Consulting for Sustainability Solutions Precapstone Tutorial

Harvard Summer School

ENVR S-598A

Section 1

CRN 34527

Begin Registration

This tutorial entails guided prework to set the foundation for academically strong capstones. It is mandatory for candidates in the Master of Liberal Arts, sustainability, who wish to enroll in ENVR E-599a in the following fall semester. The tutorial begins with issues in designing a sustainability action plan (SAP). The tutorial provides an essential ramp to the capstone course, mapping critical issues of research design (for example, scope, methodology, metrics for evaluating impact, and benchmarking) and allows the capstone course to begin with projects fully operational.

Registration Closes: June 17, 2025

Term

Summer Term 2025

Part of Term

Full Term

Format

Online

Credit Status

Noncredit

Section Status

Open

Instructor Info

Neil Hawkins, ScD

President, Michigan Sustainability Associates

Neil Hawkins

President, Michigan Sustainability Associates

Neil Hawkins has dedicated his career to defining a positive and impactful role for business in global sustainable development and public policy. For 31 years, he led at Dow, ultimately serving as Chief Sustainability Officer and Chief Vice President of Environment, Health, and Safety for the last twelve years. There, he was the architect of the breakthrough valuing nature collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and he integrated environment and social considerations into the core of the Dow's business strategy and public reporting. After Dow, as President of Erb Family Foundation, a $350 million Michigan philanthropy, he focused over four years on improving the Great Lakes ecosystem, supporting environmental justice and founding the Sustainable Business Network of Detroit. He served as interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the World Environment Center, facilitating a potential merger with Wildlife Habitat Council expected to close in mid-2024. Currently, he is President of Michigan Sustainability Associates, LLC and research advisor and instructor at Harvard Extension School in the master of sustainability program. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has been appointed board director at many for-profit and nonprofit sustainability, arts, and business organizations. He is a strategy advisor to CEOs and chief sustainability officers (CSOs), member of the APCO International Advisory Council, and a past appointee to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Sustainability Commission and the landmark Financial Stability Board Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which completely redefined the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment landscape. Hawkins was awarded the 2012 CK Prahalad Award for Sustainability Leadership by Corporate Eco Forum. He graduated from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health with a doctor of science in environmental health and is an alumnus of Georgia Institute of Technology.

Meeting Info

6/23 to 8/8

Deadlines

Last day to register: June 17, 2025

Prerequisites

Students must be officially admitted candidates in the Master of Liberal Arts (ALM), sustainability and in their penultimate semester. Prospective candidates and students with pending admission applications are not eligible. Candidates must be in good academic standing and in the process of successfully completing all degree requirements except the capstone, which they must enroll in the upcoming fall term as their final, one-and-only course. Registration in the Harvard Extension School course, ENVR E-599a, immediately following the Harvard Summer School course ENVR S-598a, is a mandatory degree requirement. Candidates submit the prework to ALMcapstones@extension.harvard.edu between March 1 and May 15. Prework requires revisions and must be approved by the research advisor. Candidates who do not meet these degree requirements or do not have their prework approved are dropped from the tutorial. To obtain mandatory prework instructions, visit the precapstone tutorial prework form.

Notes

Not open to Secondary School Program students. This tutorial involves e-mail, phone and/or Zoom one-on-one advising sessions with the instructor with the goal of producing an approved capstone proposal by the end of the semester.

Tuition

All Sections of this Course

CRN	Section #	Participation Option(s)	Instructor	Section Status	Meets	Term Dates
34527	1		Neil Hawkins	Open		Jun 23 to Aug 8
25620	1		Neil Hawkins	Open		Jan 27 to May 17

This Course May Contribute to:

Sustainability Master’s Degree Program