February 15, 1996
Contact: Lew Harris, (615) 322-2706

Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies Holds Seminar

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies (VCEMS) will repeat its highly acclaimed executive seminar entitled "Can You Compete With 21st Century, Inc.? Achieving Business Success With Environmental Excellence," May 21-22 at the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies.

The seminar's goal is to help corporate executives integrate strategic environmental management into the mainstream of how businesses are operated. Unlike specialized seminars on compliance or technical pollution control topics, this course is designed for such current and future corporate leaders as plant and product managers, finance and accounting officers, strategic planners, corporate attorneys, and sales and marketing executives.

"A recent survey of corporate environmental experts found overwhelming concern that they are being ignored by their employers and that they do not believe environmental, health and safety issues are being successfully integrated into their business operations," said Mark Cohen, Vanderbilt management professor and co-director of VCEMS.

"This seminar is designed to help corporate managers understand how environmental excellence can improve the bottom line," Cohen added. "21st Century, Inc. is a hypothetical company that successfully integrates environmental risks and opportunities into its ongoing management systems and decision processes. In order to do that, environmental issues cannot be relegated to the EHS department. They need to be an integral part of a firm's strategic plans."

The seminar will look at these issues by examining the challenges facing 21st Century, Inc., a corporation whose management has dealt profitably with environmental risks and opportunities by integrating information across disciplines and paradigms.

VCEMS is an interdisciplinary research and teaching center sponsored by Vanderbilt's School of Engineering, the Owen Graduate School of Management and the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies.

Among the core members of the VCEMS faculty who will lend their expertise at the seminar are:

  • Professor Mark D. Abkowitz, a frequent consultant to industry on risk assessment and management. He is author of a forthcoming book, "Striking the Balance: Strategic Environmental Management in the Successful Business."

  • Professor Mark A. Cohen, who specializes in the enforcement of environmental regulations and strategic environmental management. He is a former economist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

  • Professor Nancy Lea Hyer, former operations research manager at Hewlett-Packard's Network Measurements Division, where she conducted research on creating the "Factory of the Future." Hyer is associate dean at the Owen School and teaches courses on quality planning and analysis.

    Several industry experts will also make presentations at the forum.

    The seminar is being sponsored by Bridgestone/Firestone and Waller, Lansden, Dortch and Davis, in cooperation with the National Association of Environmental Managers, the Tennessee Association of Business and the Tennessee Environmental Council.

    Cost of the seminar is $950 per person. Teams of two from the same company are encouraged to register at the reduced rate of $800 each and three or more at $700 each. To enroll by phone or to request more information, call (615) 322-8004. The Vanderbilt Center for Public Policy Studies, site of the seminar, is located at 1207 18th Ave. South. More information about VCEMS and this seminar can be found on the World Wide Web site, http://www.vanderbilt.edu/VCEMS

    -VU-
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