Organizational Dynamics program teaches sustainable development

Dow Advanced Materials, a chemical company formerly known as Rohm and Haas, recently donated an undisclosed six-figure amount to the School of Arts and Sciences' Department of Organizational Dynamics.

The Rohm and Haas gift will be used over three years to create a concentration in Organizational Dynamics' Master of Philosophy and Master of Science programs and a sustainable development graduate certificate program.

Mainly for working professionals, the program is designed to help an organization raise awareness of the way company practices affect the environment.

Director of Organizational Dynamics Lawrence Starr said Rohm and Haas has made a commitment to sustainable development and has been educating employees but was looking for a partner to help with cultural integration - how to help people think about sustainable practices in daily work.

The faculty and courses will draw from 16 disciplines, said Starr. "The program will integrate our current work with other departments at Penn."

Catherine Hunt, Corporate Sustainability director at Rohm and Haas, said they chose organizational dynamics because they are specifically interested in making a change in the organization and needed a "home that would allow the integration [of different departments]."

Starr said program developers are creating eight courses focusing on issues that interest Rohm and Haas and that aim to understand the nature of sustainable development and how to bring it into an organization.

Director of Academics and Outreach for Organizational Dynamics Alan Barstow added that, in developing courses, they have to consider what works not only theoretically but also practically.

"We, as employers, decided what competencies we wanted to see in a graduate," said Hunt, "and helped sketch out course descriptions [to that effect]."

She said though Rohm and Haas employees may not apply for the summer course because they are in the middle of a merger, the company hopes to enroll employees in the program beginning in the fall.

Though the department has previously had two courses in sustainable development, the first course to directly tie in with this gift will take place this summer in Stockholm, Sweden. The course focuses on the Natural Step Framework - the universal academic framework to understand global sustainable development.

"Rohm and Haas recognizes future needs for a new skill set which focuses not only on profit or people, but on taking care of the planet," said Barstow. "Sustainable development is not only a good compliance thing, there is profit there as opposed to costs associated with it."

SAS Dean Rebecca Bushnell wrote in an e-mail that she is "delighted" by the new program.

"It recognizes the School of Arts and Sciences and Organizational Dynamics as an innovator in the area of the education of working professionals," she said.

Syd Havely, director of Global Issues Management at Rohm and Haas and a graduate from Penn's department of Organizational Dynamics, initially suggested the partnership to his superiors.

"Of all Penn schools, this department provides a unique perspective," said Havely, "as it helps blend different applications."

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