Concentrations and Courses

McCombs offers full-time MBA concentrations in Social Enterprise and CleanTech.

Social Enterprise Roadmap | The concentration in social enterprise offers insight into the industry through unique courses and events and prepares you for career opportunities related to this concentration, everything from the CSR departments of major corporations and non-profit organizations to environmental management and sustainability groups in a wide range of companies. Other opportunities include public policy and economics departments, ethics management, corporate compliance offices, social enterprise project management, and community relations management.

CleanTech Roadmap | The CleanTech concentration prepares you for a career in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and emissions abatement. Clean technology companies are seeking MBAs who not only have excellent business skills but also a solid understanding of the technology and policy aspects affecting their industry, as well as project and risk management skills. Accordingly, the CleanTech concentration at McCombs gives you the opportunity to combine courses across various schools to best prepare for their career of choice. You will also connect with Austin’s booming CleanTech industry through the Clean Energy Incubator and a variety of on- and off-campus opportunities.

Departmental course descriptions can be found here

Portfolio Programs

The University of Texas at Austin offers portfolio programs to introduce graduate and doctoral students to trans-disciplinary areas of academic inquiry while completing their degree. Portfolio programs are not degree programs; instead they provide an opportunity for students to orient their studies to address a specific topic that overlaps several disciplines. These programs are similar to a minor area of study or a certificate program at other institutions.

Sustainability | The Center for Sustainable Development offers a graduate portfolio program in Sustainability. This program provides students with a framework to study and research issues related to sustainability. Sustainability is an emerging discourse that simultaneously addresses issues of economic development, environmental protection, and social equity.

Nonprofit Studies | The RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service offers a graduate portfolio program in nonprofit studies, designed to help students prepare for careers in the nonprofit sector. The program in Nonprofit Studies is an academic certificate program that provides an interdisciplinary approach to the study and research of philanthropy, volunteerism and nonprofit management. With over 100 sutdents participating, this is the largest portfolio program offered at UT.

Hands-on Learning Opportunities

Board Fellows Program | The Board Fellows program, an initiative of Net Impact Central, brings valuable business skills to nonprofits, while exposing Net Impact members to nonprofit management and governance. This program places students on the board of a local non-profit organization for a year. Participating as a Board Fellow allows students to engage with a nonprofit on a strategic level, learn about nonprofit management and governance through first hand experiences, and develop deeper knowledge of specific social issues related to the work of the nonprofit. During their term, participants are expected to attend all board meetings, work with the Executive Director and Board member to identify a board-related project to complete (if appropriate), spend between 10-15 hours per month working on board projects, present project to Board of Directors and provide copies and relevant research/analysis to the nonprofit, and be proactive in ensuring a positive experience with the organization

PLUS Program Micro-Consulting Opportunities | The PLUS Program allows MBAs to identify companies with which they want to work and connects students to these organizations, regardless of the industry or location, by facilitating a micro-consulting project. The client provides a current business question to be addressed, and the PLUS office provides each team with a budget and guides the team through the project management process. At the end of a 4-10 week project period, the team reports their findings and recommendations to their client, often traveling to the client’s location to do so. PLUS projects working with nonprofit, public sector, clean energy, or sustainability related organizations are often available. Students are also able to source projects on their own with organizations they are interested in.

Case Competitions | As a McCombs student, you can participate in a variety of case competitions, both on and off campus. We've listed a few below that may be appealing to Net Impact members.

• Education Leadership Case Competition | Hosted by UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business, the purpose of the case competition is to bring attention to a critical, real-time issue in education, and to provide an opportunity for talented and dedicated graduate students to create potential solutions for the issue.
• Global Social Venture Competition | The Global Social Venture Competition is the largest and oldest student-led business plan competition enabling early stage social ventures from around the world.
• Leeds Net Impact Case Competition | The Leeds Net Impact Case Competition in Boulder, Colorado is built around businesses facing sustainability challenges, while succeeding financially.
  
• JP Morgan Good Venture Case Competition | The Good Venture Case Competition offers students the opportunity to make a case for why a philanthropic non-profit organization of their choice should receive a $15,000 donation from J.P. Morgan. Teams choose a cause and make the case for why it deserves the investment. The teams with the best submissions will be invited to J.P. Morgan headquarters in New York City to present to a panel of senior judges, who will decide which team wins the $15,000 for their organization.
  
• Dell Social Innovation Competition | Any significant social issue can be addressed in this competition. The Dell Social Innovation Competition operates like a business-plan competition, awarding seed funding directly to the student-led venture that best meets the judges’ criteria.

University Centers and Speaker Events

Center for Customer Insight and Marketing Solutions | CCIMS enables interaction between marketing faculty, students, and industry to enhance research opportunities, academic growth, real world problem solving, and student career opportunities. The focus is on developing in-depth customer insight leading to customer driven, cross functional solutions for winning in the marketplace.

Center for Ethical Leadership at LBJ School | The mission of the Center for Ethical Leadership is to promote ethical leadership in our society through education, research, and service to community. The Center will serve as a teaching, research, and information focal point for students and educators from all disciplines as well as for practitioners and other interested parties.

RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service | The mission of the RGK Center is to build knowledge about nonprofit organizations, philanthropy, and volunteerism, and to prepare students and practitioners to make effective contributions to their communities and countries.

Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Speaker Series | The Business Ethics Speaker Program for students brings  prominent businesspersons and leading scholars in the field of business ethics to discuss a wide array of social and ethical issues in management.

Charles A. Dana Center | The Dana Center provides Texas education leaders with new knowledge about teaching and learnig. Their mission is to support education leaders and policymakers in strengthening Texas education, and their vision is for Texas to lead the nation in the achievement of its students and the quality of its workforce.