It’s pretty safe to say that Apple is more open about its environment improvements and supply chain responsibility than most companies in the world. Recently the company took that a step further by forming an academic advisory board for its Supplier Responsibility program.

The board, which consists of eight professors from top U.S. universities will focus on studying and making recommendations to Apple about current policies and practices; conduct or commission new research on labor standards within Apple’s supply chain; and share existing research which may help improve those policies and practices.

The chairman of the advisory board, Brown University Professor and Watson Institute Director Professor Richard Locke, said he hopes to shape the practices of Apple and its suppliers so that the millions of employees involved in Apple’s supply chain work under safe and fair conditions.

The academic advisory board is made up of: Richard Locke (Watson Institute, Brown University), Chair Mark Cullen (Stanford University) Eli Friedman (Cornell University) Mary Gallagher (University of Michigan) Margaret Levi (University of Washington) Dara O’Rourke (University of California, Berkeley) Charles Sabel (Columbia University) Annelee Saxenian (University of California, Berkeley).