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
Towson University Campus Sustainability Week
- Towson University (MD)
Towson University Campus Sustianability Week contained fun and educational experiences for our students. We had tabling events for composting at home, being more sustainable with our water consumption, pollinator garden ...
- Posted Nov. 7, 2019
- Photographs
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Managing Behavior Change: Moving Past Barriers
- AASHE (MA)
- 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 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 (MA)
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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Celebrating Diversity is not Enough: Teaching Social Justice
- University of Michigan (MI)
- AASHE (MA)
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 (MA)
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 (MA)
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 (MA)
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 (MA)
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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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 (MA)
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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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 (MA)
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)
- The Xerces Society (OR)
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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Students for Sustainability
- University of Central Oklahoma (OK)
Students for Sustainability was established in 2016 as the University of Central Oklahoma's first and only sustainability oriented organization. The group was founded not only as an outlet for ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
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Composting at Northwestern University Norris Center
- Northwestern University (IL)
- Real Food Challenge (MA)
- Compass Group (NC)
The project consists of the successful implementation of a front-of-the-house composting program in Northwestern University's Norris Center food court dining area and the coordination of a series of experiments ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
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Delivering difference: using e-bikes to deliver mail at the University of Washington
- University of Washington, Seattle (WA)
With over 80,000 students, faculty, and staff on campus, it's difficult to comprehend the sheer number of packages, textbooks, course packets and dorm mail UW Mailing Services delivers ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
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University of California’s Cool Campus Challenge
- University of California, Office of the President (CA)
In 2019 the University of California launched the Cool Campus Challenge, an online competition between all ten campuses to engage students, faculty, and staff in the UC Carbon Neutrality initiative ...
- Posted May 20, 2019
- Case Studies
- View more
The Impact of Solar-assistance on Electric Golf Carts
- Georgia College & State University (GA)
In the Condensed Matter Research Lab at Georgia College, we conducted a real-world experiment to quantify the impact of vehicle-mounted solar panels. Our campus golf cart fleet consists of both ...
- 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.
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
- Percent of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program
- Description of the student educators program (1st program)
- Description of the student educators program (2nd program)
- Brief description of the student educators program (3rd program)
- Hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators per students served
- Website URL - Student sustainability educators programs
EN 2: Student Orientation
- Percent of entering students that have an opportunity to participate in sustainability-inclusive orientation activities and programming
- Description of how sustainability is included prominently in new student orientation
- Website URL - Information about sustainability in student orientation
EN 3: Student Life
- Description of the active student groups focused on sustainability
- Description of student gardens, farms, CSAs, fishery programs, and/or urban agriculture projects
- Description of the student-run enterprises
- Description of student sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives
- Description of sustainability-focused conferences, speaker series, symposia, or similar events for students
- Description of sustainability-focused cultural arts events, installations, or performances
- Description of the wilderness or outdoors programs that follow Leave No Trace principles
- Description of sustainability-focused themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences
- Description of the programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills
- Description of sustainability-focused student employment opportunities offered by the institution
- Description of graduation pledge(s)
- Description of other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives
EN 4: Student Life
- Website URL - Central sustainability website
- Description of sustainability newsletter or social media platform(s)
- Description of the signage that highlights campus sustainability features
- Description of the sustainability walking map or tour
- Description of the guide for green living and/or incorporating sustainability into the residential experience
- Description of other comprehensive sustainability outreach materials and publications
EN 5: Student Life
- Description of the first sustainability outreach campaign
- Description of the second sustainability outreach campaign
- Description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns
EN 6: Assessing Sustainability Culture
- Description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted
- Copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture (upload)
- Copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture (description)
- Website URL - Assessment of sustainability culture
EN 7: Employee Educators Program
- Percent of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program
- Description of the employee educators program (1st program)
- Description of the employee educators program (2nd program)
- Hours worked annually by trained employee sustainability educators per employees served
- Website URL - Employee sustainability educators programs
EN 8: Employee Orientation
- Percent of new employees that have an opportunity to participate in sustainability-inclusive orientation activities and programming
- Description of how sustainability is included prominently in new employee orientation
- Website URL - Information about sustainability in employee orientation
EN 9: Staff Professional Development & Training
- Estimated percentage of regular, non-academic staff that participates annually in sustainability professional development and training
- Description of any internal sustainability professional development and training opportunities
- Description of any external professional development and training opportunities in sustainability that are supported by the institution
- Estimated percentage of staff for which sustainability is included in performance reviews
- Description of how sustainability is included in staff performance reviews
- Website URL - Information about staff professional development and training in sustainability
Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.