Kellogg and Ford Motor Company partner to create Center for Global Citizenship

© Nathan Mandell (L to R) President Bienen, John Rintamaki, Dean Jacobs, Professor David Messick, Vaughn Koshkarian and Deborah Zemke, Ford's director of corporate governance

A Jan. 22 dinner at the James L. Allen Center had attendees as excited as fans at the Indianapolis 500. The event was held in honor of Ford Motor Company announcing a $3 million gift to Northwestern University. The funds support a partnership between Kellogg and Ford that creates the Ford Motor Company Center for Global Citizenship, a research facility that explores strategies to achieve global competitive advantage through environmental stewardship and socially responsible business practices.

As Dean Donald Jacobs stated, "Global citizenship and responsibility is of keen interest to the Kellogg community. Ford is making it possible for us to pursue new areas of faculty research, develop curricula and disseminate the findings to a wider audience."

The center merges Kellogg's Center for the Study of Ethical Issues in Business and the Kellogg Environmental Research Center. The Center for Global Citizenship is led by Kellogg's David Messick, the Morris and Alice Kaplan Professor of Ethics and Decision in Management, and brings together the disciplines of management and organizations, accounting, strategic change and leadership.

"Companies are becoming more important while government becomes less important," explained Messick. "Those companies that first accept global leadership responsibilities will become global leaders."

Vaughn Koshkarian '66, vice president of Ford, expressed his pride in helping bring the center to Kellogg. "When I sat down with Dean Jacobs and President Bienen, we didn't have to look long to find synergies. They explained that they were interested in exploring how businesses can become vital citizens in the world at large. This philosophy resonates strongly with Ford."

The center, in the words of Ford group vice president John Rintamaki, goes beyond "facile answers" to environmental and human rights issues.

The center will develop curricula for Kellogg's students and executive education courses, while supporting faculty research and conferences.

--Matt Golosinski

Nonprofit center also profits from generous gift. See story here.