New Fall Courses Feature Social Networks, Online Learning, Women in Business

New fall courses are offering students the chance to zoom in on hot topics like the economics of social networks, social finance, and the strategic and societal impact of investing in women. Students in the Full-time and Evening & Weekend MBA programs also will get their first chance to take a popular course in a new, interactive online format.

Haas alumnus Nicholas Economides, PhD 81, a visiting professor from NYU’s Stern School of Business, will teach The Economics of Social and Other Networks. Economides, an expert on antitrust and network economics, will offer one version of the course for Full-time and Evening & Weekend MBA students (EW/MBA 217.1), and another for undergraduates (UGBA 117). The courses will analyze a wide variety of networks, from Facebook and Twitter to cable TV, banking, and the Internet, developing an understanding of competition within and across platforms.

MBA Students will get a class and practicum all in one in a new social finance course titled Money and Meaning: Sourcing Capital for Social Enterprises (EW/MBA 292T.3), taught by Professor Jennifer Walske, faculty director of the Global Social Venture Competition, and Esther Park, former vice president of strategy and business development at RSF Social Finance, a nonprofit financial services organization that connects investors and social entrepeneurs. After learning about the social finance process from cases and speakers, including high-profile impact investors, student teams will identify and recommend an investment idea to a panel of impact investors, including Brian Trelstad, former chief investment officer of Acumen Fund, and John Goldstein, co-founder of Imprint Capital.

Haas is among six business schools working with Trelstad, a leader in the socially responsible investment world, to create a national network of MBA students to source and complete due diligence on potential early-stage regional and national investments. Haas is the only school in the network, which also includes Harvard and Wharton, to structure its participation as a course rather than investing club.

Corporate social responsibility expert Kellie McElhaney, faculty director of the Center for Responsible Business, is offering a new course that will dive deeply into the subject of gender equity in the business world. Through a combination of lectures and guest speakers, Women in Business (EW/MBA 292T.1) will give MBA students a global perspective, exploring Goldman Sachs’ womenomics theory—which links the economic health of a country to the health of its female population. The course will look closely at trends and issues facing women in business and leadership.

Professor Cameron Anderson is taking his in-demand Power & Politics (EW/MBA 254.1B) online, giving MBA students more flexibility in customizing course content to their interests, learning styles, and schedules. The course combines real-time lectures with asynchronous learning opportunities, including games, interactive assessments, and extensive discussion forums.  As the only online MBA offering in a new pilot program, the course filled up quickly and remains oversubscribed.

In addition to Economides’ social network course, undergraduates pursuing careers in marketing can take Marketing Strategy (UGBA 167.3), a new special topics course taught by Senior Lecturer David Robinson. Continuing where the core marketing course left off, Robinson’s course will give students tools to identify the competition, develop strategic marketing plans, and identify risk.

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