Coordination & Planning
Introduction
Staff and other resources help an institution organize, implement, and publicize sustainability initiatives. These resources provide the infrastructure that fosters sustainability within an institution. Sustainability planning affords an institution the opportunity to clarify its vision of a sustainable future, establish priorities and help guide budgeting and decision making.
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AASHE Digest 2007
- AASHE (MA)
Includes over 800 stories about higher education institutions that are leading the way to a sustainable future. It is organized into 24 chapters spanning education, research, campus operations, administration, and …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Campus Climate Action and Multilevel Environmental Governance
The growing recognition that the future of the climate regime may also lie in strong local and regional initiatives (Dimitrov, et al., 2004) stems from the belief that our familiar …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Environmental sustainability plan for the University of Southern California
- University of Southern California (CA)
The purpose of this project was to compare the characteristics of environmental sustainability programs at leading institutions with those already in place, while not formalized, at the University of Southern …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Advancing Sustainability in Higher Education: New Directions for Institutional Research
This volume details sustainability issues in institutional research (IR) and covers: the sustainability challenges we face as institutions, individuals, and the particular need for educational institutions to embrace and address …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Campus Sustainability Movement: A strategic perspective
- Blekinge Institute of Technology
Society is facing a crisis of un-sustainability. The sector of higher education is well poised to support transition to a sustainable society. This thesis assesses the efforts of the Campus …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability in higher education
- Stony Brook University (NY)
Sustainability—"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (qtd. in Clugston et al., 1)—is a vitally important concept …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Will Sustainability Take Root?
- Berea College (KY)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (GA)
- Middlebury College (VT)
- University at Buffalo (NY)
- University of Florida (FL)
- AASHE (MA)
Do you know sustainability when you see it? The results of an institution’s commitment to environmental, social, and economic health are often subtle. Campus advocates and practitioners who have been …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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AASHE Digest 2006
- AASHE (MA)
Includes over 600 stories about higher education institutions that are leading the way to a sustainable future. It is organized into 8 chapters covering: 1) institutional change, 2) education and …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
- Publications
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The Greening of America's Campuses
- Berea College (KY)
- Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
- Emory University (GA)
- Portland State University (OR)
- University of South Carolina (SC)
Colleges have long marketed their campus amenities, their rosters of scholars, their selectivity and study-abroad programs. To that list, add one more thing: their green credentials. From Berea College in …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The integrative role of the campus environmental audit: experiences at Bishop's University, Canada
- Bishop's University (QC)
This paper seeks to suggest that the campus environmental audit can become an important tool that synergizes active learning and operations planning and management approaches to promote sustainability on university …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Energy Service Companies as a Component of a Comprehensive University Sustainability Strategy
- Clarion University of Pennsylvania (PA)
- Pennsylvania State University (PA)
This paper aims to quantify and critically analyze the best practices of a comprehensive environmental stewardship strategy (ESS), which included a guaranteed energy savings program (GESP) that utilized an energy …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability and the University
While universities are often depicted in the popular press as being at odds with prevailing trends in society, the opposite is far closer to the truth. The twin developments of …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Colleges Compete to Shrink Their Mark On the Environment
- Berea College (KY)
- College of the Atlantic (ME)
- Harvard University (MA)
- Princeton University (NJ)
- University at Buffalo (NY)
- Tufts University (MA)
From the College of the Atlantic's zero-waste graduation this month in Maine to Ball State University's biodiesel-powered shuttle fleet in Indiana, schools are moving in ways large and small to …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Toward a greener campus : Experiments with sustainable resource management at one Mexican university and two United States universities
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)
Modern society faces a range of difficult resource management problem like climate change, acid rain and soil depletion. To confront problems like these successfully, educational institutions, along with all other …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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AASHE Digest 2005
- AASHE (MA)
Includes almost 250 stories about higher education institutions that are leading the way to a sustainable future. It is organized into 8 chapters covering: Institutional Change; Education & Outreach; Social …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
- Publications
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We Rise to Play a Greater Part: Students, Faculty, Staff, and Community Converge in Search of Leadership from the Top
- Society for College and University Planning (MI)
In the past few years, some aspects of sustainability have become mainstream concepts in much of higher education. A growing number of students, faculty, and staff believe that sustainability principles …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Campus Sustainability Practitioners: Challenges for a New Profession
- Harvard University (MA)
The purpose of this paper is to put forward a number of ideas about the deep challenges that must be faced by campus sustainability practitioners, in the hope that it …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability
- APPA: Leadership in Educational Facilities (VA)
Themed issue of "Facilities Manager," January/February 2005. Facilities Manager brings the reader the views and experiences of the people behind the facilities operations. Articles are written by facilities professionals for …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Creating a Culture of Sustainability: How Campuses Are Taking the Lead
- Herman Miller (CO)
Colleges and universities throughout the U.S. are taking a leadership role, as it did in the space race and the war on cancer, in preparing students and providing the information …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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A campus environmental sustainability assessment for Miami University
- Miami University (OH)
In order to assess the state of Miami's environmental stewardship this author coordinated a Campus Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Miami University's operations. The assessment featured 13 indicators in three categories: …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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An overview of ecological footprinting and other tools and their application to the development of sustainability process: Audit and methodology at Holme Lacy College, UK
- Herefordshire and Ludlow College
A sustainability audit of Holme Lacy College is described. The approach adopted a “triple bottom line” assessment, comprising a number of key steps: a scoping review utilising a revised Royal …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability on Campus: Stories and Strategies for Change
- Emory University (GA)
- San Diego State University (CA)
In Sustainability on Campus campus leaders recount inspiring stories of strategies that moved eighteen colleges and universities toward a more sustainable future. This book is for faculty, students, administrators, staff, …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Getting it Done: Effective Sustainable Policy Implementation at the University Level
- Pennsylvania State University (PA)
In the last 30 years, there has been a growing awareness worldwide of the necessity to reverse the omnipresent processes of ecological degradation and biotic impoverishment and to move toward …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Critical Role of Higher Education in Creating a Sustainable Future
- Second Nature (MA)
For the first time in history, humans are pervasive and dominant forces in the health and well-being of the earth and its inhabitants. We are the first generation capable of …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability: Taking the Long View
- Society for College and University Planning (MI)
Themed issue of "Planning for Higher Education," March-May, 2003.
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainable Transportation Planning on College Campuses
In the last decade, campus planners in the US have been struggling to provide access and mobility without destroying campus qualities as distinct communities. The purpose of this paper is …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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From the State of the World to the State of the Academy: Campus Sustainability Assessment - A Bright Star on the Horizon
- Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (DC)
A Campus Sustainability Assessment (CSA) Review Project in 2000 was implemented to answer a variety of unresolved questions. How has the CSA movement, primarily in the U.S., changed over time? …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Quantitative sustainability in a college or university setting
- Yale University (CT)
Colleges and universities that adopt the attractive but abstract goal of sustainability are intellectually honest only if they go on to devise operational approaches to meet that goal. Improved environmental …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Institutional assessment tools for sustainability in higher education: strengths, weaknesses, and implications for practice and theory
- University of Michigan (MI)
This paper analyzes recent efforts to measure sustainability in higher education across institutions. The benefits of cross-institutional assessments include: identifying and benchmarking leaders and best practices; communicating common goals, experiences, …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Assessment and Policy Development in Sustainability in Higher Education with AISHE
- European Foundation for Quality Management
The European Foundation for Quality Management had developed a model for quality management, named EFQM after this organisation. As a basis, they used the Deming Quality Circle. To the parts …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Higher Education: Good for the Planet?
- Pennsylvania State University (PA)
It is clear that humans face an urgent challenge to learn how to live in a manner that does not endanger the Earth. Even as universities teach students that the …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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U.S. Progress Toward Sustainability in Higher Education
- Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (DC)
Sustainable development remains barely recognized as a significant social, economic or environmental challenge for the United States. The President's Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD) 4 was disbanded in May 1999, …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability in United States higher education: Organizational factors influencing campus environmental performance and leadership
- University of Michigan (MI)
Despite activists' calls for higher education to lead society on a sustainable path, there is little systematic guidance available for campus sustainability advocates and scholars. To address this research deficiency, …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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A Campus Environmental Audit at University of Wisconsin-River Falls
- University of Wisconsin-River Falls (WI)
In the fall of 1999, a campus environmental audit was conducted at the University of Wisconsin River-Falls (UW-RF), a coeducational, public university with an enrollment of approximately 5,800 students. The …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Greenest Campuses: an Idiosyncratic Guide
About 1,100 American colleges and universities run at least a token environmental-studies program, and many hundreds of those programs offer well-designed and useful courses. But only a drastically smaller number …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Assessing the ecological impact of a university: The ecological footprint for the University of Redlands
- University of Redlands (CA)
Since the environmental movement began, teachers, researchers, and activists on college and university campuses have made great strides toward making campuses “greener” places. As effective as these efforts have been …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Institutional ecological footprint analysis - A case study of the University of Newcastle, Australia
- The University of Newcastle (NSW)
With documented declines in the biophysical state of the planet, there is a need to develop indicators of sustainability. Ecological footprint analysis (EFA) can be considered an indicator of sustainability …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Campuses Move Toward Sustainability
- Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (DC)
Themed issue of "Priorities," Spring 2000, No. 14.
The theme of this monograph is sustainability, which is defined as development that meets the needs of present generations without compromising the …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Civic Responsibility and Higher Education
The essays in this volume center around John Dewey's mandate that American democracy requires civic engagement to realize the potential of its citizens and its communities, and that education is …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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In search of green campuses: An investigation of Canadian universities' environmental initiatives and implications for Dalhousie University
- Dalhousie University (NS)
In light of current environmental and sustainability problems, environmental responsibility makes eminent sense at universities--institutions responsible involved in research, developing new technologies, and educating future leaders and citizens. In Canada …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability and University Life
Prepared in cooperation with the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF), this book presents a number of case studies and experiences which illustrate how higher education institutions …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Students Conduct Environmental Audits for Credit and Public Service
- University at Buffalo (NY)
In 1995, undergraduate students at the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB) initiated an audit of campus practices and policies, an exemplary effort that developed into an internship-style …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability Assessment at Institutions of Higher Education
- Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (DC)
With support from the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation, ULSF has developed the Sustainability Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), a survey instrument designed to assist students, faculty members, staff and administrators in determining …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Critical Dimensions of Sustainability in Higher Education
- Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (DC)
This chapter explores the evolution of the concern for sustainability in higher education. It describes the origin of the Talloires Declaration as a guiding set of commitments for colleges and …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Greening the Ivory Tower: Improving the Environmental Track Record of Universities, Colleges, and Other Institutions
- Tufts University (MA)
Universities can teach and demonstrate environmental principles and stewardship by taking action to understand and reduce the environmental impacts of their own activities. Greening the Ivory Tower, a motivational and …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Ecodemia: Campus Environmental Stewardship at the Turn of the 21st Century
- National Wildlife Federation (VA)
At campuses around the country, staff, administrators, faculty, and students are redesigning the basic principles on which their institutions operate from day to day. The winners in this transformation are …
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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University of Kentucky Sustainability Challenge Grant Program
- University of Kentucky (KY)
The University of Kentucky Sustainability Challenge Grant program was designed to engage multidisciplinary teams from the University community in the creation and implementation of initiatives that will promote sustainability by …
- Posted June 19, 2015
- Case Studies
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The Reinvention Fund: Project Evaluation & Case Studies for Living Labs for Sustainability
- Pennsylvania State University (PA)
The Penn State Sustainability Institute created the Reinvention Fund to start an innovative "whitespace" to further transform Penn State into a Living Laboratory for Sustainability. At a time when living …
- Posted June 19, 2015
- Case Studies
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To Green and Beyond: Excellence Through Sustainability at University of Illinois at Chicago
- University of Illinois Chicago (IL)
The Sustainability Strategic Thinking process -To Green and Beyond- was undertaken to innovatively weave together the UIC Climate Action Plan and its other broad strategic plans and look beyond commonly-held …
- Posted June 11, 2015
- Case Studies
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Building a Culture of Sustainability
- Western Michigan University (MI)
Western Michigan University and its Office for Sustainability apply social learning to leverage behavior change and bridge the "gap" between people's stated aspirations for a sustainable world and their generally …
- Posted June 11, 2015
- 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.
PA 1: Sustainability Coordination
- Description of the sustainability committee(s)
- Description of the sustainability office(s)
- Description of activities and accomplishments of the institution-wide coordinating body or officer during the previous three years
- First sustainability position (upload)
- First sustainability position (text)
- Second sustainability position (upload)
- Second sustainability position (text)
- Third sustainability position (upload)
- Third sustainability position (text)
- Website URL - Sustainability Coordination
PA 2: Sustainability Coordination
- Published measurable objectives - Academics
- Published measurable objectives - Engagement
- Published measurable objectives - Operations
- Published measurable objectives - Planning & Administration
- Website URL - Highest Guiding Strategic Plan
- Sustainability plan (upload)
- Sustainability plan (website URL)
- Website URL - Sustainability planning
PA 3: Sustainability Coordination
- Description of participatory or shared governance bodies
- Percent of official members of the highest governing body that are women
- Website URL - Institution’s highest level governing body
- Description of campus-community council or equivalent body that gives external stakeholders a regular voice in institutional decisions
- Website URL - Institutional governance body
PA 4: Reporting Assurance
Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.