On March 23, our Professor of Sustainability in Hospitality and Tourism, Elena Cavagnaro, was invited by Iwan Zunder, lecturer at the University of Curacao, to have an (online) conversation with his students.
Iwan teaches a course on Corporate Social Responsibility. With his students he has visited businesses that are exploring ways to be more sustainable on Curacao and he has hosted leaders from both the private sector and public sector as guest speakers. The former prime minister Mr Rhuggenaath has been one of the guest speakers both last and current academic year.
For this academic year, Iwan has redesigned the course by fully integrating the book ‘The Three Levels of Sustainability’ that Elena co-authored with George Curiel.
Students were very curious about Elena her motivation to write the book, the journey of writing, and the most powerful learning experience that Elena went through. They were also interested in the practical implications of the theory discussed in the book.
Elena pointed to the Three Levels of Sustainability framework which indicates that to achieve sustainable development one should not only address governance issues and business management issues but also invest in personal leadership development. She also highlighted the Sustainable Organizations Effectiveness Cycle, a tool that explains the steps to be followed to design, redesign, or analyze an organisation and its sustainability stance. Finally, Elena gave students some advice related to an important assignment they are working on: their pitch for the first-ever online streaming edition of the Caribbean SustainBUL.
We wish the students the best of luck during this event!
