SUS3601 Unintended Consequences: At the Interface of Business and the Environment
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThe consequences of business decisions often have impacts far different from those that were initially anticipated. Increasingly business leaders, particularly entrepreneurs, are expected to be able to anticipate the consequences of such decisions on the social and natural environment. "Systems thinking" offers a useful framework for dealing with such complex challenges. Likewise, such consequences demand an interdisciplinary approach to their study. The focus of this course will be on building competency in the use of systems thinking in regard to the interface of business and the environment through in-depth and interdisciplinary, historical and contemporary case studies such as "boom and bust" in the industrial revolution of the United States, declining fisheries, the use of hydraulic fracturing to extract fossil fuels, carbon sequestration, damming of rivers and the growing impact of electrical vehicles. We will also examine efforts to mitigate the impact of business decisions on the environment and the political, economic and policy challenges such efforts present. SUS3601 will use a variety of learning methods throughout the course including historical resources, multi-media immersion, field projects and "flipping the classroom." We hope to help students address such questions as:

- How can business leaders productively consider the long-term implications of their actions for a variety of stakeholders and what is their responsibility for doing so under unpredictable circumstances?
- How can the perspectives of science and social justice inform business leaders' understanding of the long-term implications of their actions?
- What role can/should business leaders play in the remediation of societal and environmental degradation?

Prerequisites: (FME1000 and FME1001) or (MOB1000 and MOB1010) and NST1

HSS2030 US Politics
(Formerly American Politics)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThe course begins with a focus on significant ideas, major political and economic institutions, and key social conflicts and events that have shaped the character of American politics. We will position American politics in its historical context, recognizing and contending with the legacies of enslavement, white supremacy, and imperial violence in its development. As such, the fundamental role of race, colonialism, gender, sexuality, and class will be addressed throughout so that we can understand key and persistent features of American politics. The latter half of the course will examine contemporary ideologies, struggles over civil liberties and rights, the forces generating economic inequality, and the origins of mass incarceration and systemic racism. We will also spend the beginning of classes discussing the news, so the class will be flexible enough to respond to and address political events as they occur. The course will involve a combination of lecturing, discussion, and small-group activities, so class participation is important.

Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)

ECN3606 Uses and Abuses of Financial Derivatives: An Economist's View

4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

The significant use of derivative instruments began in the 1970s and, since then, has grown at a thunderous rate. Derivatives are used by individuals, businesses, financial institutions, central banks, and governments throughout the world. This course explains financial derivatives from microeconomic and macroeconomic perspectives.

Microeconomic Perspective
The wise use of derivative instruments requires the identification, measurement, evaluation, management, and monitoring of major risks. Some risks are willingly held, but many of are not, and derivative instruments provides a way to transfer these risks to others. Uses and Abuses of Financial Derivatives: An Economist's View explains how companies have used derivative contracts to mitigate risks. It also describes how these instruments can be used for speculative, often destructive, purposes, which have little or nothing to do with a well-conceived strategy. In some cases, actions that were intended to hedge positions ended up being speculative, due (usually) to unpriced risks and a lack of understanding.

In the spirit of "Never waste a good crisis," this course explains the steps and missteps of companies connected to some of the most spectacular derivative disasters, such as Amaranth Advisors LLC, American International Group (AIG), JPMorgan Chase ("London Whale"), Metallgesellschaft AG, Orange County, and Proctor & Gamble Inc. In doing so, the course addresses important questions, such as: What risks did these companies fail to identify or incorrectly price? Could these losses have been prevented?

The chances are high that students in this class will be offered employee stock options sometime in their professional careers, so this course explains how to put stock option offers into the broader perspective of different forms of compensation and their risks. We will find that employers (especially those in start-up companies) often look at ESOs quite differently from employees.

Macroeconomic Perspective
Derivative products have been used by central banks to influence exchange rates and by governments to hedge international borrowing and lending costs. This course explains how central banks hedge themselves and the positive and negative impacts these transactions can have on international capital flows, domestic credit markets, and foreign exchange markets.

Uses and Abuses of Financial Derivatives: An Economist's View also connects you to an ongoing debate about whether financial derivatives can have significant negative effects on national and world economies. On one side are those who believe derivatives are zero-sum games, with the losses of some offset by the gains of others. On the other side are those who believe that derivative instruments can negatively influence nations' monetary and fiscal policies and expectations, thereby precipitating national and international economic and financial crises. This course discusses both sides of this debate, with particular focus the currency crises of Mexico (1994), Thailand (1997 - 1998), Russia (1998), and Argentina (2001).

Engaging in a forward contract means agreeing to pay or receive payment in the future at a price agreed upon today, but how can one know if a forward price is "fair." To address this question, we discuss four "parity conditions," which are at the heart of many macroeconomic discussions - particularly those dealing with derivatives.

Prerequisites: ECN2000 or ECN2002

LTA2069 Utopia and Dystopia: Literary and Cultural Expressions
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course will examine the difference between ideas of absolute societal perfection and absolute societal imperfection as expressed in literary and cultural texts. Topics of study through such texts will include the ways we govern, the ways we create order, the ways we progress, and the ways we treat others. Over the course of the semester, students will be confronted with a number of questions. What are the elements of a utopia or dystopia? If one is complete perfection and the other complete imperfection - both by definition unattainable - then why are the concepts even worth talking about, and why have they persisted throughout history and across cultures? And maybe most interestingly, is there much of a real difference between the two? We will read works by Jose Saramago, Cormac McCarthy, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ursula LeGuin, and Margaret Atwood.

Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)

MOB3526 Values Based Entrepreneurial Leadership
4 Advanced Management Credits

This course has been created specifically for students who wish to develop their capability as a values based entrepreneurial leader. Specifically, the course is about helping students to better understand and develop their own values and learn how effectively apply those values as a leader. Being a successful entrepreneurial leader requires a clear set of values and a willingness to allow those values to govern decision-making beyond simple decision rubrics like profit maximization.

For more information: http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/0l0yj

Prerequisites: (FME1000 and FME1001) or (EPS1000 and MOB1010)

EPS4521 Venture Growth Strategies
4 General CreditsThe course focuses on the opportunities and challenges involved in the management of growth in entrepreneurial settings, either in an individual company or as part of a larger corporation. Growth is the ultimate resource constrainer, stretching all systems in a company to the limit and often beyond. Consequently, this course will emphasize management _at the limit_ of what students may have already learned in other functional courses. It will provide students with a series of frameworks, analytical skills and techniques, and decision-making tools that can be used in growing entrepreneurial businesses.

The course relies on non-traditional, experiential learning methods in addition to the usual case-based method. While some classroom meetings will include case discussions involving growth-related issues, other classroom meetings will involve computer-based simulation exercises which are used by leading companies worldwide as an innovative training tool because of the rich experience it provides to participants. Guest speakers will provide further insight into the opportunities and challenges of growth.

The course is particularly useful to students who have interests in one or more of the following areas: (1) growing their own entrepreneurial companies, (2) managing the growth of existing companies in an entrepreneurial fashion by emphasizing innovation and opportunity capture in a dynamic environment, and/or (3) helping companies manage their growth through consulting assignments.

This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring

Prerequisites: None

EPS7575 Venture Growth Strategies
3 Elective CreditsThe course focuses on the opportunities and challenges involved in the management of growth in entrepreneurial settings, either in an individual company or as part of a larger corporation. Growth is the ultimate resource constrainer, stretching all systems in a company to the limit and often beyond. Consequently, this course will emphasize management _at the limit_ of what students may have already learned in other functional courses. It will provide students with a series of frameworks, analytical skills and techniques, and decision-making tools that can be used in growing entrepreneurial businesses.

The course relies on non-traditional, experiential learning methods in addition to the usual case-based method. While some classroom meetings will include case discussions involving growth-related issues, other classroom meetings will involve computer-based simulation exercises which are used by leading companies worldwide as an innovative training tool because of the rich experience it provides to participants. Guest speakers will provide further insight into the opportunities and challenges of growth.

The course is particularly useful to students who have interests in one or more of the following areas: (1) growing their own entrepreneurial companies, (2) managing the growth of existing companies in an entrepreneurial fashion by emphasizing innovation and opportunity capture in a dynamic environment, and/or (3) helping companies manage their growth through consulting assignments.

This course is typically offered in the following semester: Spring

Prerequisites: None

LTA2016 Violence: Theories of Cruelty, Evil, and the Inhuman
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course will investigate the idea of violence across an extensive spectrum of authors, texts, films, and literary-philosophical perspectives from the East and the West. We seek not merely to engage in a conventional critique but to exceed the boundaries of our embedded understanding by also contemplating this concept's fascinating potential as a form of literary imagination and intellectual expression. Topics will therefore include cruelty, vulnerability, power, betrayal, destruction, vengeance, anger, terror, defacement, pain, disaster, and inhumanity. From the poetics of torture to the damaged writings of war, from theoretical works on catastrophe to cinematic and artistic pieces on the nature of evil, the intent is to explore the many narratives that have emerged across the global horizon in the face of an often violent experience of the modern world.

Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)

MBA7546 Wealth Management
3 Blended CreditsWealth management does not necessarily have as much to do with how much asset value you now have or how you accumulated that wealth. But wealth management is more about how you manage the wealth you have. There is an accumulation stage and a distribution stage. Wealth management does not involve just investing. Investing is an important element but good management also involves income taxes, estate taxes, how to fund education for children, how to fund a retirement, and how to protect your assets from creditors.

There are 6 pillars of wealth management. This course examines tax planning, estate planning, investment planning, retirement planning, education planning, and risk management including asset protection and insurance, from an individual planning perspective. The course is designed for students who have already accumulated wealth or are in the process of doing so. This could be the successful entrepreneur (or in the process of becoming successful) but also includes students who expect to inherit wealth and those that are interested in helping parents manage their wealth. Also students who have interest in the financial services industry - financial advisors, insurance advisors, bankers, mutual fund managers, etc. will find the course of interest.

The course will use a combination of cases, readings, power point presentations, spread sheet models, and discussions amongst students. Since many of the topics change quickly (for example expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the fiscal cliff legislation known as The American Tax Relief Act of 2012) there will also be cutting edge updates (for example the Affordable Care Act) to planning techniques.

The course is offered in a blended learning format. Thus the course is about 7 weeks long with two face to face sessions. The text will be supplemented with numerous articles which are very practical in nature. Although not a guarantee past students have learned how to save on income and estate taxes!

Prerequisites: None

MBA9520 Wealth Management Part 1 - Tax, Estate, and Investment Planning
1.5 Intensive Elective CreditsThere are 6 pillars of wealth management - tax planning, estate planning, investment planning, retirement planning, education planning, and risk management (asset protection and insurance).
Part 1 examines tax planning - an overview of the income tax system, capital gains, alternative minimum tax, Roth conversion, charitable gifting techniques, and the latest on the Bush tax cuts. Then estate planning covers an overview of the estate and gift tax, standard estate planning documents you need, use of trusts, life insurance in estate planning, and advanced techniques. Finally, investment planning starts with basic investment objectives, then modern portfolio theory is covered including expected returns, measures of investment risk, the degree of correlation among investments and asset classes, and the concept of the efficient frontier. Specific types of investments are discussed such as mutual funds, commodities, TIPS, stocks, fixed income, real estate, gold, and exchange traded funds. Asset allocation, inflation, annuity investing, and specific decisions such as leasing versus buying are also covered.

Part 1 covers the topics from an individual planning perspective. The course is designed for students who have already accumulated wealth or are in the process of doing so. This could be the successful entrepreneur (or in the process of becoming successful) but also includes students who expect to inherit wealth and those that are interested in helping parents manage their wealth. Also, students who have interest in the financial services industry - financial advisors, insurance advisors, bankers, mutual fund managers, etc. will find the course of interest.

Prerequisites: None