The challenges brought up by population, energy, global changes, resource depletion, food supplies, and environment pollution impose fundamental changes in the education of the 21st century work force. Teaching elements of industrial chemistry should follow a new approach starting from this challenges imposed by the status of the global economy, world affairs, and the future of humankind. Naturally for an academic institution the solution is to introduce students to Green Chemistry principles and their application in industrial processes early in their careers. For this purpose, at Grand Valley State University we design a new undergraduate course, Green Chemistry and Industrial Processes. However, a better solution is to use the class as a vehicle to provide our students not only with theory and philosophical principles but also with the opportunity to manifest their creativity in applying the green chemistry principles to existing, unsolved problems in industrial scaled processes. To achieve this goal, we are working to establish a committed partnership among the local area businesses interested in ‘greening' their production and/or operation and our students. The business is to provide a real-life problem, while the students will aim toward new and innovative approaches to solve it. The principles and classic cases of Green Chemistry would serve as a base for the students to inquire and discover, while being encouraged to be creative. In the process, the student will gain knowledge and understanding of industrial processes based on green chemistry principle. They will take responsibility for solving real-life problems, by investigating and reflecting on the application of ‘green' processes currently in-use and propose creative solutions to the problem they engaged in solving. The business will gain exposure to the local student population and opportunity to present the business successes while they actively participate in the education of West Michigan future workforce.