Curriculum

Introduction

One of the primary functions of colleges and universities is to educate students. By training and educating future leaders, scholars, workers, and professionals; higher education institutions are uniquely positioned to understand and address sustainability challenges. Institutions that offer courses covering sustainability issues help equip their students to lead society to a sustainable future.

7980 resources

Sustainability Course Designation: Values and Best Practices

  • Dickinson College (PA)

Dickinson is leading the way in integrating sustainability across the curriculum. As an innovative liberal arts college, over 96% of our Class of '15 students have taken sustainability-focused and related ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Generating Hope and Agency in Education for Sustainability Through Communities of Praxis

  • Manhattanville College (NY)

Recently, the Journal for Sustainability Education has called for research on education practices that generate hope and agency in our students and work against hopelessness. Dr. Tina Evans reminds us ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Designing and Assessing Sustainability Learning Outcomes

  • Portland State University (OR)

How can we ensure that our educational offerings lead to sustainability competencies? This workshop will support participants in designing learning outcomes (LOs) and assessment plans. The presenters' diverse perspectives make ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Teaching Systemic Sustainability through a Local Lens: A Minnesota Experience in Engaging Students with the Greater Community

  • Prescott College (AZ)

One critical component of sustainability education is to help students understand the interconnectedness of environmental and social justice issues. The intersection of sustainability education, service learning, and social justice offers ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Transforming Student Leadership in Sustainability through Integrative Learning

  • University of South Carolina (SC)

Pressure is mounting for institutions to graduate students in four years with jobs. As professionals in higher education, how do we help students turn their academic content into currency? The ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Retention, Graduate Rates, and Sustainability Literacy

  • Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (IL)

In the current climate of increased governmental oversight of higher education and fiscal downturns, retention and graduation rates are being emphasized as key markers of an institution's success. Meanwhile ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Assessing the Kinnickinnick Project at River Falls: Sustainability Curriculum Transformation at Five Years

  • University of Wisconsin-River Falls (WI)

After five years of Sustainability Fellows Workshops, the sustainability curriculum at UWRF has grown to prominence with its own identity as The Kinnickinnick Project (named after the River Falls' local ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Professor Sustainability Coordinator': Maximizing the Potential of the Multiple Roles of the Sustainability Professional

  • Bowling Green State University (OH)

Question: Where does the line between full-time Sustainability Professional and Faculty Member teaching about sustainability begin? Answer: There is no line! This case study presents a successful model for strengthening ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Sustainability Education: A Pedagogy of Complexity

  • Ohio University (OH)

College graduates entering the work force increasingly are confronted with 'wicked' sustainability issues regardless of profession. In response, models of instruction that transcend disciplinary boundaries are emerging in higher education ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Sustainability Blitz for a Rapid Diffusion Across the Curriculum

  • Skyline College (CA)
  • Strategic Energy Innovations (CA)

The time is now for addressing sustainability education across the curriculum. While there remain plenty of barriers to doing so – overburdened faculty, lack of interdisciplinary coordination, misaligned incentive structures – there ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Fostering Change through a Team-Taught First Year Sustainable Living and Learning Community

  • Hobart and William Smith Colleges (NY)

This session will overview the goals, structure, and implementation of a unique two-semester sustainability learning community for first year students at a liberal arts college in upstate New York. A ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Achieving Sustainability-related Employment- How School of Sustainability at ASU achieves success in employment for graduates.

  • Arizona State University (AZ)

The desired end result is career employment for graduates with degrees in sustainability. Yet we continually hear that green jobs and opportunities are limited and stagnant at best. At the ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Experiential, Community-based Learning and Sustainability Assessment: A Field Skills Course for Professional Degree Students

  • University of Saskatchewan (SK)

In 2014, the School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, launched a week-long field course for its professional Master of Sustainable Environmental Management program. Previously separate ecological and social ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

A Call to Action Revisited: A Sustainability Challenge

  • Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (IL)

Since 2010, AASHE member organizations have achieved a lot in terms of making their campuses more sustainable - progress that is now quantifiable based on the STARS assessment. Yet although the ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Mapping Campus Connections: Using GIS Story Maps as part of Place-based, Art-led Environmental Education

  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
  • River's Edge Academy (MN)
  • National Park Service (DC)

Place-based, art-led environmental education can engage students and community with the immediate world around them and help them make connections between local sustainability issues in a community and global context ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Re-thinking Options for Curriculum and Faculty Development: How will we take it to the next level?

  • Antioch University, New England (NH)
  • University of Florida (FL)
  • University of Pennsylvania (PA)

The three organizers/presenters are university faculty and staff who have functional roles as researcher, sustainability director and sustainability practitioner. Coming from diverse institutions and disciplinary backgrounds, each organizer/presenter ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Educating Energy Professionals of the Future

  • The Ohio State University (OH)
  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
  • Xcel Energy

What's needed in our programs to educate future energy leaders? How will the gap of 50% of the utility workforce retiring in the next decade be filled? How can ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

High Impact Leadership Trips: Student-Led Experiential Learning

  • Concordia College (NY)

In 2012, Concordia College students organized an alternative spring break trip to Kentucky focused on how people are trying to stop mountaintop removal coal mining. This was so successful that ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Sustainability Science in Curriculum and the Campus Decision-making Plan

  • University of Hawaii Maui College (HI)

Sustainability science requires the use of systems thinking skills and problem driven analysis to address the need for broad, holistic responses to persistent societal problems. This presentation will 1) describe ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

A World Café: Transforming University of Washington Sustainability Education

  • University of Washington, Seattle (WA)

Have you ever been inspired by new ideas while sharing a cup of coffee with a friend or colleague? The World Café methodology creates opportunities for the generation of inspirational ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Educating About Feeding the World Sustainably: Agroecosystems of the World

  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)

This panel discussion will (virtually) bring together instructors collaborating on a course offered at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities titled 'Agroecosystems of the World.' The course evaluates agroecosystems in ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Undergraduate Community Engagement in the Service of Sustainability: Connecting the ACTC Consortium with the City of St. Paul

  • University of St. Thomas (MN)

In this session we will describe our experience leveraging the strengths of multiple institutions and engaging undergraduate students in project-based learning to improve the environmental sustainability of our city. The ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

CLICS: Using Cyber-infrastructure to Bring Data from Campus Sustainability Efforts into the Classroom

  • Clarkson University (NY)

CLICS (Cyber-Learning Infrastructure for Campus Sustainability) is a cyber-learning tool developed to transform data from campus sustainability projects in a way that can be used in a wide variety of ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

The Evolution of a Campus as a Living Lab Grant Program

  • California State University, Chancellor's Office (CA)

This session will introduce the California State University Campus as a Living Lab Initiative, the grant program designed to support sustainability in the curriculum. With two years of experience running ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Designing A Systems Based Curriculum to Develop 21st Century Sustainability Literacy and Communication

  • Prescott College (AZ)

This interactive and innovative dissertation case study challenges the status-quo of modern education by offering a new model based off of living systems design. By identifying linear and industrial design ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

UBC Sustainability Scholars Program: Sustainability Internships as Drivers of Change

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Offered in collaboration with both on- and off-campus sustainability partners, the UBC Sustainability Scholars Program is designed to provide UBC graduate level students - regardless of their academic discipline - practical sustainability ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Integrating community-based learning into the sustainability classroom: A practical, collaborative approach

  • University of South Dakota (SD)

Experiential learning is critical in sustainability because these hands-on, interactive experiences are often the most transformative of a student's formal education. Engaging students outside of the classroom can foster ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Including spirituality in the curriculum without conflicting with established beliefs systems

  • University of Northern Colorado (CO)

Industrially developed nations, especially the USA, are showing a renewed search for spirituality, which seems to be a reaction to a materialistic consumer lifestyle, characterized by high levels of individualism ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Scaling applied learning across campus and into the community

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Portland State University (OR)

This workshop will start by outlining the national context of applied and experiential learning sustainability programs – identifying where universities and colleges are expanding the offerings provided to students and accelerating ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Galvanizing Gaia: A Social Incubator for Women Leaders and Innovators (2015)

  • Prescott College (AZ)

Join in the creation of a supportive context for women sustainability entrepreneurs and campus program innovators to move from idea to action with their regenerative project ideas. This dynamic half-day ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Urban Farming: A Community Engaged Program

  • Delta College (MI)

As we sought a source for our campus food waste, we realized the impetus for a new learning series. Delta College was a natural fit for a start-up food hub ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

When School and Community Dance Together: Lessons learned from University and Government collaboration

  • Florida International University (FL)
  • Nova Southeastern University (FL)

Inspired by a 2014 AASHE presentation, the W. Huizenga Business School of Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University contacted 4-STAR rated Broward County to explore ways to connect the sustainability goals ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Experiential Learning: A Win-Win-Win for Higher Education, Communities, and Sustainability

  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
  • City of Saint Anthony Village (MN)

This panel discussion provides an inspiring and informative overview of how the University of Minnesota's capstone course in its sustainability minor program has successfully built an ongoing and collaborative ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Teaching and Learning Sustainable Chemistry K-16: From Classroom Application and Analysis to Assessment and Refinement

  • Colorado State University (CO)

This presentation explores aspects of 'sustainable chemistry.' The research assesses the challenges of 'teaching sustainable chemistry' in K-16 classrooms through an experimental course, CHEM/EDUC580 at Colorado State University with ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Integrating Chemistry and Sustainability Using Guided Inquiry Learning and Project Based Labs

  • Stony Brook University (NY)

With support from a National Science Foundation (NSF) Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (TUES) grant and working with three colleagues from Stony Brook University's Sustainability ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

A Campus Tree Inventory: An Interdisciplinary, Multi-Class, Mega-Lab Project

  • Furman University (SC)

Trees provide a number of valuable ecosystem services, including reducing stormwater runoff, increasing air and water quality, storing and sequestering atmospheric carbon, and reducing energy consumption due to direct shading ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

The Institute for Green and Sustainable Science: An EPA model program in cross-disciplinary sustainability education

  • Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) (IN)
  • Marian University (IN)

The Institute for Green and Sustainable Science (IGSS) is a research, education, and outreach center engaging in the study of sustainability issues, particularly in ecology, green chemistry, and energy science ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Transforming Sustainability Education through Public Art

  • University of Virginia (VA)

Public art can powerfully transform sustainability education, though it is typically excluded from comprehensive discussions that include science, technology, or economics. Public art projects are an excellent way for students ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Sustainability Studies: Not Your Traditional Major or Minor

  • Frostburg State University (MD)

Sustainability Studies does not fit well as a traditional academic major. While sustainability studies requires a unique set of skills, experiences, values and perspectives, it will not have the desired ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Living with Our Changing Climate

  • American Meteorological Society (DC)

Earth's climate is inherently variable, but is currently changing at rates unprecedented in recent Earth history. Human activity plays a major role in this change and is projected to ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Incorporating Life Cycle Analysis into Campus Dining

  • University of Missouri (MO)

The environmental impacts associated with food production have been well-documented through Life cycle analyses (LCA). LCA of food products have focused largely on individual food items. However, very little work ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Assessing student learning outcomes for sustainability

  • University of South Dakota (SD)

Colleges and universities are increasingly developing sustainability majors, minors, certificates, and specializations. Because sustainability is an interdisciplinary area of study and coursework for sustainability programs often draws from multiple disciplines ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Making meaningful curricular connections to campus operations and community initiatives

  • Carleton College (MN)

Using the campus or the local community as a living lab is a powerful approach to teaching sustainability, providing students the opportunity to better understand environmental issues in their real-world ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

What role can moral agency & collective efficacy play in college-level science education? Defining new territory

  • Northern Arizona University (AZ)

This proposal will look at the role of moral agency and collective efficacy when thinking about environmental sustainability issues, within college-level science education. We will look at reports from scientists ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Open-Ended Cases for Improving Farm Sustainability

  • Dordt College (IA)
  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)

The method of open-ended cases is an ideal format for students when they are analyzing the sustainability of a farm. Students learn about several of methods used for analyzing an ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Geodesign as a collaborative framework for campus-centered sustainability modeling, education and community engagement

  • Colorado College (CO)

Geodesign, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based framework, offers the means to assemble multiple place-based perspectives that are foundational to sustainability across the curriculum. We offer the example of an ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Ensnared by the Mouse Trap: Constraints in Sustainable Design

  • Daemen University (NY)

Finding sustainable solutions to address today's challenges can be difficult when we are too focused on an existing object or system as a starting point. Students in our Sustainability ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

A Collaborative Teaching Approach: Mindful Writing and Drawing to Understand Culture & Place Based Identity

  • Colorado Mountain College (CO)

This interactive session focuses on best practices in collaborative teaching and learning, specifically directed at the melding of writing and drawing as processes of discovery in culture and place- based ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Competitive Edge: Student Leadership and Professional Development Through Campus Competition

  • California State University, Chico (CA)
  • American University (DC)
  • Claremont McKenna College (CA)
  • GreenerU (MA)
  • U.S. Green Building Council (DC)
  • Atrius (CA)

For the last five years, Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN), the nation's largest electricity and water reduction competition on college campuses, has engaged hundreds of thousands of students, faculty and ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

Using Green Chemistry to Introduce and Promote Sustainability in the Chemistry Curriculum and Profession

  • St. Olaf College (MN)
  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
  • Minnesota Green Chemistry Forum (MN)
  • Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NY)
  • Beyond Benign (MA)

Through its guiding principles, green chemistry provides a means for introducing topics of sustainability, ethics, and human health and safety into chemistry and related STEM curricula. It is the science ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
  • View more

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.

AC 1: Academic Courses

AC 2: Learning Outcomes

AC 3: Undergraduate Program

AC 4: Graduate Program

AC 5: Immersive Experience

AC 6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

AC 7: Incentives for Developing Courses

AC 8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.

Curriculum Partners