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

A Global Affairs Office and a Sustainability Office: What's the Connection?

  • University of California, Davis (CA)

Over the past year, the University of California, Davis Global Affairs office and the Office of Sustainability have collaborated in ways that are mutually supportive of each office's mission ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Student Leadership Institute for Climate Resilience: A Just Transition Introductory Curriculum

  • University of California, Irvine (CA)

Developed at UC Irvine and in its ninth year, the Student Leadership Institute for Climate Resilience (SLICR) is an annual three-day residential program that provides a select cohort of incoming ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Transitioning the Culinary Industry though Transformative Culinary Education

  • Johnson & Wales University, Providence (RI)

The foodservice industry is one of the most influential towards building a just and sustainable future. Food being the critical link, it is evident that culinary education programs in higher ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Sustainability and Competency Based Education

  • Southern New Hampshire University (NH)

Colleges are becoming more experimental in their desire to provide access to underserved populations (Sturgis, et al, 2016). New methods include badging, micro-credentials, and competency-based education (CBE). Each delivery platform ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Transformational Education or Transforming Education?

  • University of South Dakota (SD)
  • University of Minnesota, Morris (MN)
  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
  • University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI)

In order to mobilize a just transition, transformation in how we think, act and our sense of being in the world envisioning a holistic approach of head, hands and heart ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Rethinking Your Campus: Creative Curriculum, Programs, and Policies that Address a Just Transition

  • California State University, Chico (CA)
  • Skyline College (CA)
  • Strategic Energy Innovations (CA)
  • University of California, Merced (CA)

Adapting to climate change and interrelated social crises is no easy feat, especially for campus systems with longstanding institutional frameworks. Key to this shift is to encourage broad student, campus ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Lessons From the Field of Education: Bridging Social Justice and Environmental Sustainability

  • Chatham University (PA)
  • University of Michigan (MI)

Social justice (i.e. equity) is one of sustainability's '3Es,' alongside the economy and environment. Yet too often, these 'Es' are framed with shaky connections or as separate spheres ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Building Your Campus Energy Workforce: Opportunities for Students, Faculty and Staff

  • Washington University in St. Louis (MO)
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (DC)
  • United States Department of Energy (DC)

Energy efficiency and renewable energy are exploding with interest from students while colleges and universities across the country are working to rapidly deploy both solutions. How can these interests be ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Partnering the university with correctional facilities for equitable education

  • Butler University (IN)

College is a privilege not accessible to everyone. The structure of higher education is elitist and promotes a specific ideology in even the most liberal of schools. How can we ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Interdisciplinary Approach to Environmental Education Through Service-Learning

  • Husson University (ME)
  • Saint Joseph's College - ME (ME)
  • Maine Campus Compact (ME)

In 2017, in partnership with Campus Compact offices throughout Southern New England, Maine Campus Compact (MCC) awarded subgrants to 14 interdisciplinary faculty teams across four states (CT, MA, ME, NH ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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The Challenge and Promise of a Living Building Project in a Dynamic Urban Ecosystem

  • Unity Environmental University (ME)
  • Thornton Tomasetti (ME)
  • Simons Architects (ME)

Where many people see an unassuming drab brick building in a corner of Portland, Maine's, historic waterfront, Unity College sees an unprecedented opportunity for a physical manifestation our sustainability ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Podcasts and Podcasting for Sustainability in Higher Education

  • Bard College (NY)
  • Central College (IA)
  • Brailsford & Dunlavey (DC)

This session explores podcasting as a tool for sustainability in higher education. A panel of three podcast producers will share examples of how they have used podcasts to support sustainability ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Issues Don't Move People; Stories do - Using Films to Catalyze Student and Community Engagement

  • Pennsylvania State University (PA)
  • University of California, Santa Barbara (CA)

When it comes to films, too often our focus is on what appears on the screen when the projector turns on. But our focus really needs to be on action--what ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Innovative Pedagogies for Climate Change Education across the University of Michigan

  • University of Michigan (MI)

A growing body of research is examining climate change education, in part due to the urgent need for educational programs to prepare the next generation of students to help lead ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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A Bibliometric Review of Higher Education Sustainability Competency Literature

  • University of Michigan (MI)

Amidst unprecedented climate changes that threaten human existence, higher education has a responsibility to educate our students, the future leaders at the helm of this crisis. Reacting to impending climate ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Sustainable Behavior Lab - An interdisciplinary approach for Student Affairs

  • Arizona State University (AZ)

Discovering ways to generate sustainable behaviors on campus can be a daunting challenge for students, faculty, and staff. Efforts to promote activities that foster individual actions for collective sustainability impact ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Integrating the UN SDGs into Study Abroad Programs

  • Susquehanna University (PA)

This session will discuss how the UN SDGs can provide for an enriching and transformative study abroad program. Susquehanna University's study abroad program is a graduation requirement for all ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Using Equitable & Accessible Teaching Practices to Support Students With Disabilities in Your Course

  • University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI)

Are you truly utilizing inclusive pedagogy in your instruction to ensure that your content is accessible for all students? Do you plan lessons, assignments, and assessments with your students' learning ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Adaptive Mindsets for Transformative Action

  • University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI)

Expertise and good intentions are only part of the equation. To achieve what Stephen Sterling calls 'a transformative response,' we also need adaptive mindsets. In this interactive session, we'll ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Just Transition: To a Circular Economy

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)
  • Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Moving from our current extractive economy to a regenerative economy is no longer a question of how but a question of how quickly'. Learn ways to help your institution transition ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Archiving the campus as a living laboratory: preserving a long memory for transformative change

  • University of Utah (UT)

Sustainable change on campus is often driven by student-led projects, project-oriented courses and co-curricular activities associated with the Sustainability Office. However, aside from dissertations and theses, student work is seldom ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Sustaining the Mainstreaming of Climate Change Frameworks/Knowledge as University Core Curriculum

  • University of Buea

Education and learning have powerful potential in fostering knowledge, skills and competences for action towards climate change mitigation. This study focuses on examining the role of mainstreaming and sustaining climate ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Not preaching to the choir? Negotiated curriculum to overcome barriers to sustainability education

  • Florida Gulf Coast University (FL)

Much of the literature regarding sustainability education focuses on appropriate competencies for students graduating from sustainability programs majors, minors, concentrations, certificates, and so on. Such programs include students who intend ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Energy Immersions: multi-disciplinary trips exploring energy transitions, communities, and justice.

  • Dartmouth College (NH)

A critical role of sustainability in higher education is to prepare the next generation of leaders to enact just transitions in food, transportation, health, industrial, and energy systems. Enacting system ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Linking Teaching and Learning Formats with Students' Development of Key Sustainability Competencies

  • Arizona State University (AZ)

Educators around the world have put into practice innovative curricula and courses to develop key competencies in sustainability in the next generation of change agents. However, more empirical evidence is ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Current Practice of Assessing Students' Sustainability Competencies

  • Arizona State University (AZ)

While there is growing agreement on the set of competencies sustainability professionals should possess as well as the pedagogies to develop them, the practice of assessing students' sustainability competencies is ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Communicating Across Differences: Refugee Resettlement

  • Prescott College (AZ)

Building sustainable and resilient communities requires a number of skills, but perhaps none is more essential than the ability to foster communication between portions of a community so divided that ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Emerging Data Visualization Issues in Sustainability: Increasing 'Truthfulness' and Visual Literacy

  • University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (WI)

This presentation involves the challenges of how to analyze and display data produced with information technologies in truthful and complete ways that are easily digested by human problem solvers and ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Graduate Student Opportunities for Innovative Pedagogy & Institutional Leverage: How We Can Plug In

  • Princeton University (NJ)

Graduate students often serve as educators-in-training with an ear to the ground of the undergraduate experience. What role can we uniquely play in expanding sustainability curricula at our institutions? How ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Let's Be Real: An Honest Conversation on Student Engagement Programs

  • Fort Lewis College (CO)
  • University of Denver (CO)

Co-curricular and extra-curricular student engagement stands as a primary focus of sustainability work in higher education. Furthermore, institutions are continuing to grow and explore various delivery models for applied learning ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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What Motivates Students to Be Sustainability Change Agents in the Face of Adversity?

  • Arizona State University (AZ)

The world faces significant challenges that require transformative changes facilitated by Sustainability Change Agents (SCAs). Universities around the world have explicitly taken up the responsibility of developing in students the ...

  • Posted Oct. 29, 2021
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The University at the Crossroads of Eco-Social Challenges: Pedagogy of Care and the Community of Life for a Transformative Learning

  • Universidad de Granada

What kind of responsibility do universities have with regard to the current emergency created by ecological and socio-economic collapse? This work begins by considering the colonization of universities by neoliberal ...


Pedagogies for sustainability: insights from a foundational sustainability course in the built environment

  • RMIT University

Abstract Purpose This paper aims to draw on an in-depth qualitative case study of an undergraduate sustainability education course to show the extent of pedagogical reflection and teaching capability demonstrated ...


Principia College students routinely participate in multidisciplinary internships that challenge them to develop solutions to complex problems, such as modern climate change.

  • Principia College (IL)

Abby Holt (in the red shirt), a double major in sustainability and geology at Principia College, has a passion for glaciology and the nexus between historically frozen landscapes and a ...


Principia College students routinely participate in multidisciplinary internships that challenge them to develop solutions to complex problems, such as biodiversity loss.

  • Principia College (IL)

Truett Sparkman, an environmental studies major with a minor in sustainability at Principia College, has a passion for the management and conservation of complex ecosystems threatened by inadequate policy regimes ...


The George Mason University Arboretum

  • George Mason University (VA)

The George Mason University Arboretum cultivates curiosity, education, and well-being through stewardship of its trees, gardens, and other natural spaces. It was established in 2015, earned ArbNet Level II accreditation ...


SUNY ESF Photos

  • State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (NY)

SUNY ESF is committed to developing creative, effective solutions that address sustainability challenges and adopting holistic practices and approaches that balance environmental, social, economic, and technological factors. This commitment starts ...


Four participants of the Barefoot College display their projects.

  • University of St. Thomas (MN)

For the Barefoot College image, please include this in the description in a separate paragraph:

The Barefoot College in northern India teaches women skills to bring solar power to their ...


The Under-Told Stories team interviewing a community activist after the murder of George Floyd.

  • University of St. Thomas (MN)

Under-Told Stories is a journalism project at University of St. Thomas’ Center for the Common Good. The project uses high quality video storytelling to help students understand and engage with ...


The Under-Told Stories team reporting on an effort to clear mine fields in Cambodia.

  • University of St. Thomas (MN)

Under-Told Stories is a journalism project at University of St. Thomas’ Center for the Common Good. The project uses high quality video storytelling to help students understand and engage with ...


Sterling College: Southwest Field Semester

  • Sterling College (VT) (VT)

Students participating in class in the Southwest Field Semester of Sterling College, a 12-credit course that provides students 84 continuous days in the field and affords them an immersive learning ...


Sterling College: Wetland Ecology

  • Sterling College (VT) (VT)

Wetland ecology students at Sterling College visit all the major wetland types occurring in Vermont. At the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge they learn about managing wetland habitat for migratory birds ...


Sterling College: Field Ecology at The Farm Between

  • Sterling College (VT) (VT)

Students enrolled in Field Ecology explore plant systems and insect populations at Sterling's instructional site at The Farm Between in Jeffersonville, Vermont, with Dr. Laura Spence, Dean of Academics.


Odeyto Indigenous Centre - Seneca College

  • Seneca Polytechnic (ON)

Odeyto Indigenous Centre - Seneca College built and opened a new indigenous centre at its Newnham Campus in 2018. Odeyto, the new home of First Peoples@Seneca, means “the good journey ...


Minor in Sustainability

  • Queens University of Charlotte (NC)

Requirements for a Minor in Sustainability Note: This minor is not available to Environmental Science majors.

Required Courses: Introduction to Geospatial Sciences

Environmental Economics

Sustainability and Society

Environmental Sustainability

Legal ...

  • Posted Aug. 23, 2021
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Sustainability Science BS

  • Queens University of Charlotte (NC)

Sustainability science studens will learn in small class sizes and conduct independent research with award-winning faculty. We are dedicated to active learning and field based instruction.

Research Students will be ...

  • Posted Aug. 23, 2021
  • Academic Programs
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Sterling College EcoGather

  • Sterling College (VT) (VT)

Place-Based, Community-Focused Education - Sterling College is in the process of developing EcoGather, a higher education platform designed to advance ecological thinking and action as a foundation for building regenerative communities ...


Climate Solutions 101

  • Project Drawdown (CA)

Climate Solutions 101 is a series of six short (10- to 30-minute) videos that not only explain the challenge of climate change but also introduce Project Drawdown's signature set ...

  • Posted Aug. 17, 2021
  • Course Materials
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M.S. in Environment and Sustainability Management

  • Georgetown University (DC)

The Georgetown Master of Science in Environment and Sustainability Management (MS-ESM) is a jointly offered degree that blends scientific knowledge with business principles—a powerful combination that will enable you ...

  • Posted Aug. 11, 2021
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Archiving the Campus as Living Laboratory : Preserving a long memory for transformative change

  • University of Utah (UT)

This is part of the Campus as Lab webinar series. To see the full series visit our YouTube Channel.

Sustainable change on campus is often driven by student-led projects, project-oriented ...

  • Posted July 26, 2021
  • Videos & Webinars
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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

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.

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