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.
Featured Resources
Latest News from AASHE Bulletin
New Resources
Catalyzing Careers in Sustainability: Benefits of Community Engaged Course Design
- Indiana University South Bend (IN)
As Nathan Hensley of Bowling Green State University described in the March 24, 2017 issue of The Journal of Sustainability Education, sustainability education should be based on 'transformative, experiential, and …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Growing Strong Leaders: A Collaborative Approach
- Dartmouth College (NH)
Sustainability problems are intersectional and multi-faceted. Solving these problems will require collaboration between stakeholders working in different sectors and communities, and using different strategies. Our approach to training changemakers and …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Advancing University Sustainability via a Co-Creative Process of Assessing Barriers & Change Drivers
- Kennesaw State University (GA)
Higher education institutions increasingly aim to integrate sustainability at all levels including students, faculty, staff, and the larger community. However, universities also face barriers to enacting change towards greater sustainability, …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Institutionalizing Sustainability Literacy: Leveraging Opportunities for Sustainable Development
- College of Charleston (SC)
Creating leveraging opportunities for institutionalizing sustainability is a pervasive issue for institutions of higher education. This presentation will discuss various potential barriers encountered at the College of Charleston and how …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Learn to Lead the World Climate Simulation, a Mock UN Climate Negotiation
- University of Massachusetts Lowell (MA)
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
Learn to lead a World Climate Simulation - a mock United Nations (UN) climate negotiation meeting - on your campus or community. As a facilitator for the World Climate Simulation, …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Co-Creating a Sustainable Economy Through Climate Adaptation Strategies
- University of Dayton (OH)
This session will provide the audience applicable lessons and ideas on how to integrate learning opportunities of a sustainable economy into the curriculum. While informing and inspiring attendees on cutting …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Grading practices of international instructors at research universities
- University of Missouri (MO)
This project contributes to the literature on diversity management at universities through the examination of differences in grading practices between international and domestic instructors. Like incoming international students, international instructors …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Envisioning Higher Education for Sustainability AFTER the Sh*t Hits the Fan
- West Chester University of Pennsylvania (PA)
The purpose of this session is to engage the AASHE audience in a thought experiment aimed at identifying alternative strategic priorities for higher education sustainability programs. The starting point for …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Campus As A Living Lab: Integrating Academics and Facility Operations to Work Toward Common Goals
- University of Utah (UT)
It is an often understood idea that campuses across the nation allow themselves to become a laboratory for student ideas, especially in the field of applied sustainability. Unfortunately, larger universities …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Sustainable Campuses: Integrating Sustainability into Your Institution
- Audubon International (NY)
Colleges and universities can advance sustainability applications and student learning opportunities by taking an active role in sustainability initiatives that can provide on-campus benefits for improved curriculum and recruiting. This …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Arrive as Intern, Depart Further on the Path to Sustainabilista
- Auburn University (AL)
What should sustainability interns know about sustainability, change agentry, and their capacities to lead change initiatives by the time they leave the internship? What can sustainability offices do to send …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Blueprints for Breaking Silos: Pathways to Engage Faculty, Staff and Students in Campus Living Labs
- University of Georgia (GA)
- University of British Columbia (BC)
Presenters will share pathways, frameworks, and methods for engaging diverse faculty, staff, and students in using the campus as a living laboratory through examples of impactful research collaborations from the …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Demonstrating the Return on Investment of Campus as a Living Lab: Case Studies From the Field
- Orange Coast College (CA)
- San Mateo County Community College District Office (CA)
- Skyline College (CA)
- Strategic Energy Innovations (CA)
- University of California, Merced (CA)
Realizing the promise of campus and community as living laboratories for students can seem like the ultimate goal. Done well, these applied learning pathways offer significant returns to students, campus …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Balancing Effort With Productivity--Lessons Learned in Managing an Impactful Intern Program
- University of Mississippi (MS)
Whether you manage an established intern program or are faced with the daunting task of starting one from scratch, you have likely acknowledged the effort and time commitment it requires. …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
The Sustainable Development Goals: Needs and Challenges for Student-Led Implementation
- University of British Columbia (BC)
The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework is meant to provide a universal roadmap to end poverty and engage nations across the globe on common global issues. Student-led activation …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
A Model for Higher Education Involvement in Land Conservation: The ALPINE Network
- Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (MA)
With their academic roots, the authors of the Wildlands and Woodlands vision recognized that an untapped source of energy, skill, and commitment for land protection lies with the constituents of …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Implementing Sustainable Event Practices In Residential Housing Curriculum
- University of South Carolina (SC)
Implementing Sustainability practices in University Housing residential curriculum can be a daunting task. Working with resident mentors and residence life coordinators to implement sustainability curriculum that works with their goals …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
How Residential Curriculum Can Help You Reach More Students, Faster
- University of Colorado Boulder (CO)
First implemented in early 2000 as a curricular approach to the residential experience on college campuses, Residential Curriculum has swept across the US and changed the way many branches of …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Integrating Sustainability into Campus Administration and Student Government
- University of Central Florida (FL)
This study outlines and portrays the ways by which the University of Central Florida's Office of Sustainability Initiatives (UCF SI) is partnering with the UCF Student Government (UCF SG) and …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
The Collaboratory: Engaging Students to Solve Authentic Problems and Create Tangible Solutions
- Pierce College (CA)
The Collaboratory at Los Angeles Pierce College is an interdisciplinary hub where faculty, students and community stakeholders work together to develop tangible solutions to authentic problems. Environmental sustainability is the …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Sustainable Living Student Communities
- Furman University (SC)
Does your institution have a dedicated sustainable living student community in which students live together and strive to live more sustainable lifestyles? What curricular and co-curricular programming is offered as …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Educational Terroir: The Power of Place in Program Development
- Dartmouth College (NH)
The Dartmouth Sustainability Office has continually worked to pursue sustainability solutions that build upon the unique strengths and opportunities of our setting. Our programs increasingly draw upon the unique cultural …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Role of Higher Education in the Transition to a Circular Economy
- Ellen MacArthur Foundation
The transition to a circular economy requires us to transform the way we create products, services and systems and this is necessarily dependent on how individuals, teams and organisations learn …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Addressing the Challenge of Faculty/Staff Participation in Living Lab Campus Projects
- Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (Hong Kong)
Living lab projects rightly focus on student participation. However, campuses are places where everyone - from members of the cleaning staff to the most seasoned faculty member - can learn …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
STARS as a Meaningful Student Learning Opportunity
- Weber State University (UT)
- Westminster University - Utah (UT)
- Williams College (MA)
Engaging students in the STARS process can provide valuable student learning and ease the data collection burden on sustainability staff. This interactive panel discussion offers examples and lessons learned from …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Sustainable Architecture and Initiatives: Lessons from Integrating Sustainability on Campus
- University of Houston (TX)
- Kirksey Architecture (TX)
University campuses are living laboratories -- testing grounds for sustainability strategies that can translate to the larger communities within which the campuses reside. For communities of all sizes, integrated sustainability …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Introducing Fitwel: Practical Applications & Learning Opportunities to Advance Campus Wellness
- University of Alberta (AB)
- Stantec Consulting, Ltd. (WA)
This session introduces Fitwel, a third-party health-focused rating system which utilizes evidence-based design approaches to promote positive health impacts across the built environment. Fitwel emerged at the same time as …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Bentley University's LEED Platinum Ice Arena: A Business School's Teaching Tool
- Bentley University (MA)
- ARC Resources Ltd (AB)
- Thornton Tomasetti (ME)
Bentley University's new, state-of-the-art ice arena hosts the university's NCAA Division I hockey team. The Bentley Arena has been dubbed the most sustainable standalone ice arena in the nation, earning …
- Posted Dec. 4, 2019
- Conference Presentations
- View more
Sustainability Education Curriculum Mapping and Assessment Planning
- University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI)
- AASHE (MA)
The interdisciplinary field of sustainability programs is trending at many institutions. Assessments of programs is part of that reality to be in compliance with the Higher Learning Commissions and the …
- Posted Nov. 7, 2019
- Videos & Webinars
- View more
Learning for a Change: Exploring the Relationship Between Education and Sustainable Development
- University of Bath
- South West Learning for Sustainability Coalition
Whether we view sustainable development as our greatest challenge or a subversive litany, every phase of education is now being urged to declare its support for education for sustainable development …
- Posted Nov. 7, 2019
- Publications
- View more
The action competence approach and the ‘new’ discourses of education for sustainable development, competence and quality criteria
- University College South Denmark
Action competence has been a key concept in educational circles in Denmark since the 1980s. This paper explores the relationship between the action competence approach and recent discourses of education …
- Posted Nov. 6, 2019
- Publications
- View more
Business ethics, CSR, sustainability and the MBA
- University of Ulster
The issues of business ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability have come to attract increasing attention in management education in recent years, at least from the perspective of potential employers, …
- Posted Nov. 6, 2019
- Publications
- View more
Renewable energy education: A global status review
- Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
- Strömstad Academy
Need for renewable energy education and training at all levels is globally recognized. During the last three decades a large number of countries across the globe have initiated academic programmes …
- Posted Nov. 6, 2019
- Publications
- View more
Universities as Potential Actors for Sustainable Development
- Technische Universität Kaiserslautern
Universities can contribute to the solutions of major challenges of the 21st century such as increasing environmental and socio-economic crises, inequalities of income and wealth and political instabilities by integrating …
- Posted Nov. 6, 2019
- Publications
- View more
Sustainability Curriculum in UK University Sustainability Reports
- Oxford Brookes University
One of the major barriers to incorporating sustainability in the higher education (HE) curriculum is its absence from the university sustainability strategy, the annual reflection of which is the annual …
- Posted Nov. 6, 2019
- Publications
- View more
Sustainability in Higher Education
- Elsevier
Support in higher education is an emerging area of great interest to professors, researchers and students in academic institutions. Sustainability in Higher Education provides discussions on the exchange of information …
- Posted Nov. 6, 2019
- Publications
- View more
Identifying effective climate change education strategies: a systematic review of the research
- University of Florida (FL)
Increased interest in climate change education and the growing recognition of the challenges inherent to addressing this issue create an opportunity to conduct a systematic review to understand what research …
- Posted Nov. 6, 2019
- Publications
- View more
Chemistry BS
- First Technical University
In tandem with the vision of the University, ”to be a world-class institution that is fully grounded in entrepreneurial practices, unique innovation, sustainability science and commitment to international best practices”, …
- Posted Nov. 6, 2019
- Academic Programs
- View more
Applied Community Development (MA)
- Future Generations University (WV)
Future Generations University Promotes Research Learning and Action for Inclusive and Sustainable Change Worldwide. The university offers a program in applied community development with a flexible learning environment. Students choose …
- Posted Nov. 6, 2019
- Academic Programs
- View more
Ecological Economics MBA
- Nord University
The MBA in Ecological Economics is aimed at candidates holding bachelor degrees in other fields than economics and leadership who wish to take a master level programme learning about ecological …
- Posted Nov. 6, 2019
- Academic Programs
- View more
Social Innovation MA
- Grand Valley State University (MI)
The Professional Master of Arts in Social Innovation at Grand Valley State University is designed to prepare graduate students to be change agents who will foster and lead innovation throughout …
- Posted Nov. 6, 2019
- Academic Programs
- View more
Sustainable Development Goals and Institutions of Higher Education
- University of South Africa
This volume brings together both theoretical and case study based contributions to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Institutions of Higher Education (IHE), presenting an impactful combination …
- Posted Oct. 4, 2019
- Publications
- View more
Water Management and Hydrological Science (PhD)
- Texas A&M University (TX)
This degree is designed to give students a comprehensive knowledge of water science and hydrology and provide training in methods of research. Each student must have a chair before acceptance …
- Posted Sept. 30, 2019
- Academic Programs
- View more
Geosciences (MGsc)
- Texas A&M University (TX)
The Master of Geoscience is designed for students who want a broad background in the Geosciences at the graduate level. It is a non-thesis program intended to provide a science …
- Posted Sept. 30, 2019
- Academic Programs
- View more
Geography (PhD)
- Texas A&M University (TX)
A master's of science is a required to apply as a Ph.D. student. PhD students (64 hours) are expected to pass Preliminary Exams in their fourth semester and obtain the …
- Posted Sept. 30, 2019
- Academic Programs
- View more
Geography (MS)
- Texas A&M University (TX)
A bachelor’s degree is a prerequisite. Many applicants have a degree in geography, but many degree specializations are appropriate depending upon a student's interests. The M.S. program (32 credit hours …
- Posted Sept. 30, 2019
- Academic Programs
- View more
Atmospheric Sciences (PhD)
- Texas A&M University (TX)
Work leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is designed to give the candidate a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of his or her professional field and training in …
- Posted Sept. 30, 2019
- Academic Programs
- View more
Atmospheric Sciences (MS)
- Texas A&M University (TX)
Thesis and non-thesis Master of Science as well as Doctor of Philosophy degrees are offered in atmospheric sciences. Students from disciplines other than meteorology are encouraged to enroll in our …
- Posted Sept. 30, 2019
- Academic Programs
- View more
Meteorology Minor
- Texas A&M University (TX)
Students of other disciplines, such as chemistry or mathematics, may complete a minor in meteorology by taking a minimum of 16 hours in Atmospheric Sciences or upper division geosciences. GEOS …
- Posted Sept. 30, 2019
- Academic Programs
- View more
Meteorology (BS)
- Texas A&M University (TX)
From tornadoes to hurricanes, from winter storms to droughts, the atmosphere affects our lives and livelihoods in ways both big and small. In the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, undergraduate students …
- Posted Sept. 30, 2019
- Academic Programs
- 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
- 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.