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.

4175 resources

Cowbell Cleanup

  • Mississippi State University (MS)

Cowbell Cleanup is an initiative that was started by the Office of Sustainability on Mississippi State University's campus. The University faces a large influx of guests during home football ...


The Campus Sustainability Plan: A Community Building Momentum

  • University of Saskatchewan (SK)

Progress on campus wide sustainability is not easy. It takes both planning and implementation to realize results. The University of Saskatchewan is realizing results from its Campus Sustainability Plan, developed ...


Community Engaged Scholarship and Learning in Urban Forestry helps UTRGV earn Tree Campus USA Designation

  • University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (TX)

In 2014, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (through its legacy institution UTPA), one of the largest Hispanic Serving Institutions in the country, proposed and offered three iterations of ...


Reduce the Juice – Saving Energy in Halls of Residence

  • AASHE (PA)
  • University of London

At the University of London, in England, we have launched a behaviour change programme aimed at students living on campus in the University’s halls of residence. The aim of ...

  • Posted May 18, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Johnson County Community College Student Sustainability Committee

  • Johnson County Community College (KS)

As a broadly effective, innovative, engaging, and replicable project, Johnson County Community College’s Student Sustainability Committee [the SSC, the Committee] is a compelling and powerful tool for developing student ...


Watershed UGA: A living laboratory transforming campus and community through teaching, research and service

  • University of Georgia (GA)

Watershed UGA created a vision and framework for using the campus as a living laboratory to advance sustainability through teaching, research, public service and outreach, and university operations. We are ...


The University of Virginia as a Living Lab for Solar Energy

  • University of Virginia (VA)

Over the next five years, The University of Virginia hopes to install 1-2 megawatts of solar PV on grounds. To help prioritize projects, UVA turned to the School of Engineering ...


The Ohio State University Sustainability Goals Development Project

  • The Ohio State University (OH)

In November 2015, The Ohio State University announced the establishment of sustainability goals to guide the university as it develops durable solutions to the challenges of sustainability and in evolving ...


Fix It Friday

  • Illinois State University (IL)

Fix It Friday is a program in which fashion students set up sewing machines in various places within the Illinois State University campus and the surrounding Bloomington-Normal community and offer ...


UTA CARES: Open Education and Open Pedagogy for Sustainable Future and Resource Conservation

  • University of Texas at Arlington (TX)

Reducing the cost of a college education is a frequent topic in higher education circles. Some colleges and universities such as UT Arlington have been trying to find other ways ...


GreenApps Eco-Reps Sustainability Leadership and Engagement Course

  • Appalachian State University (NC)

The GreenApps: Eco-Reps Program was developed in order to recruit on-campus students to join the Office of Sustainability team to assist with education and promotion of campus sustainability through a ...


Stakeholders’ perception of sustainability orientation within a major Romanian University

Purpose: The research attempts to aim to evaluate the perception that different stakeholder groups have of one of the largest and most important Romanian university with respect to its sustainability ...


Greening the campus intentions: a study of the University of the Aegean non-academic staff

Purpose: This study aims to focus on the University of Aegean’s non-academic staff’s environmental sustainability attitudes and behavior both at work and at home, their perceptions for sustainability ...


A comparative study of the efficacy of intervention strategies on student electricity use in campus residence halls

  • Radford University (VA)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether, and how, electricity consumption by students in university residence halls were impacted through three intervention strategies.

Design/methodology/approach: The ...


Social media for environmental sustainability awareness in higher education

  • University of Malaya

Purpose: The explosion of social media use such as Facebook among higher education students is deemed to have great potential in widely disseminating environmental sustainability awareness. The paper aims to ...


Zero Waste Guide and the Good Food Festival Case Study

  • University of Illinois Chicago (IL)

Throughout the semester, Joe Iosbaker, UIC's Recycling Coordinator and Office of Sustainability (OS) staff member, and Ula Renetskis, Office of Sustainability Intern and author, have been working with Bright ...


Linking Sustainability with Study Abroad

  • Delta College (MI)

This project describes the planning, development, and implementation of integrating sustainability into study abroad in existing travel and through establishing new destinations. It also constructs a model that includes a ...


Campus Sustainability: A Lightbulb Moment | Caitlin Marsh | TED x Alma College

  • Alma College (MI)

As a sustainability expert, and Alma College alum, Caitlin opens up the conversation about what sustainability looks like on a college campus. And brings forward fresh implementation ideas.

After pursuing ...

  • Posted May 15, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Questions of Waste

  • University of Georgia (GA)

A unique and creative video documenting the waste habits of one student for a week. The video documents a friend of the videographer as she collects her waste for one ...

  • Posted May 15, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Integrating Sustainability with Education and Community Engagement at USF

  • University of South Florida (Tampa) (FL)

The University of South Florida's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has created several community and international programs for students to engage in sustainability projects. Three projects explored in ...

  • Posted May 15, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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University Colloquium | Service Learning Project

  • Florida Gulf Coast University (FL)

This video was created by students for a colloquium class project to address some of the projects and initiatives FGCU does to decrease our carbon footprint within the energy sector ...

  • Posted May 15, 2017
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Sustainability@BU / It's what you do.

  • Boston University (MA)

The video from Boston University highlights the impact that each student at BU has on the environment. This includes individual footprints on things like carbon, water, waste, and electricity. After ...

  • Posted May 15, 2017
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Leveraging college sports to advance campus sustainability, stakeholder engagement, and community inclusion

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • University of Colorado Boulder (CO)
  • AASHE (PA)
  • Bonneville Environmental Foundation (OR)

By launching from collegiate sports’ high profile platform, sustainability efforts have the reach to more broadly engage stakeholders on and off campus and enhance sustainable behaviors among fans such as ...

  • Posted May 15, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Tree Eyes

  • Duke University (NC)

Tree eyes were placed in key locations on campus during Earth Week for a photo contest to celebrate Duke's Green Spaces!


Sustainability Showcase at Family Earth Day Celebration

  • California State University, Northridge (CA)

The CSUN Institute for Sustainability hosted a "sustainability fair" as part of a grant we receive from LADWP. The event was designed to honor students who participated in a program ...


NCSU Initiatives for Faculty Participation in Sustainability Efforts

  • North Carolina State University (NC)

This project seeks to understand the perspectives of faculty members as it relates to sustainability at North Carolina State University. Specifically, an online survey of randomly selected 500 faculty was ...


PowerZee – Sustainable Change through User Engagement

  • Nanyang Technological University
  • ENGIE (TX)

PowerZee (formerly PowerZ) is a smartphone application (‘app’) developed by NTU, along with industry partner ENGIE, for energy conservation and sustainability through user engagement. The application fosters knowledge and nudges ...


NC State University Creates Make-a-thon To Inspire Sustainability Ideas

  • North Carolina State University (NC)

Imagine. It's a Saturday night and dozens of students are packed in your school's library. They're crowded around 3D printers, circuit boards and laptops translating 3D AutoCAD ...


Simon Fraser University’s Zero Waste Initiative

  • Simon Fraser University (BC)

SFU was one of the first universities to implement a standardized, 4-stream Zero Waste system (including composting) uniformly across all three of its campuses, each of which lies in a ...


EarthFest 2017 at the University of Dayton (Ohio)

  • University of Dayton (OH)

Sustainability Marketing, Messaging and Design for Good at Chemeketa Community College

  • Chemeketa Community College (OR)

Chemeketa Sustainability served as a client to the college's Visual Communications program to create cohesive marketing for use in future sustainability campaigns and promotions.


Communication Network Among Campus Sustainability Influencers

  • Loyola Marymount University (CA)

Systems of all types require efficient communication between its parts and units in order to be successful and effective. It is thus important to understand a system's units in ...


Using emoticons to encourage students to recycle

  • Boston University (MA)

Uncovering inexpensive, simple techniques to encourage students to act in a pro-environmental manner is of critical importance. Through a four-week field study at a large, environmentally focused elementary school, it ...


Is Going Green Worth It? Assessing Fan Engagement and Perceptions of Athletic Department Environmental Efforts

  • North Carolina State University (NC)
  • Ohio University (OH)
  • Seattle University (WA)

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which environmentally themed activities within an intercollegiate sport context impact fan engagement. A total of 557 fans responded to ...


San Jose State University Earth Day

  • San Jose State University (CA)

University at Buffalo-Sustainability Month 2017

  • University at Buffalo (NY)

At UB, Earth Day is celebrated all month, with dozens of sustainability events highlighting our commitment to critical issues like climate neutrality and publicly funded science.


Earth Day 2017 - Chemeketa Community College

  • Chemeketa Community College (OR)

Students at Chemeketa Community College made paper cranes to represent their vision for a sustainable future and their love for Mother Earth. The paper cranes are going to be on ...


University at Buffalo-Sustainability Month 2017

  • University at Buffalo (NY)

At UB, Earth Day is celebrated all month, with dozens of sustainability events highlighting our commitment to critical issues like climate neutrality and publicly funded science.


Cal Poly SLO Earth Week

  • California Polytechnic State University (CA)

Cal Poly hosted a variety of events for Earth Week.


Alive, Survive, Strive, Thrive: A Grounded Conceptual Sustainability Taxonomy

  • Bowling Green State University (OH)

A conceptual sustainability taxonomy has been needed to better communicate the value of sustainability, to align sustainability scholars’ theories and sustainability educators’ practices, and to develop curriculum, teaching, learning, and ...


Sustainability Week @ KU Medical Center

  • University of Kansas Medical Center (KS)

KU Medical Center Sustainability Week was held to celebrate Earth Day and the one-year anniversary of the revamped recycling program. This included an Earth Day Celebration to share ways to ...


Suffolk County Community College Earth Week!

  • Suffolk County Community College (NY)

University at Buffalo-Sustainability Month 2017

  • University at Buffalo (NY)

At UB, Earth Day is celebrated all month, with dozens of sustainability events highlighting our commitment to critical issues like climate neutrality and publicly funded science.


Earth Day 2017

  • Texas A&M University (TX)

State University of New York at Cortland Campus Garden Spring Planting

  • State University of New York at Cortland (NY)

The SUNY Cortland Campus Garden Advisory Committee (consisting of students, staff and faculty) held a bed preparation and planting party at the campus garden.


Cleveland State University EarthFest 2017

  • Cleveland State University (OH)

Cleveland State celebrated Earth Day with exhibits from 38 campus and community sustainability organizations, a giant earth dome, a clothing swap, free bike checks, free food, and a range of ...


Succulents at the Earth Day Expo

  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)

Close-up shot of succulents that were made available for students to plant at the Earth Day Expo at the University of Minnesota. The Office of Sustainability challenged students and staff ...


University of Virginia Earth Week 2017

  • University of Virginia (VA)

Earth Week is a UVA tradition that celebrates the planet we all share. Students, faculty, staff, and community members are invited to take part in a thought provoking, action packed ...


Earth Day Pollinator Garden at Towson University

  • Towson University (MD)

Students, faculty and staff work together on Earth Day to install a student-designed pollinator garden.


Vanderbilt University FutureVU Expo

  • Vanderbilt University (TN)

More than 800 students, staff, faculty and others stopped by the Wond’ry April 19 to learn about FutureVU, Vanderbilt’s campus land use planning initiative, and how the university ...

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