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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.

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A sign posted on cash registers in Wisconsin Union restaurants, markets, and cafes tells customers about the receipt-optional initiative.

UW–Madison Receipt Reduction Project

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)

Over a span of two years, teams of students, faculty, and staff at the University of Wisconsin–Madison eliminated mandatory receipt printing at campus dining centers, restaurants, markets, and cafes. Within …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Fostering the incorporation of sustainable development in higher education. Lessons learned from a change management perspective

  • UC Leuven-Limburg
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology

In research and literature about integration of sustainable development in higher education, particular attention is given towards barriers for change and critical success factors, mainly with a focus on organisational …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Publications
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Carbon footprint analysis of student behavior for a sustainable university campus in China

  • Drexel University (PA)

Sustainable urban design, systems-level organizational planning, and human behavior have all been recognized for their potentially important roles in helping to reduce energy costs and associated environmental impacts, including greenhouse …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Publications
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Hawaii Pacific University Loa Campus: Promoting Energy Efficiency and Conservation in the Office

  • Hawaii Pacific University (HI)

In order to promote sustainability throughout campus and engage in a behavior change process that is both research intensive and action oriented, the Green Office Program of Hawaii Pacific University …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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2015 Presidential Green Grant awardees pose with Union College President Stephen Ainlay

Union College's Presidential Green Grants: Empowering our community to make a more sustainable world

  • Union College - NY (NY)

Our greatest resource as an institution is the creativity and energy of our community. Union College’s Presidential Green Grant (PGG) program leverages this creativity and energy by supporting novel projects …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Academic staff engagement in education for sustainable development

  • University of Southampton

The research presented in this paper emerged from the need to identify the factors influencing academic staff members when engaging in Education for Sustainable Development in real practice. The aims …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Publications
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Encouraging sustainability in the workplace: a survey on the pro-environmental behaviour of university employees

  • Wageningen University

In order to enhance more sustainable behaviour in households, recent research focuses on the identification of factors that have an impact on sustainable or pro-environmental behaviour. The aim of this …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Publications
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Sustainable universities – a study of critical success factors for participatory approaches

Participatory approaches can be seen as a requirement, but also as a benefit to the overall paradigm change towards sustainable development and contribute towards the integration of sustainability concept into …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
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Changing Norms by Changing Behavior: The Princeton Drink Local Program

  • Princeton University (NJ)

Unprecedented levels of global bottled water consumption present a major challenge for the environment and water conservation initiatives. Educational institutions are in a unique position to promote conservation behavior by …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Publications
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Implementation of sustainability in universities as perceived by faculty and staff – a model from a Swedish university

Education for sustainable development creates new challenges for universities where faculty and staff are expected to prepare students to meet complexities in society and take responsibility for sustainability, which scientists …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
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Participatory Development of Key Sustainability Concepts for Dialogue and Curricula at The Ohio State University

  • The Ohio State University (OH)

The Ohio State University (OSU) is one of the many universities committed to sustainability within its operations, traditions, and university framework. The university continues to evolve in relation to its …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Publications
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Dr. Wimbish: President of CVC and Dr. Tommy Thompson: President of the CVC Faculty Association

Cedar Valley College a Center of Excellence of Sustainability in South Dallas, TX.

  • Dallas College (TX)

The Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) consists of seven campuses enrolling 85,000 students from Dallas County and beyond. Cedar Valley College (CVC), one of the seven DCCCD campuses, serves …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education: Interconnecting the Reporting Process and Organisational Change Management for Sustainability

  • Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Madrid)
  • Utrecht University
  • KU Leuven

Although there has been a considerable increase in the publication of sustainability reports in the corporate world in the last decade, sustainability reporting in higher education institutions is still in …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Publications
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Learning about Sustainability—What Influences Students’ Self-Perceived Sustainability Actions after Undergraduate Education?

Changing societies’ minds about sustainability requires knowledge about the situation, awareness of what needs to be done and actions to change today’s unsustainable behaviors. Universities are challenged to develop students’ …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
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Earthstock Block Party

Institutional Framework for Student-Led Sustainability Initiatives

  • University of Nebraska - Lincoln (NE)

The Environmental Sustainability Committee (ESC) is a self-sustaining committee within the Association for Students of the University of Nebraska (ASUN), otherwise known as UNL’s Student Government. The framework of the …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Kicking off Environment Week at UAlberta.

Environment Week at UAlberta

  • University of Alberta (AB)

From June 6–10, the University of Alberta hosted a series of free events to celebrate Environment Week and engage our community in sustainability. UAlberta partnered with local organizations such as …

UBC Okanagan Whole Systems Infrastructure Plan - Aspiring toward Regenerative Sustainability

  • The University of British Columbia (BC)

This case study describes how UBC Okanagan created and leveraged an opportunity to develop an innovative, holistic campus sustainability plan that responds to UBC’s regenerative aspirations; what the Plan is; …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
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By using vertical space and intercropping, we are able to get a lot more out of a confined space.

The Learning Garden at Virginia Commonwealth University

  • Virginia Commonwealth University (VA)

Virginia Commonwealth University's Office of Sustainability has created a new, urban, Learning Garden that produces fruits and vegetables exclusively for donation. The garden was created in response to a significant …

  • Posted June 10, 2016
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The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. Participants included from left to right: Dr. Sherwood Wilson (Vice President for Administration), Dr. Eleanor Finger (Director, Housing and Residence Life), Patrick Gallagher, President Timothy Sands, and Troy Cook (President of Renaissance).

The Virginia Tech Green RFP Program

  • Virginia Tech (VA)

Student engagement is an important factor in advancing sustainability at Virginia Tech. The University created the “Request for Proposal for Sustainability Initiatives from Student Organizations Program (Green RFP Program)” to …

Classroom experience

CPS Café – Sustainable Food Service Operation

  • University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI)

The CPS Café is an eatery operated mainly by students across campus and is a unique food service business open to the public. It is a program within the College …

Our Gompei’s Gears Bikes on Launch Day, WPI

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Bike Share Program

  • Worcester Polytechnic Institute (MA)

In 2014 a student group researched transportation alternatives on campus and recommended a community bike share program. In 2015, another student group further developed the bike share option by conducting …

foodbank

Ohio University Move-Out Sustainability Project

  • Ohio University (OH)

Each year during student Move Out week, Ohio University's Department of Recycling and Zero Waste partners with the City of Athens, Athens Hocking Recycling Center, local businesses, community non-profit organizations …

Permaculture in higher education: Opportunities and challenges

  • University of Victoria (BC)

There is growing agreement that integrative “whole person” approaches promoting transformative learning are important aspects of sustainability education. Increasingly, universities are using permaculture in teaching sustainability. Permaculture is an ecological …

The EcoRep Program at the University of South Carolina: How to Engage Students in On-Campus Environmental Activities

  • University of South Carolina (SC)

This senior thesis focused on determining how much the undergraduate student population is aware about current environmental problems, their impression of them, and how they act accordingly. In addition, through …

Living labs and co-production: university campuses as platforms for sustainability science

Living labs and co-production are increasingly popular strategies for universities to address sustainability challenges and yet the links between them remain largely implicit. This paper discusses the potential of living …

Western's Water Management Program

  • Western University (ON)

Western University has over 90 buildings and most of them didn’t have a water meter. Only those buildings with a direct feed from the City had a meter. In order …

Love Food, Hate Waste: Analyzing Food Waste and Reduction at Rice University

  • Rice University (TX)

It is known that about 30% of food produced worldwide is ultimately wasted (Gunders 2012). Rice University is not immune to this phenomenon, and past research has shown that Rice …

Students at the 2016 conference with speakers and Morris Chancellor Johnson

University of Minnesota, Morris student leads implementation of the Student Engagement Leadership Forum on Sustainability (SELFsustain) across the University of Minnesota-system

  • University of Minnesota, Crookston (MN)
  • University of Minnesota, Duluth (MN)
  • University of Minnesota, Morris (MN)
  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
  • University of Minnesota, Rochester (MN)

The University of Minnesota (U of M) is leading the way in cultivating student-driven sustainability leadership across Minnesota -- from the prairies to Lake Superior. For five years, U of …

University of La Verne Sustainability Challenge 2016

  • University of La Verne (CA)

University of La Verne organized a Sustainability Challenge with the theme of electricity conservation in Spring of 2016 to promote sustainability for the campus community at large.

Best Practices in Energy Conservation - Removing Frost Build-up from ULFs

Encouraging a Culture of Laboratory Sustainability: A Case Study from the University of Texas at Austin

  • University of Texas at Austin (TX)

Labs comprise about 20% of the floor area at the University of Texas at Austin but account for an estimated 30% of the campus energy consumption. Furthermore, they generate large …

Raise Your Voice: Environmental Justice at Capilano

  • Capilano University (BC)

The idea for this event was to have an open idea sharing and focusing event regarding sustainability and environmental justice on campus. It was a chance to bring students together …

A Model for Creating a Campus Sustainability Plan

  • California State University, Northridge (CA)

There are ample excellent reasons why all workplaces should create a sustainability plan, including most importantly the health of the planet. Climate change threatens the biosphere, ocean, atmosphere, our water, …

Sustainable Carolina Farm and Garden Hydroponics

  • University of South Carolina (SC)

Sustainable Carolina is a student run organization within the University of South Carolina, working to better our campus by making it more sustainable. We work with students, staff, professors, and …

Bike Maintenance Workshop

Sustainability Peer Educator Program - Simon Fraser University

  • Simon Fraser University (BC)

Program Vision: Students are confident, informed, and active sustainability leaders who have the skills and experience to advance sustainability at and beyond SFU.

The Sustainability Peer Education program empowers students …

Sustainable Fleet at Yale University

  • Yale University (CT)

At Yale University, transportation is vital to the University's operation. Fleet Management is a department that has gone to tremendous lengths to provide exceptional transit services for the entire university. …

Adrienne Cachelin Headshot

Promotion vs. Education in Choosing "Real Food"

  • University of Utah (UT)
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)
  • Real Food Challenge (AZ)

The global agro-industrial system contributes to an abundance of human and ecological health problems from social injustices and public health issues to global warming and ecological degradation. In response to …

SLU Energy Madness

  • Saint Louis University (MO)

SLU Energy Madness was a multi-month event involving all residence halls on SLU’s campus. While all residence halls were included, in order to participate each residence hall needed at least …

Developing and Validating the Just Sustainability Inventory

  • University of Georgia (GA)

Assessment and evaluation of programs are core components of ethical professional practice for student affairs administrators in higher education. This paper reports on the author’s dissertation research designing and validating …

Kean University Greenhouse Composter Enclosure

From in-vessel campus composting to sustainable urban farming: connecting science with education and community service

  • Kean University (NJ)

Kean University runs a food scrap composting program with a custom-designed in-vessel composter capable of composting up to 1000 pounds of food scraps per day. It diverts food scraps from …

Dumpster Diving for a good find

Stash It, Don’t Trash It Move-Out Reuse Initiative

  • College of Saint Benedict (MN)

As the semester nears its end, students from all over campus pitch their unwanted items to the curb. These items range from unopened soup cans to couches and mini fridges. …

Students ordering their pizzas for here, saving pizza box waste!

Greeks Go Green: Promoting Student Sustainability via Social Media

  • University of Puget Sound (WA)

Greeks Go Green is an annual Instagram competition between our Greek houses where they post pictures of themselves performing sustainable actions throughout campus. The sustainable actions can be anything from …

Grizz's Garage: Dorm Item Resale

  • University of Puget Sound (WA)

During Spring Move-Out, students donate their unwanted but still usable dorm items, such as shower caddies, rugs, and hangers, and then the items are re-sold to first-year students during Fall …

The Sustainability Map

  • Maastricht University

Maastricht is a small city, a transit city, a city in which many things happen and yet everything stays the same – and Maastricht is home to many students who …

UC Cool Campus Challenge

  • University of California, Office of the President (CA)

In the fall of 2015, the Cool Campus Challenge (CCC) engaged nearly 20,000 staff, students and faculty at the University of California (UC) in an online pledge campaign aimed at …

For the Planet Leadership Series: Building Sustainability Leadership in Higher Education

  • University of North Texas (TX)

The “For the Planet Leadership Series” is a five-week professional development course planned, researched, and taught by Senior Alyssa Wolverton at the University of North Texas. Her goal was to …

The Green Action Fund at Kansas State University

  • Kansas State University (KS)

The Green Action Fund (GAF) at Kansas State University was initiated in 2013 as a joint project of the Office of Sustainability and the Student Governing Association (SGA). The GAF …

Student Design Fund

  • University of Tennessee at Knoxville (TN)

The Student Design/Research Project Fund is a new and innovative sustainability project from the University of Tennessee. It created a pool of money to where applicants can apply for funding …

One-Class-One-Project: Using service learning to engage students in sustainability

  • Florida Gulf Coast University (FL)

The University Colloquium is the sustainability capstone to the Florida Gulf Coast University experiences that utilizes service learning as a tool to engage students in experiential learning within the community. …

Compost and Recycling Bins for Collection

Boston University Zero Waste Commencement

  • Aramark (PA)

Boston University is a private research institution located in Boston, Massachusetts with approximately 33,000 undergradate and graduate students. During Commencement week, Boston University Dining Services/Aramark serves more than 40,000 patrons …

Planet Blue Water bottle

Reusable water bottle for incoming freshmen

  • University of Michigan (MI)

Reusable water bottles are being provided to all incoming freshmen at the University of Michigan as a Planet Blue Sustainability initiative. The project was piloted for 3 years and is …

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.

All responses reference content from reports under the latest version of STARS, version 2.2. AASHE membership and log-in is required.

EN 1: Student Educators Program

EN 2: Student Orientation

EN 3: Student Life

EN 4: Student Life

EN 5: Student Life

EN 6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

EN 7: Employee Educators Program

EN 8: Employee Orientation

EN 9: Staff Professional Development & Training

Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.

Campus Engagement Partners

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