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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Wind Energy Certificate
- University of Iowa (IA)
A new interdisciplinary undergraduate certificate in wind energy has been developed to meet the emerging market needs. The Certificate in Wind Energy integrates course work and faculty expertise from the ...
- Posted Feb. 25, 2016
- Academic Programs
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Wind Turbine Technician Certificate
- Lansing Community College (MI)
This certificate is intended to prepare students to work as an entry-level wind turbine technician. Wind turbine technicians are involved in various aspects of the installation and maintenance of all ...
- Posted Feb. 25, 2016
- Academic Programs
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Learning Through Eating: Bringing Campus Dining Operations into an Introductory Environmental Science Course
- University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)
Sustainability initiatives in higher education often flourish as the result of cross-functionality of teaching, research, and operational staff. At the University of Wisconsin - Madison, the Nelson Institute for Environmental Resources ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
- Publications
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Climate Change Resiliency: Campus Microgrid Feasibility Study
- Middlebury College (VT)
Background: The submitted research paper "Campus Microgrid Feasibility Study" is the result of a combination of learning opportunities that evolved into the final product. It began in summer 2014 at ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Development of 'Learning for Sustainability' Core Competencies
- Western Michigan University (MI)
Over the last several years, there has been increased interest within communities, schools, and government to promote behavior that will yield a positive future impact on the world. The sustainability ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability: A Bedford Spotlight Reader
Sustainability explores questions around the central concept of sustainability: What are its foundations and politics? How do crises challenge sustainability? How is sustainability connected to local and transnational environments? How ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Backing Away from the Cliff: A Theory of Education for Sustainability in the Postsecondary Classroom
- University of Maryland, College Park (MD)
Despite growing efforts for Education for Sustainability (EfS), little empirical research documents EfS in the postsecondary classroom and the ways in which sustainability is defined in these classrooms. The purpose ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Potential of Community-based Sustainability Projects for Deep Learning Initiatives
- Clark University (MA)
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute (MA)
This paper provides and illustrates a generic framework for deep learning in a Sustainability-based course for higher education instruction. The use of Sustainability Consulting Projects is detailed with potential application ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Assessing Sustainability Knowledge of a Student Population: Developing a Tool to Measure Knowledge in the Environmental, Economic, and Social Domains
- The Ohio State University (OH)
Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present a tool for assessing the sustainability knowledge of an undergraduate population.
Design/methodology/approach: Multiple-choice questions were developed through soliciting expert ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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How Many Dots to Connect? Defining Sustainability in the Curriculum Pt. 2
- AASHE (MA)
In part 1 of this post, I examined current practices for identifying sustainability courses and found that definitions of sustainability-focused and -related courses tend to leave too much room for ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
- Publications
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How Many Dots to Connect? Defining Sustainability in the Curriculum Pt. 1
- AASHE (MA)
In an effort to track progress in sustainability education and promote sustainability courses, many colleges and universities have attempted to identify which courses they offer integrate sustainability concepts. As Alfred ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Ten Ways to Integrate Sustainability into the Curriculum
- Towson University (MD)
Those of us in higher education who are concerned about the future of the planet realize that although cutting carbon emissions from campus operations is important, it is not enough ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Promoting Lasting Ecological Citizenship Among College Students
- Lehigh University (PA)
Declines in environmental literacy and civic and political activism among youth suggest the need for an increased focus on sustainability in schools and the advancement of ecological citizenship among students ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Assessing Sustainability Literacy: Challenges, Current Research, and Opportunities for Collaboration
- The Ohio State University (OH)
- AASHE (MA)
Sustainability literacy is a topic of increasing interest among a growing number of higher education sustainability staff and faculty. Formal education programs and courses that address sustainability are becoming increasingly ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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An Investigation of Sustainability-Oriented Courses: Student Views & Experiences
- University of British Columbia (BC)
With an increased awareness of climate change and environmental concerns, and a worldwide call for the integration of sustainability into the curriculum, universities are looked upon as agents of change ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Curriculum Improvement in Education for Sustainable Development: Measuring Learning Outcomes in an Introductory Urban Planning Course.
- Arizona State University (AZ)
Education for sustainable development (ESD) is an academic goal for many courses in higher learning. ESD encompasses a specific range of learning outcomes, competencies, skills and literacies that include and ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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A Qualitative Investigation of Sustainability-Oriented Courses at UBC
- University of British Columbia (BC)
With the underlying theme of globalization and encouraging students to be global citizens, the University of British Columbia (UBC) adopted a sustainable development policy in 1997 and revised it in ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Education for Sustainability in Career and Technical Education: A Multiple Case Study of Innovative Community College Programs
- University of Idaho (ID)
Research indicates we are faced with environmental, social, and economic challenges and higher education is being called upon to provide education for a sustainable future. The literature surrounding Education for ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Challenges of Sustainability Education
Sustainability has become a growing imperative in higher education in the United States of America (Calder & Dautremont-Smith, 2009). This paper examines sustainability education as it continues to emerge in ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Word Up: Algonquin College as a Sustainability Leader
- Royal Roads University (BC)
"Word up" is a catch phrase that denotes agreement or enthusiasm about what another has said. A question central to this thesis was whether study participants thought that Algonquin College ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Changes in Student Values and Behaviors: An Outcomes-Based Program Review of the Global Leadership and Sustainable Development Program
- Hawaii Pacific University (HI)
The dual purpose of this research study was to evaluate the sustainability and leadership values and behaviors of current and former students of the Master of Arts in Global Leadership ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Key competencies in sustainability: a reference framework for academic program development
- Arizona State University (AZ)
The emerging academic field focused on sustainability has been engaged in a rich and converging debate to define what key competencies are considered critical for graduating students to possess. For ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability Curriculum in Higher Education: A Call to Action
- AASHE (MA)
This report is a culmination of the ideas presented during AASHE’s Summit on Sustainability in the Curriculum to address how higher education institutions can further infuse sustainability topics into ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Cross-Border Carbon Footprints: University Study Abroad and Carbon Offsetting Programs
- American University (DC)
The progress made in the past decade in incorporating higher education institutions into the carbon emissions reduction equation is remarkable. Organizations like the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Real-world learning opportunities in sustainability: from classroom into the real world
Academic sustainability programs aim to develop key competencies in sustainability, including problem-solving skills and the ability to collaborate successfully with experts and stakeholders. These key competencies may be most fully ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Franklin Sustainability Report
- Franklin University Switzerland (Ticino)
The capstone course for Environmental Studies followed a case-study approach to examine the interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues. As students in out final semesters at Franklin College, we were asked ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Shifting from Saying to Doing: Evaluation of an Environmental Course Designed to Create Environmental Change Agents
- Tufts University (MA)
This study evaluated a semester-long environmental course designed to enable students to become environmental change agents. Sixteen undergraduate students self-selected into the program course, which integrated social science-focused materials with ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability and the Western Civilization Curriculum: Reflections on Cross-pollinating the Humanities and Environmental History
- Willamette University (OR)
Standard Western civilizations curricula of the premodern period, while ably incorporating postcolonial, feminist, and ethnic studies scholarship, reflect virtually nothing of the larger cultural consciousness regarding sustainability or the critiques ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Sustainability and Higher Business Education: Is Investing in Teaching Sustainability Worthwhile?
- Roger Williams University (RI)
This report is designed to review a variety of professional articles and academic journals in an attempt to give executives at business schools the groundwork to decide if including sustainability ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Sustainable Learning Community: One University’s Journey to the Future
- University of New Hampshire (NH)
University communities have the potential to serve as models in the development and application of sustainability principles and practices, not only by what they teach and study, but also by ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Appropedia as a Tool for Service Learning in Sustainable Development
Numerous studies have demonstrated that university students are capable of contributing to sustainable development while improving their academic skills. Unfortunately for many institutions, the expense of sending large cohorts of ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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147 Practical Tips for Teaching Sustainability: Connecting the Environment, the Economy, and Society
- Colorado State University (CO)
All who work with sustainability issues realize that it is a community project. We must decide collectively about the earth and its future. As a community — be it a geographic ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Teaching Environmental Literacy: Across Campus and Across the Curriculum
To prepare today's students to meet growing global environmental challenges, colleges and universities must make environmental literacy a core learning goal for all students, in all disciplines. But what ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Jumping from the Ivory Tower: Weaving Environmental Leadership and Sustainable Communities
- Front Range Community College, Larimer Campus (CO)
Jumping from the Ivory Tower demonstrates the positive results that occur when colleges work with communities to develop students with a sense of place. The book examines the role of ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Going Beyond Green: Integrating Sustainability into the Marketing Curriculum
- California State University, Sacramento (CA)
- Western Washington University (WA)
Teaching sustainable marketing practices requires that curricula advocate a “triple bottom line” approach to personal and marketing decision making, emphasizing requirements for a sustainable lifestyle, company, economy, and society. These ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Carbon Neutrality Makes the Grade
Business schools are enlisting students' help in developing their own carbon-neutral schemes, and they may develop leaders of tomorrow's sustainable economies.
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The relationship of pedagogy and students' understanding of environment in environmental education
- University of Technology Sydney
This study has two main findings. First, the pedagogy of environmental education has strong classification and framing (after Bernstein 1971) that supports the objectification of the environment. Second, there is ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Education for sustainable development at the university level: Interactions of the need for community, fear of indoctrination, and the demands of work
- Florida State University (FL)
The goal of this study was to describe the factors that influence education for sustainable development (ESD) in American universities. Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was employed as the theoretical ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Goal setting for sustainability: a new method of environmental education
- Murdoch University (Western Australia)
If current environmental problems are to be addressed and future environmental problems are to be prevented, significant changes are needed in the way people live. Environmental education has been identified ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Integrating Sustainability in the Learning Community
- Second Nature (MA)
Buildings have a significant impact on the environment, accounting for one-sixth of the world’s freshwater withdrawals, one-quarter of its wood harvest, and two-fifths of its material and energy, leaving ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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The Sustainability Curriculum: The Challenge for Higher Education
The links between education and sustainable development are deepening, although subject to much controversy and debate. The success of the sustainability discourse depends both on the pedagogic and research functions ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Higher Education and the Challenge of Sustainability: Problematics, Promise, and Practice
Sustainability challenges universities around the world to rethink their missions and to re-structure their courses, research programs, and life on campus. Graduates are increasingly exposed to notions of sustainability, which ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Recreating the university from within: Sustainability and transformation in higher education
- University of British Columbia (BC)
Universities around the globe have signed international declarations and agreements that recognize the importance of higher education in creating a more sustainable future. These agreements oblige universities to integrate sustainability ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Earth In Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect
The author begins by establishing the grounds for a debate about education and knowledge. He describes the problems of education from an ecological perspective, and challenges the "terrible simplifiers" who ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
- Publications
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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
- Publications
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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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Educating Citizens: Preparing America's Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility
There is increasing attention to the idea that colleges and universities should help students become more informed, thoughtful, and engaged citizens who are prepared to navigate a complex world. These ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
- Publications
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Student Inquiries into Neglected Research for a Sustainable Society: Communication and Application
- Pennsylvania State University (PA)
By applying the interdisciplinary approach of Science, Technology & Society, students can solve often-neglected research problems of shifting society's operation towards a sustainable state. A recent Penn State University ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Issues regarding sustainable agriculture as perceived by upper level undergraduate students involved in a student managed farm at Iowa State University
- Iowa State University (IA)
The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of agriculture students regarding sustainable agriculture practices, issues related to sustainable agriculture and learning/teaching processes. These students were enrolled ...
- Posted Feb. 24, 2016
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Teaching Sustainability at Universities: Towards curriculum greening
It is now beyond any doubt that higher education institutions around the world are beginning to recognize that they have a unique responsibility towards the goal of sustainability. Universities are ...
- 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.
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.