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.
Featured Resources
New Resources
UC San Diego vs. Preuss Ecology Club - Top Down vs Bottom Up
- University of California, San Diego (CA)
For a university like UC San Diego (UCSD), it appears that they are at the forefront of most innovative environmental projects and objectives. However, as they continue to receive national ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Institutionalization of Sustainability at Willamette University A Case Study
- Willamette University (OR)
This case study will explore how Willamette evolved from its early beginnings in environmentalism, with various independent projects throughout campus, to becoming nationally recognized for its cohesive institutions that facilitate ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Assessing UT-Austin's Roadmap to Sustainability
- University of Texas at Austin (TX)
Like many other schools and organization, The University of Texas at Austin faces a near future in which entities of all sizes are held to greater accountability for their environmental ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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AASHE Digest 2009
- AASHE (MA)
Includes over 1,250 stories that catalog a broadening and deepening commitment to campus sustainability by colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. The 380-page report categorizes stories ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability at Universities - Opportunities, Challenges and Trends
This book provides a concrete contribution towards the goal of fostering sustainability at universities, by especially focusing on opportunities, challenges and trends. It contains a wide range of papers written ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Budgeting for Energy Conservation
- University of Pennsylvania (PA)
Budgeting for Energy Conservation proposes an innovative approach to mobilize the schools and centers of the University of Pennsylvania to conserve energy. A clear and effective roadmap for the transition ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Campus Climate Planning: A Best Practices Guide
- Washington University in St. Louis (MO)
The purpose of this guide is to provide decision makers at colleges and universities with best practices for developing climate plans at their campuses in order to avert dire consequences ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustaining Campus Sustainability: Factors Leading to Success of Environmental Sustainability Initiatives in Higher Education
- Northwestern University (IL)
What factors lead to the successful implementation and ongoing success of environmental sustainability programs and policies on college campuses? To find out, one may examine institutions' self-reported successful environmental sustainability ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Campus Ecological Footprint of Carnegie Mellon University
- Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
As Carnegie Mellon University is a rapidly growing and international educational institution with more number of campus members and visitors, the impacts of the school on ecological footprint are fast ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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It's Not Easy Being Green: Assessments and Strategies for Sustainable Institutions
- Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
Colleges and universities in the United States are responsible for 3 to 9 percent of domestic climate change emissions and have about 16% of the US population currently enrolled. Bringing ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Role of Sustainability in Higher Education
- Empire State College (NY)
Colleges and universities are often thought of as the places where young people pursue their educations, graduate and then enter the work force, but they are much more. With populations ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Towards regenerative development: A methodology for university campuses to become more sustainable, with a focus on the University of South Florida
- University of South Florida (Tampa) (FL)
The administrations of several universities have developed strategies to reduce the negative environmental effects created by their institutions. Because no single, comprehensive methodology to guide institutions to sustainability exists, these ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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AASHE Digest 2008
- AASHE (MA)
Includes over 1,350 stories that illustrate the continued expansion of sustainability practices into every sector of campus. Initiatives from nearly 700 institutions are organized into 28 chapters, spanning education ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Green Campus: Meeting the Challenge of Environmental Sustainability
This sustainability anthology explores the meaning of genuine environmental sustainability—in global and local terms—while profiling excellent campus environmental programs. The book offers guidance and inspiration to campus leaders ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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University Reform in an Era of Global Warming
In order to address global warming and other environmental issues in higher education, there must be a change in the role of the university. Many of the cultural assumptions and ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Organizational networks as catalysts for strategic sustainable development
- Blekinge Institute of Technology
In an increasingly connected and interdependent world, the global sustainability challenge needs to be addressed by organizational networks from a whole-systems perspective. This study explores organizations through the lens of ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Going Green on Campus: Sustainability in Offices at Santa Clara University
- Santa Clara University (CA)
A group of students enrolled in Santa Clara University's Applied Sociology course Fall 2007 conducted both a survey and individual interviews with office administrators to collect data on what ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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A Commitment to Climate Neutrality at the University of Massachusetts Amherst: Environmental urgency and financial prudence
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)
In the past year, the ambitious goal of climate neutrality has exploded out of the higher education sustainability movement, with over 450 schools, including the entire University of Massachusetts system ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability of Western Kentucky University: An examination of environmental policy, performance, and potential for change
- Western Kentucky University (KY)
Institutions of higher learning are in a pivotal position to address the environmental problems that global society faces now, but response to this challenge requires transformation in priorities and practices ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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A community-based social marketing campaign to green the offices at Pacific University: Recycling, paper reduction and environmentally preferable purchasing
- Antioch University (OH)
This study describes a community-based social marketing (CBSM) research project to bring awareness and behavior change around paper reduction, recycling, and purchasing of environmentally preferred products (EPP) at a small ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Prototyping a campus sustainability management system
- University of California, Santa Barbara (CA)
A growing number of cities and universities have created sustainability plans that include specific environmental, social, and economic performance goals. Sustainability metrics or indicators are often used to track progress ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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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 ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Will Sustainability Take Root?
- AASHE (MA)
- Berea College (KY)
- University at Buffalo (NY)
- University of Florida (FL)
- Middlebury College (VT)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (GA)
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 ...
- 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
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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)
- University at Buffalo (NY)
- Princeton University (NJ)
- Tufts University (MA)
- Harvard University (MA)
- College of the Atlantic (ME)
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 ...
- 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
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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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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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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.