Ross Professor Andy Hoffman Earns Two Recent Honors for his Coursework and Teaching Accomplishments

Ross School of Business professor and sustainability expert Andy Hoffman has been named the recipient of two prestigious teaching awards.

Hoffman is the Holcim (US) Inc. Professor of Sustainable Enterprise and a professor of management and organizations at Michigan Ross, as well as a professor of environment and sustainability at the University of Michigan School for the Environment And Sustainability.

Page Prize for Sustainability Issues in Business

Hoffman was recently announced as the grand prize winner of The Moore School’s 12th annual Dr. Alfred N. and Lynn Manos Page Prize for Sustainability Issues in Business. The prize recognizes efforts to introduce or substantially upgrade sustainability courses or associated coursework into national and international business school curricula.   

Hoffman’s new course Business in Democracy: Advocacy, Lobbying and Public Interest presents a unique avenue for businesses to have a positive impact on the world around them through government engagement. Cross-listed between the Ross School of Business and the Ford School of Public Policy, this graduate-level course focuses on the role of business in policy making and the role of government in the market. Using a distinctive learning approach of lectures, exercises and guest lectures from a US Congressman and lobbyists from the corporate and nonprofit sectors, the course culminates with the students writing a case study that describes an instance of government-business engagement. Five of the best cases were published by WDI Publishing.

“There is not enough coverage of government regulation in today's business schools,” Hoffman said. “We need to teach business students about a constructive role government can play to elevate government to its proper place in the market. Students are hungry for this content. One goal of this course is to teach students to think of corporate influence on government in general, and lobbying in particular, as a public service to steward a market system that is a fair, equitable, and sustainable economy for all and not just the wealthy few.”

This is the third Page Prize win for Hoffman; he previously was awarded the grand prize in 2009 and an honorable mention in 2018.

The syllabi and course materials for the award-winning courses are maintained in a searchable database for other educators to use in the development of their own sustainability courses. 

ONE Teaching Award

Hoffman has also been selected to receive the 2020 ONE Teaching Award from the Organizations and the Natural Environment division of the Academy of Management.

This award recognizes and celebrates teaching accomplishments in the classroom and in educational publications, and advances the teaching aims of the ONE division by promoting learning about relationships between organizations and the natural environment. 

“These significant relationships need improvement so as to support the continued existence, development, and management of human organizations and societies,” according to the ONE Teaching Award criteria. “Our next generations require the related education to support them in meeting these challenges and it is the current and future generations of scholars that will enable change through this education.”

The ONE Teaching Award is given for impactful teaching and pedagogical research based on a teaching record over the past five years that demonstrates diverse teaching expertise at the undergraduate, graduate and/or executive/practitioner levels.