Campus Engagement
Introduction
Engaging in sustainability issues through co-curricular activities allows students to deepen and apply their understandings of sustainability principles. Institution-sponsored co-curricular sustainability offerings, often coordinated by student affairs offices, help integrate sustainability into the campus culture and set a positive tone for the institution. Faculty and staff members’ daily decisions impact an institution’s sustainability performance. Equipping faculty and staff with the tools, knowledge, and motivation to adopt behavior changes that promote sustainability is an essential activity of a sustainable campus.
Featured Resources
New Resources
Exhausted: Education and the Response to the Planetary Crisis
- University College London (London)
The climate crisis is of a severity that fills many with a sense of hopelessness. The modest steps that ordinary citizens can take to reduce energy consumption and waste seem ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
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Towards energy transition at the Faculty of Education of Bilbao (UPV/EHU): diagnosing community and building
- University of the Basque Country
Purpose This paper aims to present the results of a study aimed at performing a first diagnosis of energy literacy and energy use in a Faculty of Education, by means ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
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Designing an extension Climate Stewards volunteer program: incorporating sense of community, social practice, and self-efficacy theories
- Cornell University (NY)
This paper examines the feasibility of developing a new Master Volunteer training program to help communities adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Traditional models of volunteer training ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
- Publications
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Alternative transportation education: implementing an innovative module
- Colorado State University (CO)
Purpose This study aims to investigate the Colorado state university (CSU) MOVES online, transportation module, which was implemented for the dual purpose of promoting alternative modes of transportation and while ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
- Publications
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Waste Separation Behaviour of College Students under a Mandatory Policy in China: A Case Study of Zhengzhou City
- University of Surrey
- Henan Agricultural University (Henan)
The need for effective solid waste management (SWM) is an important environmental and public health issue. As a key way of minimizing municipal solid waste (MSW), source separation has in ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
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Rhetoric and Emotion Save Science: Lessons from Student Eco-Activists
- New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NM)
This essay is a qualitative study of the experience of undergraduate students learning how to teach issues of sustainability to their campus communities through an innovative outreach program at a ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
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Long-Term Impact of Study Abroad on Sustainability-Related Attitudes and Behaviors
- University of Florida (FL)
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (TN)
Using study abroad as a vehicle for sustainable education is a growing trend. However, an examination of the impact of study abroad on participants’ sustainability-related attitudes and behaviors years after ...
- Posted April 22, 2021
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Students, sustainability and education: Results from a survey of students in higher education around the world
- Students Organising For Sustainability (SOS-UK)
Between April and October 2020, SOS International invited higher education institutions and student-facing organisations to send out a survey designed to gather insight into student experiences of sustainability and education ...
- Posted April 21, 2021
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How An Arboretum Outreach Activity Changed Students’ Attitudes Towards Sustainable Development
- Penn State Brandywine (PA)
In Fall 2017, Penn State Brandywine kicked off an initiative titled Sustainovation, emphasizing programming and community collaborations through sustainability and innovation. The campus identified Tyler Arboretum as a community partner ...
- Posted April 21, 2021
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Bull's Cycle Challenge
- University of South Florida St. Petersburg (FL)
- University of South Florida (FL)
April is here and it is time to enjoy the amazing Florida weather on a BIKE!!
The Office of sustainability, Student Government and The Student Green Energy Fund (SGEF), at ...
- Posted April 21, 2021
- Photographs
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Seminole Dining Celebrates Earth Month
- Florida State University (FL)
- Aramark (PA)
Here at Seminole Dining, we’re taking it back to 1970, when Earth Day was created, to celebrate 51 years of tackling environmental issues! To do this, we are celebrating ...
- Posted April 21, 2021
- Photographs
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UCCS Food Next Door | Farm Subscription Program
- University of Colorado Colorado Springs (CO)
The Food Next Door Farm Subscription Program strives to help fight hunger, promote food access, boost food literacy, and support regional farmers and ranchers in our community.
- Posted April 21, 2021
- Case Studies
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Predicting college students’ intention to purchase local food using the theory of consumption values
- University of Alabama (AL)
While extensive research has been conducted on local food and consumer behavior, there is little research investigating college students’ intention regarding purchasing local food. The purpose of this study is ...
- Posted April 8, 2021
- Publications
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Secrets for a Strong Course Affiliation Program
- Georgia Institute of Technology (GA)
- AASHE (PA)
This event is part of the AASHE Award Winner Webinar Series, featuring a presentation of the Campus Sustainability Achievement Award winning project.
What are the secrets to a strong course ...
- Posted March 31, 2021
- Videos & Webinars
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Webinar: Greenspace Town Halls and Make-A-Thon
- University of Central Florida (FL)
- AASHE (PA)
This event is part of the AASHE Award Winner Webinar Series, featuring a presentation of the Student Sustainability Leadership Award winning project.
This webinar will outline the Greenspace Sustainability Design ...
- Posted March 25, 2021
- Videos & Webinars
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Campuses as living labs for integrated sustainability research, education, and practice
- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (IL)
Campuses as living labs for integrated sustainability research, education, and practice
Ximing Cai, Morgan White#, Evan Delucia, Madhu Khanna Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and ...
- Posted March 15, 2021
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Sustaining a Community Garden
- Palo Alto University (CA)
- AASHE (PA)
In 2016, Palo Alto College launched a survey campaign to identify the most pressing issues for student retention and learning. The results showed that one of the most pressing issues ...
- Posted March 10, 2021
- Videos & Webinars
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Annual Green Talks Symposium
- University of California, San Diego (CA)
Green Talks is a TED-style talk symposium specifically geared towards environmental awareness. This annual event aims to engage and educate the UC San Diego student body and broader community about ...
- Posted March 8, 2021
- Case Studies
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Anti-Racism in Higher Education: A Model for Change
- Azusa Pacific University (CA)
Racism continues to persist in higher education and traditional diversity initiatives that focus only on support resources and tolerance training continue to fall short in making lasting change on college ...
- Posted Feb. 22, 2021
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The Power Game: Developing Influence and Negotiation Skills for Sustainable Development
- Virginia Tech (VA)
This paper describes the outcomes of a game designed to teach advanced leadership skills, specifically influence and negotiation strategies, to current and aspiring sustainability professionals at Virginia Tech’s Center ...
- Posted Feb. 10, 2021
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Collegiate athletics environmental sustainability efforts within STARS reporting
- Texas A&M University (TX)
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (TN)
The purpose of this paper is to examine higher education institutions’ participation in association for the advancement of sustainability in higher education’s (AASHE’s) Green Athletics category in the ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Building bridges: overview of an international sustainable tourism education model
- Colorado State University, Pueblo (CO)
The purpose of this paper is to present and explore a sustainable tourism education model that employed Fair-Trade learning principles and experiential learning philosophies. In collaboration with universities in Mexico ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Investigation of the attitudes of first-year-students towards sustainability and environmental awareness at Széchenyi István University
- Széchenyi István University
At the Apáczai Csere János Faculty, we have been teaching environmental and sustainability education in teacher training for over 20 years. Trainee teacher are prepared for their future profession - including ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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University teaching staff and sustainable development: an assessment of competences
- University of Beira Interior
- University of Passo Fundo
- Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
- University of Southern Maine (ME)
- University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz
- University of Aveiro
- Universidade federal de Santa Maria
- University of Belgrade
- University of Malta (Northern Harbor District)
- Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
Teaching about matters related to sustainable development requires not only a personal motivation from educators, but also a variety of competences. This paper reports on a multi-country study, which aimed ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Internal stakeholders' perspective on lean energy and environmental sustainability: the case of Notre Dame University - Louaize
- Notre Dame University - Louaize
This study will contribute to the understanding of the relationship between Energy and Environmental Sustainability (EES) Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours in order to recommend actions to be undertaken by the ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Campus greening from social sciences: emerging formulas on social responsibility and teaching innovation
- University of A Coruña (a Coruña)
Purpose This paper aims to show how the Green Campus Program has been implemented at the Faculty of Sociology of the University of A Coruña (Spain). It describes the criteria ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Sustainability in Higher Education: What More Can Universities Do?
- QS Quacquarelli Symonds
This report details the key findings from the QS Environmental Concerns Survey conducted in August 2019. The survey - which was completed by more than 3,700 prospective international students looking ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Walking the Sustainability Talk: If Not Us, Who? If Not Now, When?
- Loyola University Maryland (MD)
- Walden University (MN)
- Western Illinois University (IL)
This essay centers on the personal sustainability behaviors of faculty as related to research, teaching, and service, as well as those behaviors that go far beyond these typical faculty responsibilities ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Predictors of public transport use among university students during the winter: A MIMIC modelling approach
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology
The current study aimed to examine attitudinal factors underlying the use of public transport in winter among university students. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted among 441 students at the ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Impact of personality traits and university green entrepreneurial support on students' green entrepreneurial intentions: the moderating role of environmental values
- Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology
- Mohammad Ali Jinnah University
- Iqra University
Purpose The earth needs to go green as it clarifies that humans should adopt a sustainable lifestyle that will be friendly to the environment and society. The emerging stream of ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Environmental knowledge, attitudes and behavior of higher education students: a case study in Portugal
- University of Coimbra
The main purpose of this research study is to explore higher education students’ environmental knowledge, attitudes and behavior. To achieve this goal, a questionnaire was conducted among the students of ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Investigating the impact of problem-oriented sustainability education on students’ identity: A comparative study of planning and liberal arts students
- Erasmus University Rotterdam
This study uses a grounded theory lite approach to investigate the changes in identity of planning and liberal arts students who studied sustainability in a problem-oriented environment. It was found ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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What drives green experiential outcomes in tourism higher education?
- National Sun Yat-sen University
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Ming Chuan University
This paper aims to explore the structural relationships between the dimensions of green experiential outcomes and their four drivers – green experiential learning, green experiential motivation, green experiential value and green ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Mapping the intervention of sustainable design studio using multidimensional scaling and pathfinder networks
- Eskişehir Technical University
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate undergraduate industrial design students’ perception of sustainable design concepts and how their conceptualization evolves as a function of their attendance to ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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SDGs Report 2019
- National University of Sciences and Technology (Federal)
Realizing the importance of United Nations 17 SDGs, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) , Pakistan has adopted UN SDGs framework to monitor and improve the impact of contribution of ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Business students’ value priorities and attitudes towards sustainable development
- Aalto University
Business students of today are future executives in companies and governments. Therefore, their education for sustainability needs to be carefully considered. However, very little is known about business students in ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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The promotion of sustainable development in higher education institutions: top-down bottom-up or neither?
- Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina
Purpose This paper aims to analyze the sustainability approach within higher education institutions. Universities, as institutions of knowledge, play an important and strategic role in maximizing social and economic benefits ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Promoting sustainable development in higher education institutions: the use of the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system in support of green marketing
- Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina
Purpose Sustainability is understood as a complex and integrating area, involving the most diverse areas and fields of knowledge. Because of the innumerable socio-environmental challenges in the current scenario, a ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Exploring emerging learning needs: a UK-wide consultation on environmental sustainability learning objectives for medical education
- University of Bristol
- University College London (London)
- University of Hull
- Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (Oxford)
Objectives: This study aimed to engage wide-ranging stakeholders and develop consensus learning objectives for undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.
Methods: A UK-wide consultation garnered opinions of healthcare students, healthcare educators ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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The use of evidence-informed sustainability scenarios in the nursing curriculum: Development and evaluation of teaching methods
- University of Plymouth (Devon)
Background Climate change and resource scarcity pose challenges for healthcare in the future, yet there is little to raise awareness about these issues in the nursing curriculum and nurses are ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Education for sustainable healthcare: Leadership to get from here to there
- University of Northern British Columbia (BC)
- University of British Columbia Okanagan (BC)
- Dalarna University
- Swansea University
- University of North Dakota (ND)
- International Federation of Medical Students' Associations
The current global crises, including climate, COVID-19, and environmental change, requires global collective action at all scales. These broad socio-ecological challenges require the engagement of diverse perspectives and ways of ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Implementing AACN's Recommendations for Environmental Sustainability in Colleges of Nursing: From Concept to Impact
- Washington State University, Spokane (WA)
In 2011, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) released a guidance report titled Toward an Environmentally Sustainable Academic Enterprise: An AACN Guide for Nursing Education. The report was ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Putting sustainable campuses into force: Empowering students, staff and academics by the self-efficacy Green Office Model
- Leuphana University of Lüneburg
Purpose The lack of change structures can be seen as an important reason why sustainability continues to suffer a niche existence in most higher education organisations. This is a problem ...
- Posted Feb. 9, 2021
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Building new foundations: the future of education from a degrowth perspective
- Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie
Considering education in the context of making and unmaking sustainable futures, a growing relevance is attributed to the role of shared beliefs or mental infrastructures which shape the way people ...
- Posted Feb. 8, 2021
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A whole‐person approach to educating for sustainability
- University of Sydney (NSW)
- University of Brighton
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of a whole‐person approach to educating for sustainability (EfS), with a focus on persons' identity, motivation and higher ...
- Posted Feb. 8, 2021
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Designing and Assessing Learning Outcomes: A Framework for Co-Curricular Sustainability Programs
- Portland State University (OR)
In recent years, Co-Curricular Sustainability Programs (CoCSPs) have been established at many higher education institutions. However, few such programs have developed learning outcomes or assessment processes to measure the types ...
- Posted Feb. 8, 2021
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When Legitimacy Shapes Environmentally Responsible Behaviors: Considering Exposure to University Sustainability Initiatives
- Emory University (GA)
- Oberlin College (OH)
- University of Chicago (IL)
This study examines how perceptions of the legitimacy of university sustainability efforts—support by the administration (authorization) or from students’ peers (endorsement)—as well as the physical context in which ...
- Posted Feb. 8, 2021
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“Just Sustainability” Environmental Justice Campaign Case Study
- University of Vermont (VT)
The UVM Eco-Reps have long existed to encourage sustainable behaviors in UVM students, faculty, and community members. After a summer of Black Lives Matter protests, six months of a global ...
- Posted Feb. 8, 2021
- Case Studies
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The use of the theory of planned behaviour to assess graduate attributes for sustainability
- RMIT University
Higher Education plays an influential role in societal transformation towards sustainability. An understanding of the application of sustainability learning from degree programs in a graduate’s professional practice can serve ...
- Posted Feb. 8, 2021
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Willingness to pay for green buildings: A survey on students’ perception in higher education
- University of Delaware (DE)
- University of New Haven (CT)
- TED University
For most students in higher education, a green residence hall could form their first impressions regarding green buildings. As these students may be expected to make decisions regarding their place ...
- Posted Jan. 12, 2021
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This tab provides access to data collected through AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS). STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS enables meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community. Additional content and advanced benchmarking tools will be added to this tab over time.
Programs and Initiatives
The following links connect to specific Content Displays on the STARS website (AASHE membership and log-in required).
- Central campus sustainability websites
- Co-curricular programs and initiatives
- Active student groups focused on sustainability
- Gardens, farms and co-curricular programs where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems
- Student-run enterprises that include sustainability
- Sustainable investment funds and initiatives through which students can develop socially, environmentally and fiscally responsible investment and financial skills
- Cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience
- Wilderness or outdoors programs for sudents that follow Leave No Trace principles
- Sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences
- Programs through which students learn sustainable life skills
- Sustainability-focused student employment opportunities
- Graduation pledges through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions
- Student orientation activities that feature sustainability
- Employee orientation activities that feature sustainability
- Sustainability trainings and professional development opportunities available to staff
Scores
The following link connects to the Score Display on the STARS website (AASHE membership and log-in required).
Campus Engagement Partners
ACPA - College Student Educators International
Washington, DCBound International
San Antonio, TXBusiness Affiliate
Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association
Bloomington, INCouncil for Christian Colleges and Universities
Washington, DCDot Cup
Evanston, ILBusiness Affiliate
EcoChallenge.org
Portland, ORBusiness Affiliate
Fair Labor Association
Washington, DCBusiness Affiliate
Fairware Promotional Products Ltd
Vancouver, BCBusiness Affiliate
GreenerU
Waltham, MABusiness Affiliate
Herbicide Free Campus
San Francisco, CABusiness Affiliate
Korean Association for Green Campus Initiative
Seoul, SeoulBusiness Affiliate
NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation
Corvallis, ORPost-Landfill Action Network
Dover, NHBusiness Affiliate
Rivanna Natural Designs
Richmond, VABusiness Affiliate
RRS
Ann Arbor, MIBusiness Affiliate
Strategic Energy Innovations
San Rafael, CABusiness Affiliate
Sunbolt
Willow Grove, PABusiness Affiliate
The Campus Kitchens Project
Washington, DCBusiness Affiliate
The GREEN Program
Philadelphia, PABusiness Affiliate