S. Prakash Sethi, University Distinguished Professor of Management, has been named winner of the prestigious Beyond Gray Pin Stripes 2003 Faculty Pioneer Award given jointly by the Aspen Institute and the World Resources Institute, two organizations dedicated to promoting dialogue and leadership on issues of global concern. As part of the Aspen's Institute's Business and Society Program, the faculty pioneer awards recognize unique contributions to MBA education and the world of business "beyond gray pinstripes." Honorees are faculty members who have helped advance social and environmental stewardship within their school, their academic discipline, or the larger community.

A panel of judges from the corporate sector chose winners in six categories from an extensive international field of nominations received from MBA programs across the world. Sethi received the award for "external impact" at a special ceremony held in New York City on Oct. 8, 2003. Another Baruch professor, Tony Tinker, was a finalist for the Academic Award, which honors teaching and scholarship.

In a career that has spanned several decades, Sethi has written and lectured extensively about corporate responsibility beyond maximizing profits to shareholders. In recent years, Sethi has been instrumental in developing codes of conduct for multinational corporations that do business in developing countries. He has also played an important role in creating mechanisms to monitor how well companies comply with these voluntary codes. The issue affects child labor, wages, health, safety, and living conditions, as well as protection from human rights abuses, for millions of people in countries like China, Indonesia, and Mexico, where multinational corporations have set up factories and drilling operations.

Told of his selection as a 2003 Faculty Pioneer, Sethi said he was "honored" and "delighted" to be a winner. But, as the very active president of the International Center for Corporate Accountability (ICCA) at Baruch, he was already preoccupied with the planning of a major international conference, scheduled for May 12-15, 2004, at Baruch College. The conference, said Sethi, will focus on various "unresolved issues" dealing with corporate codes of conduct. "We would like these codes to be comprehensive, relevant, transparent, and above all, implemented," said Sethi. "We need to narrow the gap between corporate performance and societal expectations, otherwise corporations risk further losing public trust." —ZB