Recently renamed Grossman School of Business also included in publication's 2016 "Best 295 Business Schools" edition

Just one year after enrolling its first cohort, UVM's Sustainable Entrepreneurship MBA (SEMBA) program has been named fourth in the nation on the Princeton Review's list of the "Best Green MBAs."

The ranking, the Princeton Review notes, is "based on students' assessments of how well their school is preparing them in environmental/sustainability and social responsibility issues, and for a career in a green job market."

The annual publication also included UVM’s Grossman School of Business in its 2016 “Best 295 Business Schools" edition. That ranking, based on academic quality, institutional data, and survey responses of 22,000 students, culls the top schools from 727 business programs worldwide and 513 in the U.S. accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

“While inclusion among Princeton Review’s list of outstanding business schools is a validation of our process of continuous excellence, the No. 4 ranking for our SEMBA program confirms the innovative nature of the program and the high value it adds to our students and corporate partners in the program,” says Sanjay Sharma, business school dean. “We have just only graduated our first cohort and our eyes are set on the No. 1 rank.”

It's a big month for UVM's business school. On Oct. 2, it received the largest gift in university history, $20 million from alumnus Steven Grossman ’61. In recognition and thanks for the historic gift, the school has been renamed the Grossman School of Business.

The high ranking of the SEMBA program -- behind the University of Oregon, Yale, and the University of Denver -- is UVM’s first appearance on the "Best Green MBA" list. Established in 2014, SEMBA is also the newest program in the top 10.

Many UVM business students, the Princeton Review notes, work in “green industries or have a green conscience component to their employment, so an undertone of environmental awareness and social responsibility permeates this school, no matter the discipline or course of study.”

The bottom line, according to one student quoted in the review, is that “everyone is friendly, punctual, and dedicated to their work,” and while a competitive streak is present here like almost any other graduate business program, most students actively contribute to class discussions, making for an “intelligent and relevant” MBA program.

PUBLISHED

10-07-2015