planting trees, growing minds

Planting Trees, Growing Minds

Kevin MartinAssistant Professor of Business Administration

Associate Dean of Management DivisionNew England College

@ACBSPAccredited #ACBSP2016

Commitment to Experiential Learning

• In 2014 New England College established a fund to support course embedded travel away experiences.• Spring Break changed to two weeks to support trips • Faculty apply to fund by submitting course syllabus and

proposed itinerary/budget• Trips are approved by faculty committee• Recent trips to New Orleans, Belize, Virginia, Australia,

Canada• $170k to support trips 2016/2017 (for residential population

of 1k) @ACBSPAccredited #ACBSP2016

Trips Are at No Cost to the Student

• Students asked to cover cost of immunizations, passport application, souvenirs, and non-course related activities• Open to any student• Must be in good academic standing in the class to travel• Allows for wide versatility of students


Sustainable Enterprise and Innovation


Class Travels to Meru, Kenya


Kenya

• Located in Mt. Kenya region of central Kenya, around towns of Meru and Nanyuki

• Class stays for 10 days• Work in rural areas throughout

trip


Class Partner, TIST


The International Small Group and Tree Planting Program, TIST

Click icon to add picture• Founded in 1999• Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania,

India• Dual validated tons CCB and

VCS• Over 16 million mature trees• Over 4 million saplings• 78,000 farmers active


Carbon Credits


1 ton = 1 credit

Carbon Cap and Trade

Cap and trade systems in CA and parts of Europe. TIST, and its partner corporation, Clean Air Action, sell carbon on both the voluntary and involuntary market.


Class Structure


6 Key Components

• Triple Bottom Line Foundation• Storytelling for Change• Impact Analysis• Adaptive Leadership• Boundary Pushing• Global Citizenship


Triple Bottom Line

Click icon to add picture• Debate challenges and

opportunities of this approach• Exposure to a variety of thought

leaders• Review difficulties of balancing

profitability, environmental sustainability, and social equity

• Work through case studies• Attend workshops (Acumen:

Investing for Impact).


Storytelling for Change

Click icon to add picture• Workshop organized by Acumen

and the Ariel group• Focus on role of storytelling in

behavior change and leadership• Integral part of processing

experience of the class


Impact Analysis

Click icon to add picture• Review methodologies for analyzing impact in sustainable enterprises (BOCA, SROI)

• Navigate difficulties of identifying financial proxies as metrics for social or environmental return

• Exposure to resources like GIIN, IRIS

• Develop strategy for TIST to accurately measure impact

• Focus on scalability, accuracy, and affordability


Adaptive Leadership

Click icon to add picture• Lead through change and

uncertainty• Review Leadership styles• Exposure to 360 Leadership• Emphasis on servant leadership• Focus on identifying problems,

mobilizing stakeholders


Boundary Pushing

Click icon to add picture• Lead through change and

uncertainty• Review Leadership styles• Exposure to 360 Leadership• Emphasis on servant leadership• Focus on identifying problems,

mobilizing stakeholders,


Global Citizenship

Click icon to add picture• Combine experiences in Kenya,

wide reading list, and class discussion to define role as global citizen

• Grapple with larger existential questions

• Provide tools to re-build there world-view

• Emphasis on action and responsibility


Class Outcomes


Social Return on Investment Analysis


Lean Data Methodology/Progress Out of Poverty Index


Analyzing Lean Data and Economic Indicators


Campus Awareness


Remove Coffee from Campus on Earth Day


Public Forums


Click icon to add picture

Reverse the Wreckage

Marketing Collateral


Grow Clean AirCommercial side of TIST, www.growcleanair.com


Carbon Endowment


Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10

$.50$1.00$1.50

$.36

$.13

$2.00 $1.66

Planting and Audit Cost of TIST Tree Over 10 Years

Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10

Building a Carbon Endowment

$12

$2

$15

Unverified

Verified

$5.00

$10.00

$15.00

$20.00

The True Goal

Click icon to add picture


“

”

I’d like to than you again for everything you have done for me, as well as my classmates. I simple cannot find a better word other than "thank you…” I have not only learned something outside of the traditional classroom, but also what my dharma is.


“

”

This class was amazing, it gave me a very different perspective on business and mixed business and sustainability in a very interesting way.


“

”

Going to Kenya was amazing an amazing experience, but the real beauty of the class was in the fact that we were actually using the trip to do something useful, both for New England College and for the world in general. If you want to foster a sense of global connectedness and care about your own part in sustaining the life we as humans have on this planet, then you should be taking this class.


“

”

I had an idea of how I wanted to live my life in my own bubble doing only what I needed for myself and living the American dream but I am not satisfied with that idea anymore…I have learned that through business I can change the lives of other people for the better in more ways than one. I now see helping people as a duty and a right and that there are better ways than simply through charity… For the first time I can actually say I am grateful for a course.


“

”It’s a good class.


planting trees, growing minds

Education