Institute for the Study of Corporate Social Responsibility
Institute faculty members:
Asher Alkoby
Tim Bartkiw
Michael Brooks
Rachel Dodds
Alex Gill
Allen Goss
Sonya Graci
Aziz Guergachi
Murtaza Haider
Alan Kaplan
Gerard Kennedy
Vanessa Magness
Agnes Meinhard
James Norrie
Russell Richman
Cory Searcy
Phillip Walsh
Kernaghan Webb Alex Wellington
Research Assistants (graduate and undergraduate) will also support the work of the Institute.
Asher Alkoby practiced commercial law for several years, focusing on banking, real estate and administrative law. He then returned to academia to complete a doctoral degree at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. His doctoral dissertation was an interdisciplinary exploration of the impact of cultural diversity on compliance with supranational norms. Asher?s areas of research and publication include public international law, international relations theory, international environmental law and policy, and civil society engagement.
Asher Alkoby teaches Law 122.
Tim Bartkiw is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Resources and Organizational Behaviour. He holds a Ph.D. in public policy, as well as degrees in economics and law, and previously worked as a labour and employment lawyer in Toronto for several years. His research interests include industrial relations, and labour/employment law and policy. He has previously written and published articles on the effects of shifts in labour laws upon the pattern of union organizing and related activities, as well as employer behavioural responses to shifts in labour law and policy. His current research interests with respect to corporate social responsibility include the nature of voluntary business and NGO-driven regimes establishing norms of behaviour with respect to global labour practices, and the development of public policy towards improved global labour practices. He currently teaches undergraduate courses in industrial relations and an advanced seminar in industrial relations in which some of these topics are discussed. His previous research has been published in the Journal of Labor Research, Canadian Public Policy (forthcoming), Relations Industrielles, Labor Studies Journal, How Ottawa Spends, and in various book chapters.
Tim Bartkiw teaches MHR 670 - Special Topics in HRM/OB.
Michael Brooks is an Associate Professor in Ryerson's Ted Rogers School of Managment at Ryerson University. He teaches business law, a real estate issues course, and real estate finance. Michael is a leader in the Canadian real estate community as a lawyer and as Executive Director of REALpac, the industry association for large public, private and institutional real estate entities (www.realpac.ca). Through REALpac, Michael is researching global best practices for triple bottom line reporting for real estate companies, global best practices in green building design and construction (including a recent trip to Australia to see two world class projects in Melbourne), and approaches to controlling greenhouse gas emissions within the commercial building sector.
Rachel Dodds is a faculty member at the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Her research focuses mainly on sustainable tourism and corporate social responsibility within the tourism industry. Her work focuses on practical, applied management and development of tourism. She is also interested in the ethical and sustainability considerations of tourism. Her Ph.D. dissertation examined policy implementation in small islands as it relates to sustainable tourism. In addition to being an Assistant Professor in the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Ryerson University, Rachel also has a wide range of experience from all facets of the tourism industry from hotels to government and small business. She is also currently the Director of Sustaining Tourism, a consultancy firm. Rachel is a past board member of the Travel and Tourism Research Association, on the current board of Green Living as well as the Icarus Foundation - an NGO set up to address climate change and tourism in Canada. She has lived in three continents and traveled to over 65 countries. More details are available at http://www.sustainabletourism.net
Rachel Dodds teaches HTT 510.
has more than ten years of experience as a nonprofit administrator and executive. Prior to founding his consulting firm Mendicant, Alex was Vice-President of Communications and Marketing at the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy / Imagine Canada. He also helped set up the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, serving as its first Director of Public Affairs and later as its interim CEO. He began his career in the nonprofit sector as the Director of Communications for ACTRA Toronto Performers. Alex currently teaches in the nonprofit management and politics/public administration programs, specializing in the subjects of advocacy, government relations, nonprofit marketing and corporate citizenship.Alex Gill teaches ACS 800: Exploring Canadian Corporate Citizenship, INP 900: Introduction to the Nonprofit Sector, INP 911: Nonprofit Advocacy and Government Relations and INP 912: Nonprofit Marketing and Fundraising.
is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Ryerson University. He holds a PhD in finance from the Schulich School of Business at York University. His current research interests include socially responsible investing, and the interplay between sustainability and finance. His work has been published in the Journal of Portfolio Management and The Journal of Pension Economics and Finance. His latest paper, "Corporate Financial Responsibility and Financial Distress" was given honourable mention in the prestigious Moskowitz Prize judging for research in socially responsible investing. Other projects include research on pensions, both from an asset management and an individual perspective. Mr. Goss also holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, where he won several awards before graduating with the Gold Medal for academic excellence. Prior to returning to school, Mr. Goss spent 15 years in senior operations management in the printing industry.Allen Goss teaches FIN800: Ethics in Finance.
is an associate professor in the Ted Rogers School of Information Technology Management at Ryerson University. Prior to becoming part of the Ryerson community, Dr. Guergachi was involved in the development of a large software system for trade promotion management and collaborative sales forecasting. He also held various positions in the areas of project management and information systems design and implementation. His current research interests lie in the fields of advanced system modelling and machine learning with applications to business management and engineering systems. He is the recipient of the New Opportunities Award of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and currently runs a research Lab for Advanced System Modelling. Dr. Guergachi holds a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Marseille (France), a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Université de Provence (France), and a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Ottawa. is an associate professor of Supply Chain/Logistics Management and the Director of the Institute of Housing & Mobility at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University. He is also an adjunct professor in the Faculties of Engineering at McGill University and the University of Toronto. Professor Haider's research interests include equity and poverty alleviation through infrastructure development. He has undertaken research on the mobility needs of single mothers in Quebec as well as exploring the dynamics of low home ownership rates among the aboriginal households in urban Canada. Professor Haider has explored affordable transportation alternatives for the urban poor in South Asia. Furthermore, he has researched the role of community-based water supply and sanitation projects in improving health and livelihoods of low-income households in South Asia.
Alan Kaplan has been an Associate Professor of Finance at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University since 1998. He has a Ph.D. in Finance from York University, a Law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, an M.B.A. from York University, and an H.B.A. from the University of Western Ontario. He has worked in the private sector before beginning his academic career. He has researched Labour Sponsored Mutual Funds, and his current research interests are in Sports Finance and Consumer Finance. Alan is a reviewer for the Journal of Business Ethics.
Alan Kaplan teaches FIN800, Ethics in Finance.
Vanessa Magness' chief research interests include the examination of corporate financial statements and other communication media for environmental disclosure. Part of her research focuses on the complex and uncertain relationship between what companies SAY, and what they actually DO, in terms of environmental performance. Another aspect of her work looks at the association of environmental performance (emissions) and economic performance (profit). In the past, it was commonly accepted that environmental controls diverted cash from profitable endeavours and reduced profit. However, it appears that it may now be possible for companies to pursue good economic and environmental performance simultaneously. These are her findings so far in the Canadian petroleum refinery business. She is currently extending this work to examine the same question in the US refineries.
Professor Magness has 10 years experience as an MIS Analyst, Accountant and Consultant. Prior to her employment with Ryerson, she has taught for York University, the University of Toronto, the University of Manitoba, the University of Alberta, and Keyano College (also in Alberta)
Patricia McGraw's specialty covers banking and financial institutions. She teaches financial intermediation (FIN701) from a risk management perspective. The risk analysis for banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions includes a consideration of ethical issues and a discussion of the financial impact of climate change on global financial markets as identified by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEPFI). She has researched and published on lender environmental liability and co-authored the textbook, Financial Institutions Management: A Risk Management Approach, Third Canadian Edition 2006 with Anthony Saunders and Marcia Millon Cornett.
Russell Richman is an Assistant Professor in the Building Science Group within the Department of Architectural Science in the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science, Ryerson University. Dr. Richman completed his undergraduate, masters and doctorate degrees at the University of Toronto (Civil Engineering) under the supervision of one of Canada’s leading research and educator in Building Science and Sustainable Buildings. Dr. Richman has researched in the combined areas of Building Science and Sustainable Buildings since 1998. Dr. Richman plays a key role in the development and delivery of the graduate program in Building Science in the Department of Architectural Science. This program, unique in North America, combines the fundamentals of building science with the broad mandate of sustainable engineering and building design. Currently, Dr. Richman’s research is focussing on: (1) quantifying a sustainable renovation index for Canada’s residential building stock, (2) design and construction of an advanced low energy house design using nested thermal envelopes, (3) life cycle analysis of housing construction typology for various climate regions across Canada, (4) simulation of assembly and whole building performance and (5) assessing the potential for various advanced building envelope design for the Canadian climates (e.g. rammed earth, super-insulation).As a registered professional engineer (Ontario), Dr. Richman continues to practice, providing expert opinion on a variety of building envelope and low-energy design related projects in Canada and internationally. Dr. Richman teaches BL8100-Building Science Theory and BL8104-Graduate Building Science Studio.
Cory Searcy is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering at Ryerson University. He is also an Associate with the
Measurement and Assessment Program at the International Institute for
Sustainable Development. His Ph.D. dissertation at the University of
Alberta focused on the design, implementation, and evolution of a system of
sustainability indicators at a major Canadian electric utility. His current
research focuses on corporate sustainable development, with an emphasis on
sustainability indicators, composite indices, and life cycle assessment. He
also conducts research on standardized management systems, with an emphasis on environmental, quality, and integrated management systems. His work has been presented at numerous international conferences and published in several peer-reviewed journals.
Cory teaches ES8924 Environmental Management Systems and ES8903 Pollution
Prevention in Ryerson University's Environmental Applied Science and
Management program. Prior to joining the faculty at Ryerson, he was an
Assistant Professor of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at Old Dominion University where he taught courses in cost estimation and financial analysis. He has also worked as a manufacturing manager and as an
operational analyst in the health care industry.
Phillip Walsh is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy. He is also a registered Professional Geoscientist. Prior to joining Ryerson University, Dr. Walsh was the MBA Programme Director and Lecturer in Corporate Strategy at the University of Surrey in the U.K. He continues to provide consulting services to the North American and European energy industries having spent the previous 28 years as a petroleum geoscientist, strategic energy planner and project manager. He provides forecasting, planning, project management and technical services to natural gas utilities and energy producers and his clientele have included many of North America's major utilities, a number of governmental and municipal agencies, and various Canadian and British energy consuming organizations. Dr. Walsh holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Geological Sciences from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada; a Postgraduate Certificate in Business Management from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada; a Masters in Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada and a Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the University of Bradford, U.K. His research interests include Strategic Change, Leadership, Honesty and Trust, Sustainability Strategies and Energy Market Deregulation.
Phillip Walsh teaches BUS800-Strategic Management and MGT 806-Project Management.
Kernaghan Webb is the founding Director of the Institute. He is responsible for academic and intellectual leadership and management of the Institute. Professor Webb's research and action has focused on the role of market driven instruments in support of conventional regulatory approaches, at the domestic and international level. Among other things, Dr. Webb
- is a co-investigator in the SSHRC-supported Canadian Business Ethics Research Network;
- has initiated a pilot collaborative CSR case study project to be carried out by the Institute, through the auspices of CBERN/SSHC;
- was a driving force behind the development of the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility Standard,
- was the author (on behalf of the federal government) of Corporate Social Responsibility: An Implementation Guide for Canadian Business,
- is a special advisor to the United Nations Global Compact on the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility standard;
- is an advisor on revisions to the Ethics Code of the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy/Imagine;
- has chaired international working groups leading to the development of several ISO standards;
- is on the board of directors of Transparency International-Canada;
- is a member of several Standards Council of Canada advisory committees;
was a member of the federal government's CSR Extractive Sector Roundtables process; and - is the editor of Voluntary Codes: Private Governance, the Public Interest and Innovation.
Kernaghan Webb teaches Law 525, Law of the Marketplace.
Alex Wellington received a H. B.A. in Philosophy, LL.B., LL.M in Alternative Dispute Resolution, M.E.S. in Environmental Studies, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from York University. Alex Wellington is currently the principal investigator for a SSHRC funded research project on "Ethical Challenges of Biotechnology Governance: Sustainability Through Innovation, Human Rights and Environmental Protection". Her research interests focus on sustainability issues that arise at the intersection of environmental law, health policy, intellectual property, and human rights.
Alex Wellington teaches ES8921 Environmental Law and Policy, a course in the Environmental Applied Science and Management program.
Last updated: 14 May 2009
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