Students around the world are asking colleges and universities to teach, partner and operate in a way that benefits the public good. According to the 2026 Positive Impact Rating (PIR) for Business Schools, the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business is stepping up to the plate.
PIR lists Daniels among 87 schools around the globe that are meeting students’ calls for an experience that focuses on practical, real-world, partnership-based learning, while also embedding sustainability and positive impact into programs and campus life.
“Daniels has always been in the business of better business,” said Dean Naomi Boyd. “Our students, faculty, staff, alumni, corporate partners all feel The Daniels Effect—and they perpetuate it through the work they do every day.”
To publish its report, PIR asks students and faculty to assess their schools’ capacity to create a positive impact in the world, evaluating their institution’s capacity to “energize, educate, enable and engage.” Daniels earned a Level 3 rating in its inaugural appearance, an early testament to its focus on experiential learning, strong culture, meaningful corporate partnerships and status as the most market-connected business school in the United States.
In Guatemala, students turned classroom learning into real-world impact.
A History of Good
Ethical business has been the name of the game at Daniels since its establishment in 1908. One of the first colleges in the country to incorporate ethics into its core curriculum, Daniels offers a minor in business ethics and legal studies and continues to prioritize the public good in all facets.
Every Daniels MBA program, for example, feature a challenge-based curriculum, allowing students to serve as consultants, taking on issues facing real companies. That includes a Social Good Challenge—a specific directive to take on a sustainability or social impact issue for a nonprofit. Past cohorts have partnered with Mile High United Way, Art from Ashes, Denver Food Rescue, Denver Sister Cities, EarthLinks, Goodwill Denver, Growing Colorado Kids and The Gathering Place. It also features a Global Challenge, which consistently changes the way students see their place in the world.
Other students have traveled to places like Guatemala, where an interterm trip turned classroom learning into real-world impact. Undergraduate and graduate students—some of whom were pursuing a joint graduate certificate in global business and corporate social responsibility at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs—presented solutions to a nonprofit’s CEO, who began implementing them almost immediately.
“Often, you learn the most outside of the classroom,” said Bruce Klaw, assistant dean for societal impact and chair of the Department of Business Ethics and Legal Studies. “Our courses are instantly relevant, with a ripple effect that lasts well beyond the final exam. Daniels students bring clarity in noisy rooms, integrity in grey areas, momentum where others stall and a quiet instinct to lift others with them.”
The Daniels Way
The College’s programming stands upon four core values—integrity, service, curiosity and community—and a culture that allows Daniels to serve its students, alumni, corporate partners and greater community through collaboration, open communication and symbiotic development.
The Daniels Way, as its known, uses a values-based approach to empower students, faculty and staff to disrupt, create, innovate and lead. It allows them to show up authentically, well-prepared to solve the world’s most pressing problems.
“Daniels is positioned to achieve what most business schools aspire to do,” Klaw said. “We are proud of our commitment to doing the right thing, preparing students for the future and supporting them for life.
“We’re ready to lead the way into a new era of innovation, excellence and impact.”