Tag: sustainability

It’s not easy being green. Especially when you’re constructing large buildings like Knight Hall and Bauer Hall. But the architects, designers, construction workers, and managers on Olin’s newest buildings have included environmentally friendly materials and practices at every stage of the construction project. One of the goals of all this green activity is to earn Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council by meeting standards set in the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) System.

From reducing the amount of debris taken to landfills to using locally sourced wood and hardware made from recycled metals, the construction process was carefully planned to reduce the impact and maximize the efficiency of the new buildings. Lighting, heating, and cooling systems are also designed to meet high standards of sustainability.

Washington University currently has 15 LEED certified buildings: seven at the gold level, six at the silver level and two certified.

Harry Bolson, BSBA’14, has been a member of the Olin building committee since his freshman year and is a LEED Green Associate. He guides us through the six categories of sustainable features required to earn the USGBC Gold certification in this video.

Images: WUSTL’s Office of Sustainability website and U.S. Green Building Council website

On-Campus dining will be the focus of the 2014 Olin Sustainability Case Competition. Learn about the case and the competition at two upcoming info sessions:

Thursday, Nov. 21, 4:00 p.m., Simon Hall, room 110
Monday, Nov. 25, 11:45 a.m., Simon Hall, May Auditorium

Watch video announcement from OSCC Chairperson Vibha Vemana by clicking on the main image above.

The OSCC encourages interdisciplinary student teams from across the Washington University campus to develop creative solutions related to sustainable on-campus dining solutions.

About the Olin Sustainability Case Competition

The Olin Sustainability Case Competition (OSCC) began during the 2009-2010 academic year as a way to increase awareness and expand educational opportunities about sustainable business practices at the Olin Business School. Open to all Washington University students in both undergraduate and graduate level programs, the case competition provides participants with a chance to learn about practical, real-world applications of corporate responsibility and sustainability concepts, so that they can make an impact in the world around them.

The OSCC is presented by the Olin MBA Programs office in conjunction with the Olin Strategy and Consulting Association (OSCA) and the Washington University chapter of Net Impact.

Designed as a traditional business case study, the competition is based on a current business problem and prepared with the assistance of leading experts in the field of sustainability and Olin faculty.

Any student enrolled in any academic program at WashU may participate. Teams can be made up of two to five students from any school.

Please contact the OSCC Committee at oscc@olin.wustl.edu with any questions or comments.

Last weekend, 11 Olin MBA students traveled to San Francisco to be inspired by the leaders of the sustainable business community at the 2013 Net Impact Conference.  Over the course of the three-day conference we heard from Fortune 100 CEOs, social sector executives, consultants, social entrepreneurs, and government leaders who confirmed our suspicion and motive for attending the conference: social and environmental sustainability in business is best practice and the way of the future.

To hear leaders of corporations such as Campbell’s Soup Company, Unilever, and Exxon Mobile debate with one another on the best way to integrate sustainability into the core business model to affect positive changes in consumer behavior was truly inspiring and strengthened our desire to pursue careers that position us to have meaningful,  positive impact.

In smaller break-out sessions we were challenged to re-define marketing strategies, re-frame nonprofit performance metrics, and re-think corporate growth strategies in ways that drive business and social change.

At the end of the three-day conference our heads were spinning, but we were invigorated and anxious to continue the conversations, which we did, at an Olin alumni dinner sponsored by the Weston Career Center and MBA Program Office on Saturday night at the Town Hall in downtown San Francisco.

The Bay Area alums spanned a variety of industries: renewable energy and health care start-ups, sustainability and social impact consulting, eco-efficient architecture, and corporations. We shared our conference experience and goals for the future; they gave us feedback, insight from the field, and re-lived their best of times at Olin. The conversations were thoughtful and engaging, and formed the start of new friendships. The wine and cheese were an added value.

In summary, we had a GREAT TIME in the Bay Area. We felt a part of a bigger movement in business and realized the depth and scope of the Olin network.

Thanks to Annie Crangle (MBA ’14) for sharing this post on the Net Impact Conference.

Two first year MBA students, Katie Miller and Alex McDonnell, spent their Saturday morning planting seedlings for Missouri Forest ReLeaf. 

Forest ReLeaf is an organization that was founded 20 years ago in an effort to raise awareness of the need for trees within cities and to inspire local volunteers to plant more trees in their communities.

Katie and Alex pause for the camera while helping pot 2,000 seedlings on a recent Saturday.

On Saturday, Katie and Alex helped a volunteer group to plant over 2,000 seedlings in St. Louis!  It is great to see the commitment of our MBA students to the St. Louis community!

Katie Miller serves as the President of the Olin chapter of NetImpact.  NetImpact is an student organization that encourages and teaches business students the importance of  sustainability, corporate responsibility, and social entrepreneurship.

Click here to learn more about Missouri Forest ReLeaf or Olin NetImpact.

After a year of planning, last Friday afternoon we celebrated the final presentations of the Olin Sustainability Case Competition (OSCC)!  This was the fourth year of the competition, which began as a way to increase awareness about sustainability as it relates to business practices.

This year, we had more than 20 teams express interest in the competition. The case topic was “Blight, Plight, and Urban Flight: Stimulating the Sustainable Development of Vacant Land in the City of St. Louis.” For the first year ever, the case writers decided to take the case off-campus and work with administrators from the City of St. Louis to develop a case that would produce implementable ideas to reduce the amount of vacant land around our city.

After weeks of reviewing submissions, the committee narrowed it down to our final three teams. These teams presented their ideas to a room of about 100 people, including our corporate sponsors from Novus and Tarlton, as well as a prestigious judging panel made up of administrators from around the Washington University campus and the City of St. Louis.

At the end of the day, Team 4 and Team 13 tied for first place and each team won $4,000!

Team 4: Watch Team 4’s Video Submission
Brian Arnold, MS in Finance 2013
Deona DeClue, Juris Doctor 2013
Cody Greer, PhD Neuroscience 2017
Benjamin Mueller, MS Construction Management 2015

Team 13: Watch Team 13’s Video Submission
Megan Berry, Master of Architecture 2014
Grace Goldstein, Master of Architecture 2015
Grant McCracken, BA Architecture and English Literature 2014

And Team 8 came in as our runners-up winning a prize of $2,000!

Team 8: Watch Team 8’s Video Submission
Steven Boughton, MBA 2014
Daniela Pacurar, MBA 2014
John (Turner) Peters, MBA 2014

Be on the look-out for the Fifth Annual Olin Sustainability Case Competition next year!  In the meantime, be sure to congratulate our 2013 winning teams!

Washington University is ranked as the world’s 11th greenest campus in the 2012 annual report of UI GreenMetric, a worldwide university ranking system that lists 215 of the world’s most sustainable and eco-friendly campuses.  Schools were ranked in several categories including: setting and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, water, transportation, and education.

Link to complete UI GreenMetric rankings.

Read Huffington Post article.