Leeds School of Business ranks in the top 50 (CU Independent/Lee Pruitt)
The Beyond Grey Pinstripes Organization ranks the Leeds School of Business in the top 50 of innovative business schools in the world.
The Beyond Grey Pinstripes Organization conducts a survey every two years looking at business schools around the globe. This survey particularly looks at which schools are integrating social and environmental issues into the classroom.
According to the Beyond Grey Pinstripes Web site, 149 schools participated in the 2009 to 2010 survey. The Leeds School of Business was ranked at number 37.
Leeds School Building Manager Ann Richmond gave some examples of why Leeds was so highly ranked.
“There’s a compost downstairs and we have automatic light switches to help save energy,” Richmond said. “Students are really willing to help out and participate.”
York University in Canada was ranked at No. 1. The Yale School of Management, Columbia Business School, Mendoza College of Business at Notre Dame and Stanford Graduate School of Business all ranked in the top 10.
Sixty-three percent of the schools in this survey are located in the U.S., according to the Beyond Grey Pinstripes Web site. The other 37 percent are located in other countries, which include Canada, Spain and South Africa.
Torin Cassani, a 19-year-old sophomore business major, said he had not noticed business classes being particularly environmentally conscious.
“I might not notice it because I’m not in a lot of upper division classes,” Cassani said. “I bet as classes get more in-depth, it shows more.”
To rank the schools, the survey looks at environmentally relevant courses, student exposure, for-profit impact and faculty research, according the Beyond Grey Pinstripes Web site.
Richmond stressed the business students’ involvement in making the school environmentally friendly.
“We have MBA students who work with campus to provide potential proposals,” Richmond said. “Campus is currently looking at a proposal that would install water filters in sinks, so less people would feel the need to buy plastic water bottles.”
Beyond Grey Pinstripes keeps the data used in the survey on their Web site, allowing students to search for a business school that would be a potential fit.
Toni Blodgett, a 20-year-old sophomore accounting major, said she thinks of CU as an environmentally friendly school in general and was not surprised by the ranking.
“Being environmentally conscious is a big thing at CU, no matter what school you are part of,” Blodgett said. “It doesn’t surprise me that Leeds ranked highly on a survey.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Lindsay Mullineaux at Lindsay.mullineaux@colorado.edu.
