Honoring Innovative Education

THE ASPEN INSTITUTE'S Business & Society Program has bestowed its 2020 Ideas Worth Teaching Awards on nine courses and the business faculty who teach them. The awards recognize “faculty who are redefining business education—providing learning experiences that equip managers of tomorrow with the context, skills and decision-making capabilities needed to lead in an increasingly complex business environment—and world,” according to the organization.

“2020 has underscored the need for fresh thinking on issues at the intersection of business and society,” says Business & Society Advisor Claire Preisser, and that type of thinking is reflected in both the form and content of the winning entries. For instance, a course on organizing in times of crisis is team-taught by instructors from several universities across multiple nations. A course on ethics and sustainability draws on the perspective and framework of indigenous peoples and sparks debates about centuries-old racial injustices embedded in modern social and economic systems.

The nine winners are: