Penn State’s chapter of Net Impact will host the Smeal Corporate Citizenship Conference later this month, bringing in nine major businesses and a keynote speaker to discuss integrity, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility (or CSR). Corporate citizenship is the idea that businesses should be socially responsible and aim to enrich communities in which they operate.

“Corporate citizenship has quickly become one of the most manifested and impactful aspects of many successful companies, and has allowed them to distinguish themselves as leaders in profitability, social performance and ethics, and philanthropy,” a release said.

Net Impact said that company leaders on one of the three topics will be on hand, representing EY, KPMG, Nestle, Symantec, Unilever, Vanguard, Hershey’s, PLS Logistics, Goldman Sachs. The keynote speaker at the March 24 conference will be Lord Dr. Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE, who works as KPMG International’s Global Head of Corporate Citizenship. Hastings was previously the Head of Public Affairs for BBC and later the public broadcaster’s first Head of Corporate Social Responsibility.

The conference is open to freshmen and sophomores in Smeal, who will have the opportunity to network with representatives from the nine businesses, though Net Impact said that the discussion on citizenship is the primary purpose of the event.

“Companies in attendance will have the opportunity to share their story of citizenship with hundreds of students,” the release said. “Specifically, the conference is designed to allow companies to share their approach to integrity, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability.”

With the exception of Hastings’ keynote speech, each speaker will give a 30-minute presentation followed by a 15-minute question and answer session. Net Impact said that the goal is for “business students to really understand how these topics impact every major they are pursuing.”

The conference will be held in the Business Building with breakout sessions held in 10 rooms throughout the building on March 24 from 6 to 9:45 p.m. Hastings will give his keynote speech in 110 Business Building and networking tables will be set up in the atrium.

For more information, you can reach Penn State Net Impact President Ethan Espina via e-mail or by phone at (201) 686-4383. For a full agenda and additional information on the conference, head over to Net Impact’s website.