“Learning to live and think within the context of the whole University.”

This ideal is stated in the words of Drew Gilpin Faust, named Harvard's 28th president in February 2007, who is encouraging increased collaboration among the Schools and disciplines. In addition to the current joint-degree offerings—including the new programs with the Kennedy School, a longstanding four-year JD/MBA Program with the Harvard Law School, and an integrated five-year MD/MBA Program with the Harvard Medical School—HBS faculty for many years have partnered with colleagues around the University on topics ranging from energy and the environment to public education. Additionally, as Harvard moves to a coordinated academic calendar, opportunities to teach elsewhere within the University, and to engage faculty from other areas of the University in HBS's MBA, Doctoral, and Executive Education programs, will increase.

Focus on the Environment

With the environment on center stage, HBS is using its intellectual resources to address issues concerning the natural world in collaboration with other schools and entities within the University. Professor Forest L. Reinhardt, author of Down to Earth: Applying Business Principles to Environmental Management, has developed the half-courses—“Business and the Environment” and “Energy”—that are offered to participants in the Kennedy School's Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative as well as to MBA Program students. Reinhardt is also involved in the Harvard University Center for the Environment, which brings together scholars from varied disciplines to focus on research and education on the environment.

“We have the great advantage of access to scientists and social scientists across the University who can help us understand the environmental, economic, and social context of the business problems we study. This broad understanding informs our research and enables us to expand the scope of course development and put our students in touch with experts for field studies. Ultimately, it contributes to the way companies view opportunities and set strategy. Perhaps the best example is the attempt to put carbon emissions into a market framework something that companies traditionally did not have to consider because the global atmosphere was 'free.'”

Professor Forest L. Reinhardt