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
New Resources
Designing and Conducting a Public Engagement Project Through an Intensive-Semester Course
- Furman University (SC)
During a May semester course, faculty and students at a liberal arts college conducted a participatory planning process with a local community and county government. Students facilitated a public participation ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Leveraging Campus Natural Areas for Urban Ecology Research, Education, and Management
- University of Central Florida (FL)
The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a 1,415-acre urban campus, of which 876 acres (62%) is undeveloped green space that includes 337-acres (24%) of upland and wetland conservation ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Sticky Sustainability: Tapping Untapped Resources on Campus #ULMapleMadness
- University of Louisville (KY)
In spring 2016, a maple sugaring community partner collaborated with faculty, staff & students at the University of Louisville to launch a new Sustainable Community Engagement section of the Intro ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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How to Move Sustainability into the B-School
- Wake Forest University (NC)
Business schools can provide students with a high caliber education and prepare them to enter the workforce or create new ventures to address the social, economic, and environmental demands in ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Curriculum Development, Cross-campus Collaboration, and Industry Engagement in Partnership with the B Corporation Community
- North Carolina State University (NC)
Presenters: - Jessica Thomas, Director, Business Sustainability Collaborative, Poole College of Management, NC State University - Craig Dalen, Senior Fellow, Director of B Corps on Campus, B Lab This session explores: - An ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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An Exploration of Sustainable Business Measurement and Performance Criteria
- Duke University (NC)
A great deal of current effort is focused on developing and aligning sustainability performance criteria. We will explore together what is happening with GRI, SASB, etc. in institutionalizing clear metrics ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Business Sustainability 2.0: Moving from Enterprise Integration to Market Transformation and the Necessary Changes in the Business System
- University of Michigan (MI)
Enterprise Integration has been with us since the mid 1990s. It involves integrating sustainability into existing business logics (such as operational efficiency, cost of capital, consumer demand, etc.) and the ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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A Case Example for B-Schools: Energy and Economic Opportunity in Modernizing the Grid
- Skidmore College (NY)
Changing regulatory environments are creating economic (and business higher ed) opportunity. The current re-envisioning the energy (REV) proceeding in New York before the public service commission represents a regulatory proceeding ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Framework for Implementing Change
- Green Whys Consulting (TX)
Business schools seeking to integrate sustainability into business education can benefit from the same change management framework leveraged in corporate transformations. 'Change management' is to business education change what LEED ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Colloquium on Sustainability in Business Higher Education Discussion
- Appalachian State University (NC)
We are agents of change, and realize that sustainability is the future of business and business education. Higher education institutions are in the initial phases of examining this question, with ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Colloquium on Sustainability in Business Higher Education
- Appalachian State University (NC)
Business plays a critical role in confronting the environmental and societal challenges currently facing our world. Business higher education must assist in transforming organizations and creating the needed human capital ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Using Real-Time Campus Data to Explore Management and Behavior: Introduction to Teaching with Building Dashboard Technologies
- Oberlin College (OH)
Many schools have adopted resource-use visualization 'dashboards' that provide real-time feedback on energy and water use in campus buildings. Parallel use of this technology for student engagement and facilities management ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Learn & Grow - Educational and Community Garden
- Mississippi State University (MS)
The intent of this project is to work with the Boys & Girls Club to create a project that can be developed and maintained as a way to engage young ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Sustainability at Work: careers that make a difference
- Routledge
Building upon the SURF Framework developed by the author, this presentation explains how people in a plethora of sectors can have impact on the quadruple bottom line: environment, economy, society ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Offset: The Card Game
- Duke University (NC)
The Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative (DCOI) educates students, staff, and faculty at Duke University about a variety of topics relating to carbon offsets. However, these topics can be difficult to ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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The Economics of Sustainability: Using Microeconomic Principles to Teach Sustainability
- Aquinas College (MI)
As a means to support a sustainable business program at Aquinas College, principles of microeconomics courses take on a unique sustainability focus. Here the concepts of consumption and production are ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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SULITEST, the sustainability literacy test
- KEDGE Business School (Bordeaux)
Sustainability literacy as a learning outcome through the Sulitest. Feedback of the pilot phase includes 430 universities, with 44,000 students from 48 countries. Includes testimonial from users and addresses ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Sustainability in Pedagogy: Bridging the Gap Between Influence and Impact
- Aquinas College (MI)
There is an issue at the heart of sustainability education which has proven a formidable barrier to more rapid change in our communities and the policies which shape our future ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Do Experiential Learning and Reflective Writing Improve Students' Sustainability Knowledge, Behaviors, and Attitudes?
- University of Washington, Seattle (WA)
Sustainability: Personal Choices, Broad Impacts is a new University of Washington course to engage students in the study of sustainability. Students meet for lecture/discussion plus do a great deal ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Promoting and Assessing Sustainability As A Learning Outcome in Education Abroad
- The Education Abroad Network (IL)
Drawing upon the definition and content of global learning within the AAC&U Global Learning Rubric, this poster reveals why the issues of sustainability & climate change must result in student ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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To Bee or Not to Bee: A Beekeeping Community
- Central Community College (NE)
This poster will describe the process Central Community College used to engage its service area in the responsible management of honeybee populations. Starting with a beginner beekeeping course, the college ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Reflections from Within: Investigating the Value of Service-Learning and Community-Based Research for Undergraduate Students
- Hobart and William Smith Colleges (NY)
This poster will provide a student perspective on the value of participating in service-learning experiences during one's undergraduate education. Reflecting on her recent experience in a sustainable community development ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Coastal Resiliency Planning: Linking Online Student Research to City Sustainability Planning
- Arizona State University (AZ)
To address the special challenges of coastal cities, sustainability planning has depends on research from disciplines as diverse as climatology, ecology, social science, economics, political science, and urban planning. While ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Consolidating the foundation of sustainable solutions: Rice University's Environmental Science program
- Rice University (TX)
To address environmental challenges new generations are required not only to have a solid scientific or technological basis, but to propose sustainable solutions. We often look at sustainable solutions as ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Bee Nice: Creating a Community of Beekeepers
- Central Community College (NE)
Community education departments provide a variety of programs that work to educate the population that a college serves. As concerns related to Colony Collapse Disorder increase awareness of the dangers ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Setting the World Aflame: Town-Gown Collaboration through Solar Spring Break
- University of California, Berkeley (CA)
UC Berkeley partners with GRID Alternatives' Solar Spring Break to engage students during spring break in the installation of solar panels for underrepresented communities. This partnership provides communities with access ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Rethinking Service Immersion: Engaging Students for Systemic Change on Campus and in the Community
- Gonzaga University (WA)
An experiential service-learning program inspired three students at Gonzaga University to make measurable change on their campus. After a week of sustainability volunteerism, students returned to school with ideas for ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Cedar Valley College a Center of Excellence of Sustainability: How we embedded sustainability into our college
- Dallas College (TX)
Come to this session if you want to know how Cedar Valley College became a Center of Excellence of Sustainability in southern Dallas, TX. We will share: How we utilized ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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The Heart of the Matter: A Candid Conversation about Campus Sustainability
- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (IL)
For the purpose of my research, my grounded theory addressed the intersections of interactions that impact an individual's ability to develop the core beliefs that cultivate environmental ethics and ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Student Leadership & Sustainability Results
- Agnes Scott College (GA)
At Agnes Scott College, students are at the heart of all sustainability initiatives, whether it is waste diversion or the installation of solar arrays. The Center for Sustainability has a ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Centers for Sustainability Across the Curriculum Meeting
- AASHE (PA)
An opportunity to network and plan with other institutions helping to pilot AASHE's Centers for Sustainability Across the Curriculum Program.
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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From Student Farm to Rural Semester: The Evolution of An Idea
- University of Connecticut (CT)
This proposal will explore the evolution of an idea from its initial inception to create an off-campus student farm, to its initial form, to its current practice (UCONN Spring Valley ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Gaia Education Design for Sustainability Curriculum and its Application
- Gaia Education
The poster features the learning universe that Gaia Education operates in, and the many tracks of designing for sustainability both in residential (Wing) and online (Sky) programs. It also showcases ...
- Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Handbook of Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development in Higher Education: Volume 3
- University of Malta (Northern Harbor District)
- Bournemouth University (Dorset)
This Handbook offers an overview of what universities around the world are doing to implement sustainable development (e.g., via curriculum innovation, research, activities, or practical projects) and how their ...
- Posted Nov. 17, 2016
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Engaging Undergraduates in Soil Sustainability Decision-Making Through an InTeGrate Module
- Santa Rosa Junior College (CA)
- Virginia Tech (VA)
- Wittenberg University (OH)
Continued agricultural productivity hinges on understanding how to manage soil resources. A 2-week undergraduate introductory-level module: A Growing Concern: Sustaining Soil Resources Through Local Decision Making was collaboratively developed through ...
- Posted Nov. 17, 2016
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Implementing Sustainability in Higher Education: Learning in an age of transformation
In a time of unprecedented transformation as society seeks to build a more sustainable future, education plays an increasingly central role in training key agents of change. This book asks ...
- Posted Nov. 14, 2016
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Assessing sustainability in university curricula: exploring the influence of student numbers and course credits
- University of Leeds (West Yorkshire)
As more universities become interested in, and engaged with, sustainability, there has been a growing need to assess how their curricula addresses sustainable development and its myriad issues. Different tools ...
- Posted Nov. 14, 2016
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Education for sustainable development and global citizenship: An evaluation of the validity of the STAUNCH auditing tool
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test the validity of the curriculum auditing tool Sustainability Tool for Auditing University Curricula in Higher Education (STAUNCH©), which was designed to ...
- Posted Nov. 14, 2016
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Certificate in Sustainable Business Leadership
- Saint Louis University (MO)
The professional certificate in Sustainable Business Leadership is a self-paced, fully on-line course featuring insights, videos, and experiences on sustainable leadership gathered from top thought leaders, companies, sustainability professionals, and ...
- Posted Nov. 11, 2016
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Developing the concept of sustainability in nursing
- University of Plymouth (Devon)
Sustainability, and the related concept of climate change, is an emerging domain within nursing and nurse education. Climate change has been posited as a serious global health threat requiring action ...
- Posted Nov. 10, 2016
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Certificate in Applied Economic Research on Cooperative Enterprises
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)
The certificate is credit-based, involving 15 credits of coursework and an approved 6-credit field-based research internship with, or related to, a cooperative enterprise. Students gain experience in doing applied economic ...
- Posted Nov. 10, 2016
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Certificate in Cooperative Management
- Presidio Graduate School (CA)
Pinchot University's Certificate in Cooperative Management program offers a deep dive into the world of cooperative management, exploring the unique characteristics, opportunities and challenges of the cooperative sector.
The ...
- Posted Nov. 10, 2016
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The disappearance of cooperatives from economics textbooks
Discussion of cooperatives abounded in early twentieth century economics textbooks, but is virtually absent from their modern counterparts. In this paper, I assemble a dataset of economics textbooks used at ...
- Posted Nov. 9, 2016
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Curricular Cop-Out on Co-ops: Business schools ignore a key form of enterprise
- University of Colorado Boulder (CO)
- Chronicle of Higher Education (DC)
This article highlights the dearth of academic training related to cooperative enterprises at U.S. business schools.
- Posted Nov. 9, 2016
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Key competencies to action: Transdisciplinary learning of key competencies for sustainability
- Lund University
Purpose: According to literature there is a set of six key competencies that distinguish sustainability professionals, including researchers, from professionals and researchers in other fields, making them “systemic problem solvers ...
- Posted Nov. 9, 2016
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The Piedmont Project: Fostering Faculty Development Toward Sustainability
- Emory University (GA)
Many universities recognize urgent environmental dilemmas and embrace efforts to move campus operations and university culture toward sustainability. However, the broader academic mission across departments and programs is often slower ...
- Posted Nov. 9, 2016
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Long-Term Impacts of Faculty Development Programs: The Experience of Teli and Piedmont
- Emory University (GA)
- Tufts University (MA)
A long-term study of two faculty development programs on sustainability and the environment reveals enduring changes in teaching, research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and engaged action. Participants in cohorts of Tufts University ...
- Posted Nov. 9, 2016
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BS in Energy and Sustainability Policy
- Pennsylvania State University (PA)
The B.S. in Energy and Sustainability Policy is a 120-credit degree program that emphasizing sustainability principles, policy development and energy production. Students in the B.S. program also choose ...
- Posted Nov. 7, 2016
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Assessment matters: What are students learning about sustainability?
- Columbia University (NY)
- New York University (NY)
This article provides a model to integrate sustainability efforts, student learning, and assessment into one coherent process.
- Posted Nov. 4, 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.