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
Latest News from AASHE Bulletin
New Resources
Managing Behavior Change: Moving Past Barriers
- AASHE (PA)
- GreenerU (MA)
Many of us set goals for ourselves. Some goals—such as losing weight, getting more exercise, or being more sustainable—are set with the best of intentions, but the reality ...
- Posted Oct. 10, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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Montclair University's Green Team tackles Styrofoam Recycling
- Montclair State University (NJ)
- Foam Cycle LLC (NJ)
This summer, Foam Cycle and the Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority (SCMUA) were awarded a Green Team from Montclair State University (MSU) to study a foam packaging (aka Styrofoam) recycling ...
- Posted Sept. 30, 2019
- Tools
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University of Vermont Eco-Reps Points of Intervention Campaign Case Study
- University of Vermont (VT)
Every Spring semester, the UVM Eco-Reps carry out a campaign related to the main theme of Earth Week. This year, that theme was ‘Points of Intervention’ (POI). Points of Intervention ...
- Posted Sept. 24, 2019
- Case Studies
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University of Vermont Eco-Reps Waste Sorting Campaign Case Study
- University of Vermont (VT)
While the University of Vermont has improved its waste infrastructure, from expanding composting facilities beyond dining halls to implementing waste reduction programs like EcoWare and a straw-upon-request policy, these systems ...
- Posted Sept. 24, 2019
- Case Studies
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University of Vermont Eco-Reps Food Campaign Case Study
- University of Vermont (VT)
The 2018-2019 professional development offering for the UVM Eco-Reps was a symposium centered around food concerns entitled Taking Root Student Symposium. Having been introduced to a wide variety of food-related ...
- Posted Sept. 24, 2019
- Case Studies
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Webinar: Sustainability Master Planning from All Perspectives
- Texas A&M University (TX)
- Ayers Saint Gross (MD)
- AASHE (PA)
Using Texas A&M University as a case study, staff will introduce integrated sustainability master planning from all perspectives: social, environmental, and economic. Both a campus level and department level plan ...
- Posted Sept. 20, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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$10 off all ISSP instructor-led courses for AASHE members
- International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) (OR)
International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) empowers professionals to advance sustainability in organizations and communities around the globe. AASHE members can receive $10 off all ISSP instructor-led courses using the ...
- Posted Sept. 17, 2019
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$100 discount on ISSP sustainability professional certification exams for AASHE members
- International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) (OR)
Students, staff and faculty at AASHE higher education institutions are eligible for a $100 discount off the regular non-member price on the International Society of Sustainability Professionals' Sustainability Professional Certification ...
- Posted Sept. 17, 2019
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University of Vermont Eco-Reps “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” Transportation Campaign Case Study
- University of Vermont (VT)
For UVM Eco-Reps’ first campaign of the 2018-19 academic year, we tackled issues related to how we move around. Whether it’s getting to class, work, or a friend’s ...
- Posted Sept. 5, 2019
- Case Studies
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Celebrating Diversity is not Enough: Teaching Social Justice
- University of Michigan (MI)
- AASHE (PA)
Social justice and equity are a prominent dimensions of sustainability that can be overlooked or under-taught across the curriculum. Well-meaning instructors may focus on “celebrating diversity” or exception individuals rather ...
- Posted Sept. 5, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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Webinar: Student Power to Fund Renewable Energy: A New Take on the Solar PPA
- Southern Oregon University (OR)
- AASHE (PA)
As campuses look to expand on site renewable energy generation, one of the greatest barriers to implementation is often initial project funding. Over the last year and a half, students ...
- Posted Aug. 29, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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Campus Composting Best Practices
- Appalachian State University (NC)
- Princeton University (NJ)
- University of Louisville (KY)
- College & University Recycling Coalition (DC)
Campus Composting Best Practices: Strategies for student engagement & food waste and compostable serveware diversion
Program originally took place May 9, 2019
Presenters:
Jen Maxwell, Sustainability Programs Manager Appalachian State ...
- Posted Aug. 22, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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Preparing for Campus Sustainability Month 2019
- Kentucky Community and Technical College System Office (KY)
- Ramapo College of New Jersey (NJ)
- AASHE (PA)
October is Campus Sustainability Month! Join this webinar to gain ideas and inspiration for how you can leverage #CampusSustainabilityMonth to engage and inspire incoming students and other campus stakeholders to ...
- Posted Aug. 22, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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STARS Incorporation into Capability-Based Gen Ed Curriculum
- Eureka College (IL)
- AASHE (PA)
This session will cover incorporating STARS data collection AND report segments into an introductory sustainability course that fulfills a capability-based general education requirement (Sustainable Practices and Environmental Conscience). We will ...
- Posted Aug. 8, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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Sustainability Capstone PISA
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Pichincha)
Through the Innovation and Sustainability Office, Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) in Ecuador has developed a capstone course called Social and Environmental Project (PISA is the acronym in Spanish ...
- Posted Aug. 5, 2019
- Photographs
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Campus-based Climate Resiliency Field Study Program
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Office of Sustainability collaborated with academic and operational partners to create a field study program that focused on campus climate resiliency. The experiential learning program ...
- Posted Aug. 5, 2019
- Photographs
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People of Color Sustainability Collective
- University of California, Santa Cruz (CA)
People of Color Sustainability Collective
- Posted Aug. 2, 2019
- Photographs
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Ohio State Energy Partners Hosts Smart Campus Challenge
- The Ohio State University (OH)
The first Smart Campus Challenge, presented by Ohio State Energy Partners ENGIE and Axium Infrastructure, concluded with all six finalists winning $144,000 dollars, combined, for their project proposals to ...
- Posted Aug. 1, 2019
- Photographs
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Luther College CSA Reimbursement Program
- Luther College (IA)
Participants in Luther College's CSA Reimbursement Program enjoy a summer workshop about seasonal vegetables.
- Posted Aug. 1, 2019
- Photographs
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Climate Change Garden at Cornell University
- Cornell University (NY)
The Climate Change Garden at Cornell University, a permanent campus installation that demonstrates the impact of climate change on plant growth in New York state. Planning for the climate change ...
- Posted Aug. 1, 2019
- Photographs
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Understanding Sustainability Through Transdisciplinary Narratives
- University of Michigan (MI)
- AASHE (PA)
The concepts of “more” and “better” drive social narratives about they kind of world we’re creating: a future of more stuff and strife, or one based on a better ...
- Posted Aug. 1, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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Research & Innovation to Improve Small Wind Turbines
- Clarkson University (NY)
Ducted Wind Turbine Research - A Clarkson University aeronautical engineering professor, Ken Visser, received assistance from students and the entire campus community to develop and commercialize a ducted wind turbine. The ...
- Posted July 30, 2019
- Photographs
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EPA Game Day Challenge
- Bowdoin College (ME)
Bowdoin's Green Athletics club provided education about waste reduction and composting during Bowdoin's EPA Game Day Challenge event.
- Posted July 30, 2019
- Photographs
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Roux Center Tour Guides
- Bowdoin College (ME)
During the busy opening weekend of Bowdoin's first LEED Platinum Building, The Roux Center for the Environment, sustainability tours were provided by Bowdoin EcoReps, identifiable by their green sash.
- Posted July 30, 2019
- Photographs
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Bowdoin College Give and Go Moveout
- Bowdoin College (ME)
Sustainable Bowdoin student employees help gather unwanted items from residence halls at the end of the school year, with much of the material being donated to Goodwill of northern new ...
- Posted July 30, 2019
- Photographs
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Bowdoin College Carbon Foodprint Dinner
- Bowdoin College (ME)
Bowdoin's student EcoReps worked with Bowdoin Dining on an educational dinner about the carbon footprint of the meal as part of International Polar Bear Day (Bowdoin's mascot is ...
- Posted July 30, 2019
- Photographs
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Tapping Campus Trees & Making Syrup
- University of Louisville (KY)
Each winter in the early spring semester, University of Louisville students, faculty, staff, and community partners participate in tapping trees on campus to make syrup and learn about the process ...
- Posted July 29, 2019
- Photographs
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Wilfrid Laurier University's social sustainability initiative: International Students Overcoming War
- Wilfrid Laurier University (ON)
International Students Overcoming War - International Students Overcoming War (ISOW) is a student-led and student-funded humanitarian initiative at Wilfrid Laurier University that partners with NGO organizations to provide full scholarships to ...
- Posted July 29, 2019
- Photographs
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Disrupt Climate Injustice Curriculum Disruption
- The New School (NY)
In 2018, The New School invited all 14,000 faculty, staff, and students to participate in a university-wide curriculum disruption entitled "Disrupt Climate Injustice." Participants were encouraged to stop "business ...
- Posted July 25, 2019
- Photographs
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The role of green and Sustainability Offices in fostering sustainability efforts at higher education institutions
- Leuphana University of Lüneburg
- Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
- University of Passo Fundo
- University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz
Green and Sustainability Offices are special settings which assist initiatives within higher education institutions to coordinate their efforts and work in the field of sustainable development. The set-up of such ...
- Posted July 19, 2019
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Knowledge, agency and collective action as barriers to energy-saving behaviour
- University of Plymouth (Devon)
Energy saving is becoming a rising priority as a response to climate change and fossil fuel depletion in recent years. However, despite energy-related behaviour change being an important part of ...
- Posted July 19, 2019
- Publications
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Community Tree Planting
- University of California, Irvine (CA)
Annual tree planting is part of UCI's commitment to sustainable landscaping and healthy urban forests. Since 2010, UC Irvine has been recognized as a Tree Campus USA university by ...
- Posted June 25, 2019
- Photographs
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Engaging Students with University Sustainability Indicators
- Tulane University (LA)
- AASHE (PA)
The webinar will explore ways of engaging students and faculty with university sustainability indicators and assessments, such as AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), suggesting that asking ...
- Posted June 13, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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AASHE Members Receive a Year of Syllabi as part of #GreenSyllabusChallenge
- Syllabi
AASHE members get a free year of Syllabi as part of their #GreenSyllabusChallenge. Syllabi is a digital syllabus-based student planner that aggregates all course curriculum and due dates to the ...
- Posted June 13, 2019
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Plug Load Metering Pilot at Swarthmore College
- Swarthmore College (PA)
This report goes over the research and beginning stages of starting a pilot at Swarthmore college aimed to test a new technology, plug load meters. These have the ability to ...
- Posted May 23, 2019
- Publications
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Scaling the Ladder: Engagement Programs as Tools for Sustainability
- McGill University (QC)
- AASHE (PA)
Using examples from McGill University, this webinar covers how practitioners can use the ladder of engagement can turn small changes into meaningful, collective action. While there is often a debate ...
- Posted May 23, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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Why and how do universities work for sustainability in higher education (HE)?
- Lund University
- Malmö University
The purpose of this paper is to open up a discussion about the roles and responsibilities of universities in society. The vision of the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Skane ...
- Posted May 22, 2019
- Publications
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Journey to Zero Waste
- California State University, San Marcos (CA)
This is an annual event, previously celebrated as Thank You for Recycling Day. This year the program was re-branded as Journey to Zero Waste Day to encourage not just recycling ...
- Posted May 22, 2019
- Outreach Materials
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Green Events Guide
- California State University, Northridge (CA)
What does it mean to put on a “Green Event”? What does it mean to be sustainable? Greening your event means to incorporate a wide spectrum of environmental, social, and ...
- Posted May 22, 2019
- Outreach Materials
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U-Bikes and Cyclab at Princeton University
- Princeton University (NJ)
Princeton University's U-Bikes and Cyclab programs work to support sustainable development on campus. The U-Bikes programs takes abandoned bikes collected by Public Safety and repairs and reuses them in ...
- Posted May 22, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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No Impact Meal - A More Mindful Dinner
- Loyola University Chicago (IL)
The No Impact Meal (NIM) program is transforming our relationship with food on campus, one meal at a time. Led by a group of sustainability interns since the spring of ...
- Posted May 22, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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How Students Can Achieve Campus Sustainability: The Sustainability Climate Initiative Fund
- University of Utah (UT)
Edmond Andrews, the University of Utah Sustainability Climate Initiative Fund (SCIF) Manager, explains what SCIF is and how it works.
The Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF) is the University of ...
- Posted May 22, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
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Student Sustainability Leadership Award
- California State University Maritime Academy (CA)
California State University Maritime Academy in its continued effort to becoming most sustainable campus, engaging staff, faculty, and students, explored and identified water saving opportunities for the campus. The project ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
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Campus Sustainability Achievement
- California State University Maritime Academy (CA)
California State University Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime) participated in the Arbor Day Foundation program, managed by a non-profit conservation and education organization founded in 1972, and applied for the Tree ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
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The Pyramid of Action: A Multifaceted Approach For Deeper Engagement
- California State University, Chico (CA)
With many environmental issues overwhelming students today, it can be paralyzing. So, AS Sustainability utilized the “Pyramid of Action” strategy in semester-long campaigns, leading students from awareness, behavior change, education ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
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Aggie Green Fund
- Texas A&M University (TX)
Aggie Green Fund (AGF) is a funds granting program under the Office of Sustainability that invites sustainability ideas from all members of the University community (students, faculty, and staff) to ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
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The Searle Biodiesel Lab - Loyola University Chicago's Student-Run Biodiesel Program
- Loyola University Chicago (IL)
The Biodiesel Lab is a student-run biodiesel production facility within Loyola University’s Institute of Environmental Sustainability. Starting from a single student’s idea over a decade ago, nearly 100 ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
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Leveraging student leadership to build campus capacity for Sustainable Development Goals implementation: a case study on the University of Calgary’s Sustainable Development Goals Alliance.
- University of Calgary (AB)
The Sustainable Development Goals Alliance (SDGA) is a student-led organization at the University of Calgary which seeks to improve campus and community collaboration towards the implementation of the seventeen Sustainable ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
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Central College Bee Campus
- Central College (IA)
- Bee City USA (NC)
Central College is a leader in sustainability education, both in Iowa and the Midwest. For more than a century, Central students and staff have prioritized sustainability at the college. After ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
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Coalition building to create university-wide change
- Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Camden Campus (NJ)
- Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick Campus (NJ)
- Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Newark Campus (NJ)
Two years ago, we formed the Rutgers Sustainability Coalition, a student-led group of representatives from about 20 student organizations working together to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
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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, DCCampus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association
Bloomington, INCoalesce
Boston, MABusiness Affiliate
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
Washington, DCDot Cup
Evanston, ILBusiness Affiliate
Fair Labor Association
Washington, DCBusiness Affiliate
Fairware Promotional Products Ltd
Vancouver, BCBusiness Affiliate
Fit for Green Inc.
Mission Viejo, CABusiness Affiliate
GreenerU
Watertown, MABusiness Affiliate
Korean Association for Green Campus Initiative
Seoul, SeoulBusiness Affiliate
MIST
Chicago, ILBusiness Affiliate
National Wildlife Federation
Reston, VABusiness Affiliate
NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation
Corvallis, ORNOLS
Lander, WYBusiness Affiliate
Northwest Earth Institute
Portland, ORBusiness Affiliate
Post-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
Textbooks for Change
Toronto, ONBusiness Affiliate
The Campus Kitchens Project
Washington, DCBusiness Affiliate
The GREEN Program
Philadelphia, PABusiness Affiliate