client needs. There will be several sessions that enable teams to share their experiences with other teams and problem solve as a group. At the conclusion of the course, student teams will prepare reports for their clients and present their projects to clients and the Heller community.

Course Name: The American Gay Rights Movement: Social Justice and Social Policy
Instructor: Susan Curnan

This course is about the last forty years (1969-2009) of social justice and social policy in the American Gay Rights Movement. It is about the development of social justice and social policy in America that is inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity. And, it is about policy development, and human behavior, in America that reflects the full civil, political, legal and moral equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

Full equality for all Americans should be a given. But, it’s not a given for millions of Americans that are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered. Nor is it a given for the more than 10 million children being raised by LGBT parents. Indeed, despite the recent political action and media attention of the past decade or two, the “mainstreaming” of LGBT citizens has not resulted in the marginalization of the prejudice this group of Americans face. One premise for this course is that significant change for LGBT citizens will come about through state and federal policy – and much is underway. This course will touch on a number of contemporary policy issues related to the following areas: relationship acceptance including marriage equality, civil unions and the role of faith communities; equal education and safe schools that are supportive of LGBT students and students parented by LGBT citizens; violence prevention, including hate crimes, suicide prevention, domestic violence; non-discrimination in employment, housing, commerce, the military; family building including adoption and foster care; health care access. Each policy topic will explore the rationale and problem to be addressed, current status of the policy and unpack the intensity of the policy debate.

Course Name: Theories of Social Justice, Social Policy and Social Change
Instructor: David Gil

This seminar develops theoretical perspectives on social policy, social justice, and social change. It also suggests a framework for analyzing, developing, and evaluating social policies and policy systems.
The seminar assists students to think critically, to clarify their assumptions and values, and to develop their own positions on social issues, rather than to accept unexamined assumptions and positions that tend to be taken-for-granted in their cultures.
The orientation of the seminar is historical, cross-cultural, and inter-disciplinary. It uses insights from the life experiences of students, and from scholarly disciplines including anthropology, biology, demography, ecology, economics, history, philosophy, politics, psychology, sociology, minority studies, women studies, and policy studies.

Course Name: Theories of Social Justice, Social Policy and Social Change
Instructor: David Gil

This seminar develops theoretical perspectives on social policy, social justice, and social change, and suggests a framework for analyzing, developing, and evaluating social policies and systems of social policy.

The seminar assists students to think critically, to clarify their assumptions and values, and to develop their own positions on social issues, rather than to accept unexamined assumptions and positions that may be taken-for-granted in their respective cultures.

The orientation of the seminar is historical, cross-cultural, and multi-disciplinary. It uses insights from the life experiences of students, and from selected scholarly disciplines including anthropology, biology, demography, ecology, economics, history, philosophy, politics, psychology, sociology, minority studies, women studies, and policy studies.

Course Name: World Health
Instructor: Sarita Bhalotra

This course is a primer on major issues in world health. Topics include descriptions of disease incidence and prevalence; determinants of health; the role of nutrition, education, reproductive trends and poverty; demographic transitions including aging and urbanization; and the globalization of health. Students will gain an understanding of how the burden of ill-health, unequally distributed by social class and gender, affects every sector of development in international programs. Escalating trends in trade, travel, and world-wide-web proliferation consistently chip away at any boundaries that existed with regard to the exchange of culture and knowledge between and among the peoples of the world. Humans have always shared “genes and germs”, and never more rapidly than now. From Ebola virus to Lyme disease, from diabetes to depression, from massive natural and man-made catastrophic humanitarian emergencies to individually experienced tragedies, our lives are more than ever inter-twined. The increasing rate of human inter-actions has a profound and direct impact on health and disease trends and patterns that in turn affects every aspect of human life. Students will explore how different peoples of the world handle these issues in order to gain a deeper understanding of effective interventions.

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