Bainbridge Graduate Institute

Pinchot University (formerly Bainbridge Graduate Institute or BGI) is a private graduate university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2002, Pinchot University was the first school to offer an MBA in Sustainable Business. With a main campus in Seattle, Washington, Pinchot University also offers an MBA in Sustainable Systems. In August 2016, Pinchot University was acquired by Presidio Graduate School.

Pinchot University was founded in 2002 by Gifford Pinchot III, Libba Pinchot, Sherman Severin and Jill Bamburg as Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI). In November 2002, BGI was authorized by the State of Washington's Higher Education Coordinating Board to offer the MBA in Sustainable Business. In August 2009, BGI was awarded a grant of accreditation from the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). It should be noted that on December 12, 2016, John King Jr., the United States Secretary of Education, finalized the process of revoking the U.S. Department of Education's recognition of ACICS as an accreditor. Now Pinchot University, the school offers several programs which aim to give students the entrepreneurial skills, strategic rigor, disruptive business acumen and life-changing personal development to respond to a rapidly changing world. With this change, Pinchot University still exists as a business school offering MBAs in Sustainable Business and in Sustainable Systems. Also within Pinchot University is the Center for Inclusive Entrepreneurship (CIE), which offers programs that provide entrepreneurship and enterprise support to under-served communities. In August 2016, Pinchot University was acquired by Presidio Graduate School.

Built upon a learning community model pioneered at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, Pinchot University offers MBA programs which are designed to accommodate the varying lifestyles of working adults.

In the MBA in Sustainable Systems program, the school's pioneer program, students and faculty meet in intensive classroom sessions for a 4-day weekend once a month, October through June. Known as the Hybrid Program, classes take place at IslandWood, a LEED Gold Certified environmental learning center on Bainbridge Island, 35 minutes by ferry from downtown Seattle. Between intensive sessions, classes utilize a variety of interactive distance-learning technologies to support student learning. This hybrid format combines an emphasis on building an immersive learning community with the flexibility, focus and self-paced engagement afforded by distance learning. Given its focus on remote learning, this program appeals to students located throughout the world, as well as within the Greater Seattle Area. This program's academic calendar uses the quarter system, and requires no course work in the summer. A typical quarter consists of weekly online distance learning and three weekend intensives. Students beginning the MBA in Sustainable Systems, participate in a 5-day orientation retreat at Channel Rock, Pinchot University’s eco-retreat center on Cortes Island in British Columbia, where they are divided into learning communities.