Bachelor of Liberal Arts – Sustainable Business Concentration
Unique Offerings
Studies in this area emphasize an ethic of social responsibility driving business decisions and functions, along with concern for environmental sustainability, and financial success in an interdependent and just global economy. Sustainable Business coursework highlights individuals and organizations that foster entrepreneurial change and innovative approaches that allow you to learn the knowledge and skills to effect positive change within today's challenging business environment.
You will be challenged to think critically about business issues within a societal and global context, while experimenting with and applying liberal studies principles and practices. This concentration requires some lower-division coursework prior to or concurrent with enrollment.
You can take courses in each of the following six core subject areas:
- Economics & Sustainability
- Financial Theory & Practice for Sustainable Business
- Socially Responsible Marketing
- Systems Leadership/Systems Change
- Collaboration/Facilitation/Multicultural Skills
- Topics & Issues in Sustainability
General Requirements
The degree requirements for graduation are satisfied when you complete:
A total of 180 quarter credits (at least 45 credits taken at Antioch University), including:
- Up to 48 credits of prior learning
- At least 60 upper division credits
- Three required core courses:
- Liberal Studies Seminar; Diversity, Power & Privilege; Inquiry & Research
- An area of concentration (six required courses)
- Four quarters of study at Antioch University Seattle (or more)
- A portfolio of your work reflecting academic progress
- A Senior synthesis project and Symposium presentation
Length of Program
Most students graduate from the B.A. completion program in two years or less. Completion of 180 quarter credits is required for graduation.
Tuition & Fees
- Tuition: $560 per credit
- Required fees: $145 per quarter
- $6,865 tuition and required fees per quarter, full time (12 credits)
- $27,460 typical annual tuition and fees
- Credits documented for Life Experience: $140 per credit
Annual tuition and fees based on 2013-14 rates for four quarters. Antioch University Seattle students typically attend classes all year.
Career Opportunities
Opportunities may include starting new employment in businesses or nonprofits; starting your own business, shaping your studies to match your goals. Some continue on to graduate studies. The B.A. program offers options for combining coursework as part of a "ladder" program if the student is accepted as a master's student. Consult an admissions adviser for details.
Program Summary
The Sustainable Business concentration offers a socially engaged approach to the study of business. Studies in this area emphasize an ethic of social responsibility driving business decisions and functions, along with concern for environmental sustainability and financial success in an interdependent and just global economy. Sustainable Business coursework highlights individuals and organizations that foster entrepreneurial change and innovative approaches that allow you to learn the knowledge and skills to effect positive change within today's challenging business environment. Your studies emphasize:
- Social responsibility and ethical behavior
- Leadership skills
- Environmental and organizational sustainability
- Working successfully within an interdependent global economy
- Achieving a positive triple bottom line (people, planet, and profit)
You will be challenged to think critically about business issues within a societal and global context, while experimenting with and applying liberal studies principles and practices. This concentration requires some lower-division coursework prior to or concurrent with enrollment. Students are prepared for new work roles in business or may choose to go on to graduate studies. Antioch University Seattle offers accelerated options for students interested in a master's programs, including management, communication, environment and community, organizational development, or whole systems design. Read more about the ladder option.
Core Coursework
As part of the Sustainable Business concentration, you take courses in each of the following six subject areas. Courses can be taken for 3-4 credits. You choose one course for each core area and the remaining courses or other learning experiences count as electives. Transfer credits can be used in both core and elective areas; prior learning credits are often used as electives.
Economics & Sustainability
An introduction to the macroeconomics of sustainable business that provides contextual analysis, history, rationale, and principles of social responsibility, with attention to the global nature of 21st century business environment using successful models from around the world. The suggested course that meets this requirement:
- Economics for Global Sustainability
- Readings in Sustainable Business
Financial Theory & Practice for Sustainable Business
Courses fulfilling this requirement address the fundamentals of finance from a triple bottom line perspective: “People, Planet, & Profit.” You learn about financial frameworks that take into account social and ecological, as well as financial and performance criteria. For example:
- Finance for Sustainable Business
- Triple Bottom Line Accounting and Management
Socially Responsible Marketing
A course in this subject would address a philosophy and practice of marketing that strives to enhance the well-being of consumers and serve the best interests of society. For example:
- Green Marketing
- Sustainable Business Development
Systems Leadership/Systems Change
You learn about organizations as complex and adaptive systems, emphasizing the dynamics of change and the role of leaders as prompters and guides of organizational learning and systemic change. Sample classes include:
- Far-From-Equilibrium: Systems Perspectives on Change
- Case Studies in Leadership
- Narrating Change: Stories for Collective Action
- Servant Leadership
Collaboration/Facilitation/Multicultural Skills
You learn strategies for participatory leadership and skills to work effectively with teams. Classes address the theories and practices that promote sustainable collaboration, collective decision-making, learning, change, and action. Possible courses include:
- Sustainable Workplace Relationships
- Power of Engaging: Listening, Collaborating, Facilitating
- Intercultural Communications and Conflict Resolution
- Community Organizing or International Activism
Topics & Issues in Sustainability
Develop an in-depth perspective on issues and/or policy considerations regarding sustainability. Possible courses include:
- Creating a Just, Peaceful, & Sustainable Future
- Global Environmental Problems
- Bioregional Studies: Dynamic Duwamish
- Principles of Sustainability
- Water Rights and Wars: Global Perspectives
- Urban Agriculture
Sample Electives
An elective in this concentration is typically a foundation course transferred from another academic institution for which you receive Antioch University Seattle credit. Examples of classes that are typically transferred include:
- Introduction to Marketing
- Introduction to Management
- Intercultural Communication
- Human Resource Management
- Organizational Theory or Organizational Behavior
Typical electives from Antioch University Seattle’s current curriculum:
- Introduction to Nonprofit Management
- Climate Change Activism
- Eco-literature: Narrative and Ecological Conflict
- Globalization and Its Discontents: Political Economy of the 21st Century
Aaron Dietz
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
Antioch has a good reputation, he says, for being able to educate self-learners and for keeping students involved in the learning process. He says he was able to create classes geared toward writing and publishing his own book, something he says would have been much harder to do at a state college.
Bob Hasegawa
B.A. Liberal Studies, 2003
Now Eleventh District Democratic Representative, he says his experience at Antioch surprised him by pushing him beyond his areas of concentration and stretching him in directions he'd never thought of going.
Carson Marshall
B.A. Liberal Studies, MA Whole Systems Design, 2001, 2003
He learned the program supports everyone's unique exploration. He said he realized he could create the way he wants to present himself to the world.
Cheryl Honey
BA Liberal Studies , 2004
It was serendipitous that she ended up going to Antioch. She says her advisers taught her she had special gifts to offer this world and she didn't have to ask for permission to make her unique contribution.
Chris Plyman
BA Liberal Studies, 2009
He happened to be walking along Sixth Avenue in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood when he came upon Antioch University. It looked like a place where he could do some exploring, so this retired Army warrant officer decided to give it a try.
Colleen Crotty
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
Antioch teaches you to look at things differently and to get involved in the community. She says she wouldn't trade her experience for anything.
Danielle Cameron
B.A. Liberal Studies, M.A. Psychology, Art Therapy with Mental Health Counseling, 2002
She says the more she learned about Antioch, the more she realized it was a school most likely to help her get where she wanted to go. She says it is the school for students who are independently motivated.
Debra Sund
BA Liberal Studies - Individualized Program: Holistic Early Childhood Education , 2008
She very much appreciates the freedom at Antioch and the smaller class size. She says it has a supportive and comfortable atmosphere for an adult learner
Dimitri Azadi
BA Liberal Studies - Individualized Program: Leadership and Diversity Studies, 2009
When many of his friends came to Antioch for their undergraduate studies, they told him it was a wonderful experience. He says he feels as though he is putting energy into his own well-being at Antioch.
Dollviola Eldred
B.A. Liberal Studies - Current student, M.A. Psychology - Mental Health Counseling, 2007
The only thing she needed to succeed was a good education and — thanks to Antioch — she has advanced in her career and predicts she will continue to climb.
Lance Wischler
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
He says the personal attention he experienced from his first phone call to the admissions department was a factor in coming to Antioch. The personal touch allowed him to feel like he mattered, and that he was not simply another number to be shuffled through the process.
Margie King Bloch
B.A. Liberal Studies, M.A. Whole Systems Design — Organization Systems Renewal, 1997
She chose Antioch because she wanted to learn more about the changing face of leadership, and she wanted to do it in an experiential educational setting
Maria Teresa Blankenship
BA Liberal Studies - Individualized Program: Psychology, Health Healing & Herbalism; MA Psychology, Mental Health Counseling, 2006
With a background in nursing and her interest in health healing, herbalism and psychology, she created a program for herself that she describes as an unforgettable journey.
Mary Sherhart
B.A. Liberal Studies, 1999
She says Antioch is an intense experience, a great place for self-motivated and well disciplined people with lots of meaty life experience under their belts.
Oliver Chadd
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
He was up for the unique method in which Antioch educates. He says he was always a quiet student and knew Antioch was set up in such a way he would be in situations where he could not just fade into the background.
Patricia Cavit
BA Liberal Studies, 2005
She says her independant study was an excellent experience. She was able to investigate exactly the areas she was interested in and receive mentoring from the advisers who were supervising.
Rachel Beals
BA Liberal Studies, Spiritual Studies concentration, 2009
Antioch's Spiritual Studies concentration, she says, is a one-of-a-kind undergraduate program. Her priority? She wants to reduce the isolation and despair so many people face today.
Richard Long
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
He chose Antioch because of its commitment to adult education and its social ideology. He says if the concept that a student, through study, research and relationships, obtains the basic philosophies of the institution they attend, then he is a better student, friend and person.
Stephanie McDonald
BA Liberal Studies - Individualized Program: Depth Psychology; MA Psychology, Mental Health Counseling, 2007 & 2011
Antioch is a transformational place where you can find your voice, build confidence and thrive, according to Stephanie McDonald. After completing her BA, her desire to continue learning was on fire and she entered Antioch University Seattle's graduate program in mental health counseling.
Tina Grant
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
Antioch is a place where you can find what it is you want to do with the rest of your life. She says it is not that the teachers will tell you, but that they create a space for you to explore, experiment and find what it is that fills you with passion.
Young-wha Coulter
B.A. Liberal Studies, 2007
Getting credit for life experience was validating for Coulter, who had been a para-educator working with elementary special education children in the Highline School District.
