The Center, part of the Lubin School of Business, to focus on the integration of business, environmental, social, and governance stewardship

Inaugural Event was the 2021 Renewable Energy Conference

NEW YORK, N.Y. (July 1, 2021) — As a means of preparing students for a job market of the future and providing responsible businesses with workers and leaders who understand that advancing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles and profitability goes hand-in-hand, Pace University today announced the launch of the Lubin Center for Sustainable Business (CSB).

The Lubin CSB – headquartered in the Financial District, just steps away from Wall Street, and operating at the Lubin School of Business at Pace University – is designed to equip students, faculty, professionals, and communities with education, research, and the job skills necessary for maintaining sustainable business models. The new center will also operate as a knowledge hub focusing on engagement, information exchange, and networking that uniquely focuses on the intersection of ESG stewardship and business purpose.

“The Lubin School of Business has been exploring and contributing to the evolving intersection of ESG and business for some time,” said Steven Mezzio, executive director of the Lubin Center for Sustainable Business, and professor of Accounting at Pace University. “Given the emerging market-mandate to integrate ESG stewardship and business purpose, we decided that now was the right time to launch a centralized hub dedicated to sustainable business.”

The Lubin CSB will equip, enable, and empower students, alumni, faculty, businesses, and communities with the education, research, knowledge and job-skills to better understand, influence, and lead this global ESG-business movement, Mezzio added.

With a learning, research, and service platform-based mission, the Lubin CSB will also develop, deliver, and facilitate ESG-related academic degree programs, non-degree certificate and badge programs, continuing professional education, executive education, research, public events, and community service.

Its inaugural event was the 2021 Renewable Energy Conference: A Leadership Forum on Energy Policy, which was held on June 29 and June 30, and brought together business leaders, environmental experts, and leading voices in the fields of energy, transportation, technology, academia, and government to discuss ways to effectively put New York and its businesses on a path to green energy. The conference was done in partnership with The Business Council of New York State, The Hudson Renewable Energy Institute, and the Lubin School of Business.

“I am delighted to announce the launch of Lubin’s new Center for Sustainable Business,” said Lawrence G. Singleton, dean of the Lubin School of Business. “With a focus on environmental, social, and governance factors that contribute to driving value and profitability in business, the Lubin CSB will serve as a hub for thought leadership and as a vehicle for educating our students and the broader population in this area of importance to businesses.”

Pace University has a rich history of excellence in business education and was founded as a school of accountancy in 1906. With a strong focus on experiential learning and one of the largest internship placement programs in the New York metropolitan area, Lubin’s combined job placement rate is nearly 90 percent. Earlier this year, the Lubin School of Business successfully maintained its dual accreditation for both business and accounting by AACSB International, an elite distinction shared by fewer than 2 percent of schools in the world offering business degree programs.

“Pace University has always prided itself on preparing students to be responsible leaders who are ready to meet the demands of the marketplace,” said Pace President Marvin Krislov. “That’s why we are so excited to establish the Lubin Center for Sustainable Business, which will advance the critical understanding that responsible environmental, social and governance principles are essential for society and a company’s bottom line. We are grateful to Lubin Dean Lawrence Singleton, Executive Director Steven Mezzio, and the staff at the Lubin School of Business for making the Lubin CSB a reality.”

For further information on the Lubin Center for Sustainable Business, contact Steven Mezzio, the Lubin CSB Executive Director at smezzio@pace.edu.

About Pace University
Pace University has a proud history of preparing its diverse student body for a lifetime of professional success as a result of its unique program that combines rigorous academics and real-world experiences. Pace is ranked the #1 private, four-year college in the nation for upward economic mobility by Harvard University’s Opportunity Insights, evidence of the transformative education the University provides. From its beginnings as an accounting school in 1906, Pace has grown to three campuses, enrolling 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in more than 150 majors and programs, across a range of disciplines: arts, sciences, business, health care, technology, law, education, and more. The university also has one of the most competitive performing arts programs in the country. Pace has a signature, newly renovated campus in New York City, located in the heart of vibrant Lower Manhattan, next to Wall Street and City Hall, and two campuses in Westchester County, New York: a 200-acre picturesque Pleasantville Campus and the Elisabeth Haub School of Law in White Plains. Follow us on Twitter or on the Pace News website.

About the Lubin School of Business at Pace University
Globally recognized and prestigiously accredited, the Lubin School of Business integrates New York City’s business world into the experienced-based education of its students at Pace’s suburban and downtown campuses, implemented by one of the region’s largest co-op programs, team-based learning, and customized career guidance. Its programs are designed to launch success-oriented graduates toward upwardly mobile careers.

Luisa Morales, an MS in Computer Science student, has cultivated a lengthy list of accomplishments during her time at Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. For starters, Luisa has enriched her college experience working as a graduate assistant at Seidenberg. She was also an Engineering Fellow at the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity. When an opportunity presents itself to Luisa, she grabs hold of it—that’s what keeps her ahead of the curve.

Luisa graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Pace University in 2011. A few years later, she decided to return to Pace University and become a Seidenberg student to do a Master of Science in Computer Science.

She was quickly integrated into the Seidenberg community through a bridge program during her first semester. The bridge program, which is comprised of several introductory classes, is built for students like Luisa who did not study computer science in their undergraduate education. They serve to provide career changers and students looking to try something new with the fundamentals of computing so they can start taking graduate level courses with confidence. In the bridge program, Luisa took Fundamental Computer Science I Using Java, Fundamental Computer Science II Using Java, and Computer Systems and Concepts. As a Pace alumna, Luisa was able to take these courses with a scholarship - something other students may also take advantage of if they are considering a master’s at the Seidenberg School.

The deciding factor of becoming a Seidenberg student, though, was the ability to take courses for her master’s degree in person.

"Through teaching myself to code, I discovered I learn best by talking through problems with others, repetition, and compound learning. I’d tried MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) when I first started learning to code using Coursera, edX, and CodeAcademy, amongst others. While they’re amazing tools, they weren’t ideal for me when learning computer science topics because it required a different thinking process than I had at the time,” Luisa explains. “I would eventually lose momentum, patience, or get sucked into depressive states. Due to this experience, when considering master’s programs, I only considered in-person ones."

Her decision to study computer science through the Seidenberg master’s program came from her personal recognition of her blind spots when it came to some concepts. This led to what she defined as a lack of common core knowledge in computer science.

"It was holding me back from progressing in my career," Luisa says. "I wanted to understand how the systems I worked on functioned under the hood but was unaware of what I didn’t know. As a front-end developer, a lot is obfuscated from you, so it’s quick to build something but harder to build efficiently. Debugging is also a huge pain when you don’t understand the difference between what you’re intending your code do, what it’s actually doing, and where to start to find out."

In order to progress in her career, Luisa chose to dive into her interests in backend development. To work to the best of her ability, she wanted to work closer to data so she could find the connection between economics and computer science. While she taught herself as much as she could, it didn’t come easily.

"It took a long time for me to accept the validity of what I knew as a developer," she states. “So, deciding to embark on learning backend development felt like an opportunity to give myself the space to learn the core/common computer science concepts I felt I lacked, expose myself to new technology, learn things I wouldn’t have exposed myself to otherwise, and get a degree in the process!"

This interest made her extraordinary from the very beginning. So it’s no surprise that Luisa earned an internship working as an Engineering Fellow at the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity from September 2018 to August 2019. She describes her time there as "amazing."

"It’s the first time I’ve worked in government as an engineer and is the most supportive environment I’ve been in so far," she says. "Everyone is really kind and driven to learn, experiment, and help others."

Luisa’s time at the Mayor’s Office broadened her horizons and gave her the chance to work on real programs. She explains that, as a fellow, you have the opportunity to pick a project that aligns with the things you are passionate about.

"I chose to continue a project that another fellow had built a proof of concept for. It’s a dashboard that helps our outreach team prioritize the neighborhoods they visit and determine which trainings and events to run," she explains. "With this project, I got the opportunity to decide on the system architecture, build my first REST API, run my first SQL queries, and contribute to open-source [projects]."

While Luisa spent an entire year at the Mayor’s Office, she also likes to highlight her time with Women Who Code NYC.

"I started attending events after struggling with the feeling of isolation from learning to code at home and it was hugely refreshing. I started volunteering in 2016, and shortly after became a Lead."

What has helped Luisa further her journey in tech? "Having a community where I can let my guard down and feel like I belong and my voice is heard has been key for me," she states.

Most recently, Luisa attended the Grace Hopper Conference as a Facebook Scholar where she had the opportunity to further explore the technology industry with thousands of other women. As a Facebook Scholar, her expenses—room and board, airfare, meals, and the cost of attendance—were completely paid for.

While she was "nervous but excited" to attend, she recalls that she was "really excited to learn about what other engineers are working on to give me an idea of what I can do."

Now, she’s moving on to doing more and better things. We’re ecstatic to watch Luisa thrive in this industry and to support her on her journey.