Corporate Social Responsibility

Evans School and Microsoft Offer Class on Corporate Social Responsibility

The Evans School and Microsoft Community Affairs collaborated on a recent course on effective corporate giving and employee engagement in the 21st Century global marketplace. The three-part class featured presentations by Akhtar Badshah, senior director of global community affairs at Microsoft Corporation, Rodney Hines, corporate social responsibility manager for Starbucks, and others.

The course was led by:

• Linda Testa, a graduating Evans School student in the Executive Master of Public Administration program and senior manager of community affairs at Microsoft
• Andrea Taylor, director of community affairs for North America at Microsoft and
• Leslie Breitner, principal lecturer at the Evans School

The class leveraged the corporate social responsibility framework proposed by Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer of Harvard University.

The Evans School, which was recently ranked fifth in the nation for nonprofit management by U.S. News & World Report, had an unprecedented turnout of students for the course, many of whom were interested in pursuing careers in corporate philanthropy, economic and community development, information technology, and public policy.

“They were a very thoughtful group and brought their own global and local nonprofit, government, and business experience to the discussion,” Testa said.

Guest lecturers for the course, in addition to Badshah and Hines, included:

• Jane Meseck, an Evans School graduate and senior manager of global community affairs at Microsoft
• Jen Wolcott, Jane Broom, and Tim Dubel, senior managers of community affairs at Microsoft
• Chris Coward, head of the Center for Information and Society and Development Program at the University of Washington School of Information Management

Read The Daily article about the course »

Learn more about approaches to corporate social responsibility at Pacific Northwest corporations:

Puget Sound Business Journal (Subscription Required)
“Puget Sound area companies relate corporate social responsibility directly to the bottom line”

The Seattle Times
“Starbucks struggles with reducing environmental impacts”