NEW YORK,NY. - November 5, 2008 - The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education (Aspen CBE), a program of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, will announce this evening the winners of the 2008 Faculty Pioneer Awards at a reception at Ernst & Young's corporate headquarters in New York City. The annual recognition, dubbed the "Oscars of the business school world" by the Financial Times, celebrates MBA faculty who have demonstrated leadership and risk-taking in integrating social and environment issues into academic research, educational programs and business practice.

"At a time of turbulence and change in our economy and society, these remarkable individuals are helping prepare future business leaders to meet the challenges of creating both successful and socially responsible businesses," said Rich Leimsider, director of the Aspen Center for Business Education. "Through cutting-edge research in areas ranging from executive compensation, social entrepreneurship and moral motivations for firms to stakeholder influence and the governance of public pension funds, these faculty award winners are helping focus attention on, and foster discussions about, the creation of a sustainable society."

A roundtable discussion on how business schools can best prepare future business leaders to deal to with a rapidly changing global society, will precede the reception. Participants in the roundtable will include Faculty Pioneer Award winners and a select group of business and philanthropic thought leaders.

Nominations for the awards are open to faculty at any institution offering a graduate management degree. Candidates are nominated by their academic peers and finalists are selected by a panel of corporate judges. In addition to recognition by the Aspen Institute and their peers and schools, Faculty Pioneers receive an honorarium.

The 2008 Faculty Pioneer Award winners are:

• Lifetime Achievement "“ David Baron, Stanford Graduate School of Business,Stanford University
  
• Academic Leadership "“ Pratima Bansal, Richard Ivey School of Business,University of Western Ontario
  
• Institutional Impact "“ Nicole Woolsey Biggart, Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis
  
• External Impact "“ Simon, S.M. Ho, School of Business, Hong Kong bBaptist University
  
• Rising Star "“ David W. Hess, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

• James E. Austin, Harvard Business School, Harvard University

Pratima Bansal (Academic Leadership Award) has contributed substantially to sustainability research. Her interest in the impact of the sustainability paradigm on business strategy has resulted in numerous articles and research grants. Through the Research Network for Business Sustainability, which she founded, Dr. Bansal is also changing the way sustainability research impacts practice.

Simon S.M. Ho (External Impact Award) is internationally recognized as an expect on corporate governance and CSR. In addition to founding the Asia-Pacific Corporate Governance Conference and the first Master’s program in Corporate Governance & Directorship, he initiated, in partnership with the University of Macau, the World Business Ethics Forum in 2006.

Nicole Woolsey Biggart (Institutional Impact Award) is an expert in organizational theory and management of innovation. She has studied a wide array of sectors, organizations and markets around the world, including research on the auto industries in South Korea, Taiwan, Spain and Argentina; management and organization in the Far East; the U.S. commercial building industry; and organizational change in the U.S. Post Office.

David W. Hess (Rising Star Award) focuses his research on the role of the law in ensuring corporate accountability and on approaches that enable corporations to go beyond legal compliance to meet the expectations of society with respect to ethical behavior and sustainable economic development. His publications in this area analyze the proper structuring of sustainability reports to increase stakeholder influence and improve organizational learning.

David Baron (Lifetime Achievement Award) is an innovator in the area of business and its social, political and legal environment. He created the field of non-market strategy, an approach to strategy that integrates traditional strategy with political economy, reputation management, ethics and CSR. His most recent research includes path-breaking work on social entrepreneurship and moral motivations for firms and managers.

James E. Austin (Ashoka Award for Social Entrepreneurship Education) is the author of numerous books, articles and case studies on business and nonprofit organizations. In addition to teaching academic courses on entrepreneurship and the social sector, governance of nonprofit organizations, business ethics and international business, he has given seminars to managers, government officials and graduate students at institutions around the world.

Antonio Argandona (EABIS Lifetime Achievement Award) has played a fundamental role in integrating Ethics into curricula and ensuring that a humanistic approach remains the key feature of IESE's programs. He is the author of numerous books and articles on ethics, social responsibility and related themes and a member of the Barcelona Royal Academy of Economics and Finance.

Wendy Chapple (EABIS Rising Star Award) has designed CSR modules for MBA students at Nottingham University Business School. In addition, she has integrated social, environmental and economic issues throughout her teaching in the area of Managerial Economics. A member of the Policy Committee of Responsible Investment Metrics (an industry-led initiative for mainstreaming Social Responsible Investment in the UK investment industry), she has led workshops on CSR and Productivity and CSR and Health and Safety.

For more information on the Faculty Pioneer Awards and on this year's award winners, go to www.AspenCBE.org.

ABOUT THE ASPEN INSTITUTE'S CENTER FOR BUSINESS EDUCATION:
The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education (Aspen CBE) equips business leaders for the 21st century with the vision and knowledge to integrate corporate profitability and social value. We offer business educators targeted resources to incorporate issues of social and environmental stewardship into their teaching, research and curriculum development and to share cutting edge practice among peers.

As part of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, Aspen CBE maintains close ties with over 100 MBA programs in 23 countries. Our websites draw over 100,000 visits monthly and our events and networks attract over 1,000 participants each year.

Aspen Institute

Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City and has an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org or follow on Twitter @AspenInstitute.

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