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.
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Creating a culture of firestarters: How to cultivate highly effective students
- University of Missouri (MO)
Students are an essential part of a robust campus sustainability movement. Their involvement is not only educationally valuable for them, it can also expedite your projects and allow you to …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Introduction to Sustainable Development: Creative Teaching Techniques to Connect, Engage, and Enlighten
- Appalachian State University (NC)
How do you introduce and explicate the complicated and interdisciplinary concept of Sustainable Development? This interactive presentation will explore a variety of ways to creatively and effectively teach the Gordian …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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A Sustainable Course on Sustainability
- Dickinson College (PA)
My college recently offered me the opportunity to teach a new kind of course with a new set of technological teaching tools. This class, "Thoreau, Wilderness, and American Nature Writing,"" …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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The Imperative of a Sustainable Human Resource Management Course in MBA Programs
- Kent State University (OH)
The MBA Human Resource Management core course covers all functional areas of HRM, with an emphasis on the manager's perspective and responsibilities. This session makes a case for the imperative …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Energy auditing by summer undergraduate interns
- Sewanee - The University of the South (TN)
With tight budgets, many small colleges have a hard time finding the funds to hire a consulting engineering firm to conduct energy audits and develop retrofit strategies. A way to …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Putting the Sustainability into Existing Courses
- Frostburg State University (MD)
While many courses have a potential connection to sustainability studies, developing that linkage requires additional work. For existing courses to maximize their contribution to the sustainability studies program, course revision …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Beyond the Worshops: Examples of sustainability integration across the curriculum
- University of Mount Union (OH)
The Headwaters Project is our institution's program to infuse concepts of sustainability across the curriculum. Motivated by the AASHE-supported curriculum development workshop at Emory University in January 2010, we developed …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Design Education in the Age of Ecology
- Philadelphia University (PA)
Since the year 2000, our society has faced an attack on our soil (911), a devastating hurricane (Katrina), Fossil fuel price escalation ($4/gallon), an unprecedented oil spill in the Gulf …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Sustainable Design Seminar: Using Lessons Learned from Graphic Design Studios and Think Tank
- Daemen University (NY)
A four-year seminar series in a Global and Local Sustainability program has been designed to build a diverse skill set in its graduates. Students in the program have concentrations in …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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AMS Climate Studies: A Great Primer for Green College Programs
- American Meteorological Society (DC)
As a greater number of educational institutions unveil green degree programs and reduce their environmental footprint, basic climate literacy is of utmost importance. To meet that growing demand, the American …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Building Multidisciplinary Sustainability Programs in the Comprehensive Universities
- Frostburg State University (MD)
Developing a new program frequently requires the cooperation of faculty from many different departments who face heavy demands on their time and expertise. Gaining the cooperation and commitment of faculty …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Developing Sustainability Leaders: Applying a Transformative Leadership Framework at the University of Michigan
- University of Michigan (MI)
Leading institutions of higher education are increasingly utilizing the campus as a laboratory not only for implementing "green projects" but also for developing the skill set in students to lead …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Hands-on undergraduate instruction in renewable energy; Linking student research and community partners
- Allegheny College (PA)
Students in an introductory research methods class have engaged in research projects that enable them to help evaluate various local renewable energy options. All are hands-on projects that require students …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Enabling faculty to choose to integrate environmental stewardship across the curriculum: A faculty development case study
- James Madison University (VA)
Effective faculty development programs are essential to advancing education for sustainability (EfS) initiatives, "Any efforts to increase the scale of sustainability education will rest in the hands of the faculty …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Sustainability Education: Opportunities to Embrace Leadership Development and Cross Cultural Team Building
- Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FL)
While higher education has played an influential role in various issues within American society, the depth of its persuasion must permeate the nation's path to sustainability. Incorporating sustainability into the …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Incorporating Sustainability into the Phonetics Classroom
- San Diego State University (CA)
This presentation illustrates how concepts of sustainability were introduced into a course on phonetics for students pursuing degrees in speech-language pathology and audiology. This course, which is required by our …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Living and Learning in a Passive House Residence Hall
- Unity Environmental University (ME)
In the fall of 2011, ten students will move into a unique campus residence, TerraHaus, the first American college residence designed to meet the Passive House standard, the highest international …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Energy Management in the Curriculum: The ENERGY STAR Course for Colleges and Universities
- American University (DC)
- Cadmus Group, Inc. (FL)
Understanding the fundamentals of energy management is a marketable skill in any economic climate. Further, understanding the means to and metrics of energy efficiency, and how policy decisions intertwine with …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Where do I start? Resources available for the academic study of sustainablity in higher education
- Ball State University (IN)
For the student of higher education, entering the world of sustainability can be quite overwhelming. This presentation provides a review of academic resources available for the student of sustainability in …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Getting Closer: The Librarian, the Curriculum and the Office of Sustainability
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)
As teachers of critical thinking and sound reasoning, academic librarians play a vital role in supporting sustainability across the curriculum. Seasoned consolidators and distributors of information, librarians also bring a …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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A Service Learning Course that Engages a Student Workforce to Help Implement Stanford's Sustainability Programs
- Stanford University (CA)
As a leader in resource management, demonstrated through infrastructural improvements and efficiency programs, Stanford has great potential to couple operational achievements with program-based local actions that promote both resource conservation …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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A Course on Consumption and the Environment as an Entry Point to Practicing Sustainability
- University of Oklahoma (OK)
Two colleagues have taught an introductory freshman level course titled Consumption and the Environment for the last 7 years. This freshman level course is a requirement for the environmental studies …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Building an Electric Car in the Classroom - An Experiment in Project Based Learning
- Alfred State College (NY)
In the fall semester of 2010 a class of seventh semester seniors in the Alfred State College Mechanical Engineering Technology program successfully produced a road legal, all-electric vehicle from a …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Creating a B.S. in Sustainability Science Program
- Kean University (NJ)
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, the New York Times, USA Today, and The Chronicle of Higher Education have all suggested that sustainability is a major of increasing interest among …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Creating a Sustainable University and Community through a Common Experience
- Texas State University, San Marcos (TX)
In a large university, it would seem impossible to engage thousands of people on a single theme for an entire academic year-but one institution in central Texas is doing so. …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Science at the Service of Society
- Duquesne University (PA)
Science continues to evolve and expand. As it does, some major areas of Service Learning turn out to be multi-disciplinary in nature. This seminar is designed to help university students …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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From Vision to Implementation: Developing an Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Urban Sustainability
- Antioch University, New England (NH)
How does a university contribute to the development of a sustainable and livable urban community? In 2006, members of the Antioch University Los Angeles faculty envisioned a program that would …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Enforced Dependency in Globalized Political Economy
- Prescott College (AZ)
This presentation examines mutually- and self-reinforcing systems of concentrated political and economic power of neoliberal globalization. The presenter defines the concept of enforced dependency and then analyzes the structural and …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Living and Learning Sustainability: Pedagogy and Praxis in Sustainability Education
- Prescott College (AZ)
The presenter offers a summary of her recent dissertation in Sustainability Education within which she develops a critical pedagogy of sustainability and promotes its application in higher education. This pedagogy …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Student Engagement around Sustainability through Visual Art
- Columbia College Chicago (IL)
Students play an important roll in how the message of sustainability will addressed in the near future. As a way to engage fellow students in conversation, we want to display …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Graduate student workshop on sustainability across the curriculum
- University of Florida (FL)
Based on the Ponderosa and Piedmont Projects the first Prairie Project workshop was held in the summer of 2010. This two-day workshop drew together thirty faculty members from diverse fields …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Developing a Service Learning Course on Sustainability Focused Nonprofit Organizations
- Dickinson College (PA)
The objective of this service learning course offered during the fall 2010 term was to generally provide students with a clearer understanding of the ways nonprofit organizations individually and collectively …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Engaging Students to Generate a Zero Plus Campus
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
The Zero Plus Campus Project (Z+ Project) is developing an innovative interdisciplinary curriculum focused on modeling the integrated performance of buildings in the landscape to regenerate the campus environment with …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Top Down, Bottom Up, Institution Wide: Coordinating & Growing Education for Sustainability Across a University
- Victoria University (Victoria)
How does Education for Sustainability (EfS) become embedded in the courses and programs of a University? Victoria University is a multi-campus, dual sector tertiary institution based in the West of …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Integrating Education for Sustainability into Sport and Recreation Management
- Victoria University (Victoria)
The baseline of successful Education for Sustainability (EfS) in Higher Education is the integration into subjects and courses learning and teaching that will provide students with the knowledge, skills and …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Teaching Ecological Citizenship within the Sustainability Curriculum
- Ohio University (OH)
Implicit in the discourse on sustainability is the need for ecological citizenship. Universities engaged in broad sustainability initiatives are well positioned to foster ecological citizenship norms through example and experiential …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Place-Based Sustainability Literacy: Using the Kanawha Model to Advance a University-wide Dialogue
- Ohio University (OH)
As universities implement comprehensive sustainability plans and work to build institutional cultures of sustainability a major challenge is developing a collective understanding of sustainability throughout the university community. Sustainability literacy …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Planning Campus Climate Action in a Service Learning Course
- Dickinson College (PA)
In spring semester 2011, students in the Sustainability Practicum course offered at our college were charged by our President's Commission on Environmental Sustainability with reviewing the college's climate action plan, …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Semester Immersion in Climate Change Science, Ecological History and Human Dimensions
- Dickinson College (PA)
We are team teaching an interdisciplinary program in fall 2011 in which a dozen students and three faculty members will immerse themselves in explorations of the science, human and ecological …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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The Library as a Partner in Creating Curriculum for Sustainability
- University of Florida (FL)
Libraries play a central role in institutions of higher education and are dependent upon the educational objectives of these institutions. With the increasing focus on teaching sustainability across the curriculum …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Laboratory for a Sustainable Energy Course
- Eastern Connecticut State University (CT)
At our university all students are required to complete a general education science lecture course, a science and society lecture course, and a laboratory course that accompanies one of these …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Group Projects for a Sustainability Symposium
- Eastern Connecticut State University (CT)
Since we have 240 students enrolled in sections of the introductory sustainable energy course and 40 sustainable energy studies majors in upper division courses, we put on a Sustainability Symposium …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Assessment of Competency-based Sustainability Learning to Foster Systems Thinking and Critical Thinking
- Michigan State University (MI)
A land-grant university launched a competency-based undergraduate sustainability program in fall 2010. The approach reflects an emphasis on fostering the learning paradigm that links the domains of learner, assessment, knowledge …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Sustainability beyond the campus with service-learning: Case study with village street trees
- Colgate University (NY)
The Environmental Studies Program at our university is emphasizing community-based service and research in a recently-revised curriculum. A required service-learning course connects students with the sustainability mission of our institution …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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A Framework for Integrating Sustainability Education, Research, Engagement, and Operations through Experiential Learning
- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (IL)
- CHA (NY)
This paper summarizes the University of Illinois' four-step strategy for experiential learning, integrating research, education, engagement, and operations. As a first step in this strategy, a task force created a …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Student Designed Sustainability Curriculum Intended to Create Shift in Campus Culture
- Babson College (MA)
Creating a culture of sustainability is a challenge for all colleges. The Eco Reps here recognized this problem and strived to create a solution to generate a positive culture of …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Internships to Implement Institutional Change: Sustainability on a Shoestring
- Ohio Dominican University (OH)
While many institutions are developing sustainability offices or hiring sustainability coordinators, economic constraints may play a role in limiting this option for all universities. In order to begin institutional reporting, …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Weaving Sustainability Education through the Undergraduate Curriculum
- Ohio Dominican University (OH)
As centers of education, research, and outreach, universities have the potential to become the catalyst in a change to more sustainable societies. The university provides a learning laboratory for combining …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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An Interdisciplinary Sustainability Coordinator Associate of Applied Science at Lane Community College
- Lane Community College (OR)
The Sustainability Coordinator Associate of Applied Science is an interdisciplinary degree developed through a collaborative process. It is the first program of its kind in the nation. Unlike other, discipline-specific …
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Using STARS to transform sustainability pedagogy
- Pennsylvania State University (PA)
STARS is being adopted across the country by institutions wishing to assess sustainability initiatives in education, operations, and research. A key attribute of STARS educational assessment is the classification of …
- Posted Feb. 26, 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.
AC 1: Academic Courses
- Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings
- Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings
- Inventory of sustainability course offerings (upload)
- Website URL - Sustainability course offerings
AC 2: Learning Outcomes
- Description of institution level sustainability learning outcomes
- List of degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability
- Percentage of students who graduate from programs that require an understanding of sustainability
- Website URL - Sustainability learning outcomes
AC 3: Undergraduate Program
- First sustainability-focused undergraduate degree program
- Second sustainability-focused undergraduate degree program
- Third sustainability-focused undergraduate degree program
- First sustainability-focused undergraduate minor or concentration
- Second sustainability-focused undergraduate minor or concentration
- Third sustainability-focused undergraduate minor or concentration
AC 4: Graduate Program
- First sustainability-focused graduate-level degree program
- Second sustainability-focused graduate-level degree program
- Third sustainability-focused graduate-level degree program
- First sustainability-focused graduate-level minor or concentration
- Second sustainability-focused graduate-level minor or concentration
- Third sustainability-focused graduate-level minor or concentration
AC 5: Immersive Experience
- Description of the sustainability-focused immersive program(s)
- Second sustainability-focused graduate-level degree program
- Third sustainability-focused graduate-level degree program
AC 6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment
- Copy of the sustainability literacy assessment (upload)
- Copy of the sustainability literacy assessment (description)
- Website URL - Assessment of sustainability literacy
AC 7: Incentives for Developing Courses
- Description of the course development incentives
- Website URL - Incentives for developing sustainability courses
AC 8: Campus as a Living Laboratory
Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.