Sustainability is growing theme of business schools.

• Author: Herro, Alana

Environmentally conscious entrepreneurs looking to get a business degree now have several options when choosing a graduate school. Four U.S. institutions offer "Sustainable MBAs," or Masters of Business Administration programs that infuse sustainability concepts through their curricula. More-traditional business schools are also including classes and coursework that reflect a growing awareness of the interactions between business and the environment.

Sustainable MBA programs, according to Miguel Esteban of Washington state's Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI), are built "from the ground up," with environmental considerations not just applied as a "band-aid" to traditional classes. Both BGI and the Presidio School of Management in San Francisco offer primarily online classes, with professors and students meeting in person only once a month. Bainbridge ranked first among 40 business programs surveyed by Net Impact, an organization that promotes using the power of business to drive positive social, environmental, and economic changes.

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Green Mountain College, located in Vermont, is an accredited business program that offers true distance learning that is practical for working professionals, according to William Prado, director of the school's MBA and Sustainable Business program. Students are required to meet instructors in person only twice during the two-year program. The accredited New College of California, on the other hand, values face-to-face interaction so much, says promotions coordinator Stacie Wickham, that its sustainable MBA program is conducted entirely in the classroom and is not available online.

Representatives of each of the four schools describe their sustainable MBA programs as practical and inclusive of...