Public Engagement
Introduction
Engagement in community problem-solving is fundamental to sustainability. By engaging with community members and organizations in the governmental, non-profit and for-profit sectors, institutions can help solve sustainability challenges. Community engagement can help students develop leadership skills while deepening their understandings of practical, real-world problems and the process of creating solutions.
Featured Resources
Developing an effective sustainability communications program without breaking your budget.
- University of Minnesota, Duluth (MN)
Communication is a critical tool for a campus sustainability program, especially when newly established. This session will cover lessons learned and tips that we've found valuable in making the ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Grounding Sustainability in Faith-Based Mission and Identity
- CHA (NY)
There is much to celebrate on faith-based college and university campuses as environmental sustainability is increasingly seen as a core value. Yet while many faith-based schools have successfully taken steps ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Community Partnerships for a University-based Renewable Energy Biodigester
- University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (WI)
The university is operating the first commercial-scale dry anaerobic biodigester in the western hemisphere. The facility will provide the equivalent of up to 10% of campus electricity and heat, and ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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University Energy Conservation Measures: It Takes a Community
- Bowling Green State University (OH)
Energy Conservation Measures ("ECM") is an immense undertaking by the university to retrofit 45 buildings on campus with an end goal of increasing energy efficiency. A multimillion dollar project begun ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Sustainability Walking Tour
- Arizona State University (AZ)
A major research university has established a sustainability walking tour. Tour participants can choose to go on a guided tour led by a volunteer group of students and staff or ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Communicating Sustainability: Princeton University Programmatic and Academic Initiatives
- Princeton University (NJ)
Both programmatic and academic initiatives in communicating sustainability are becoming part of the landscape of sustainability programs at many institutions of higher education. In this session we will explore an ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Connecting the Community College to the Community: Collaboratives for Green Transportation
- Delta College (MI)
For most commuter campuses, the carbon emitted via transportation translates into significant emissions. Commuter campuses whose faculty, staff, and students overwhelmingly rely on the automobile for their primary means of ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Ecochallenge: Tips for creating and implementing cost effective behavior change programs for your campus
- University of Oregon (OR)
Ecochallenges encourage people to experiment with simple environmentally friendly changes in their daily routines. These highly participatory events help build an environmentally and socially responsible campus culture, an important pre-condition ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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The Bearathon: Striving to be America's greenest student-run half marathon
- Baylor University (TX)
The Bearathon is a student-led half-marathon and 5k held every spring semester and serves as the Student Foundation's main fund raising event. Over the course of the last two ...
- 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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Establishing a Service Bus Route to Meet Student and Community Needs
- Elon University (NC)
Over 80% of students participate in service, some as a course requirement, while attending Elon University. Many of the community partners at which students do service are within 15 minutes ...
- 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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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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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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Generating Success in Conservative Environments
- Texas A&M University (TX)
Sustainability can often be politicized along party lines; however, sustainability in its ultimate form cuts across all political spectrums. Many campuses openly embrace sustainable ideas and readily advance sustainability programs ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Mapping Sustainability: Visual Representation of Campus Sustainable Features
- University of California, Berkeley (CA)
Initiatives to improve the sustainability of campus operations can vary widely in type, scope, and level of recognition among users. This diversity of sustainable features makes it difficult to access ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Sustainability Challenges and Solutions at CU-Boulder: Inception to Implementation
- University of Colorado Boulder (CO)
Implementing sustainability initiatives in large universities is a challenge. Taking an idea from the brainstorming period, through the many different departments, to implementing the projects, to finally measuring the effectiveness ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Using community-based social marketing to increase the visibility and usage of new ridesharing program
- University of Washington, Seattle (WA)
Our campus climate action plan identifies reducing single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) commuting as the largest opportunity for decreasing GHG emissions through behavior change. A team of graduate students designed, implemented, and ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Partnership and Collaboration: Establishing a farmers market program on a university campus
- Arizona State University (AZ)
The campus farmers market is in its second year. Success has been largely due to cross-departmental cooperation as well as partnerships with third-party market association vendors and University dining services ...
- 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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From Acid Rain to Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Drilling: Student Benefits of Community-based Learning
- Dickinson College (PA)
A co-curricular, service learning program (CCSLP), housed in the Environmental Studies Department at a small liberal arts college, promotes a national model for college-community partnerships by 1) building and enhancing ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Sustainable Cities Network: Bridging the University with Arizona Communities
- Arizona State University (AZ)
The Sustainable Cities Network was created to be a bridge between Arizona State University's (ASU) research and technical capabilities in sustainability and the front-line challenges facing Arizona communities. Convened ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Coming Together to Create an Alternative Transportation Program: The Stone Soup Approach
- California State University, Chico (CA)
There are many challenges for Universities when they work to address alternative transportation. Located in a small city, the local transportation infrastructure is limited. The Vice President for Business and ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Exploiting In-State Rivalries for Energy Conservation - the Take Charge! Challenge in Kansas
- Kansas State University (KS)
Energy conservation competitions are increasingly common at colleges and universities, but few move beyond the boundaries of individual institutions. This presentation will report on the results of the Take Charge ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Reenergizing America: Bridging Generation And Culture Gaps & A Plan For A New Environmental Decade
- Clark Atlanta University (GA)
There is a fierce urgency to engage, educate, and embrace the next generation of environmental leaders throughout America, particularly on the campuses of our colleges and universities; but who is ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Engaged Scholarship for Sustainability: University of New Hampshire's Initiative to Facilitate Regional Food System Collaboration
- University of New Hampshire (NH)
Food Solutions New England (FSNE) is an example of a university-based effort to advance regional food system sustainability through collaboration using an engaged scholarship model. Engaged scholarship promotes mutually beneficial ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Town-Gown Sustainability Partnerships: How to leverage efforts for mutual support & improved relations.
- Northwestern University (IL)
How can institutions of higher education partner with host cities to further sustainability efforts? From a landfill gas-to-energy project to a community reuse sale to a Green Ribbon Committee campuses ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Communicate To Persuade
- National Association of College & University Business Officers (NACUBO) (DC)
Most students, faculty and administrators wrestle daily with the need to persuade bosses, peers and subordinates to adopt their viewpoint on an immediate issue while simultaneously improving the long-term relationships ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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WKU-Habitat for Humanity Integrated Green Infrastructure Statewide Demonstration Project
- Western Kentucky University (KY)
This session will demonstrate a grant-funded University partnership statewide demonstration project that will use low impact development (LID) and Light Imprint techniques as part of a planned medium density green ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Studying Sustainability Abroad with a European Perspective - Case Stories and Best Practices
- Danish Institute for Study Abroad (Hovestaden)
Students and faculty often look to Europe for best practices when working with sustainability issues such as renewable energy, public policy, food systems, corporate social responsibility, climate change and overall ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Habits of Mind for Resilient Communities
- Northland College (WI)
If habits of mind are the characteristics of what intelligent people do when faced with problems whose solutions are not immediately apparent, then what are the habits of mind of ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Illinois Green Economy Network- Building Successful Partnerships in the Green Economy
- Green Economy (MA)
This panel presentation will address building successful partnerships across broad sectors including higher education, government, business, non-profits and communities. The Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN) is an innovative partnership between ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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We Are What We Speak: Strategic Communication and Community Engagement at Higher Education Institutions
- AASHE (MA)
Have you ever wanted more turn-out at events, more press coverage, more faculty engagement, for your sustainability initiatives? In order to get more people engaged, we need to get better ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Holisitc Approach to Rio+20
- AASHE (MA)
Join the discussion about the upcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD.
The Conference will take place in Brazil on June 4-6 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Developing and implementing a stakeholder engagement process for redesigning your website - lessons from the AASHE.ORG redesign
- AASHE (MA)
In January 2011, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) relaunched its website with a major reorganization of content and a new design. One of our ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Beyond the Internship: Using Sustainability to Improve Town Gown Relationships
- Agnes Scott College (GA)
Universities and the towns they live in function as separate entities, often coexisting without coming together to solve key issues they both face. Institutions of higher learning and the infrastructure ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Can Texting Transform Transit? Evaluating Technology to Improve Public Bus Ridership at Allegheny College
- Allegheny College (PA)
As a small liberal arts college located in a rural town of 13,000 residents, our institution faces challenges in improving transportation aspects of campus sustainability. Our college's student ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Broadening the Boundaries of Campus: How Far Should Sustainability Go?
- Alma College (MI)
Alma College, like many small, liberal arts institutions, is tucked away among the rural small towns that surround it. These campuses serve as cultural centers for the community, but what ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Community Colleges, National Resources and You
- American Association of Community Colleges (DC)
Community colleges are taking the lead in creating a workforce necessary to build a robust green and sustainable economy. Learn about some of the challenges two-year colleges are facing and ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Connecting the Leave No Trace Outdoor Ethic and Campus Sustainability
- Auburn University (AL)
This session's objective is to explore the connection between the Leave No Trace (LNT) ethic and campus sustainability. The LNT ethic is dedicated to the responsible enjoyment and active ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Sustainable Hospitality Symposium: Central California Coast Community Partnership Links "new" Event Standards to Economic Development
- California State University, Monterey Bay (CA)
A new model for collaboration under the umbrella of the Institute of Innovation and Economic Development (IIED) was used to create a robust conference. Participants included: five different colleges, government ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Extending our Reach: Taking Sustainability into the Community
- California State University, Northridge (CA)
The sustainability charge at this state university is led by the Institute for Sustainability whose mission is to promote, facilitate, and develop educational, research, and University and community programs related ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Impacting individual and institutional change through a living-learning community on campus
- Calvin University (MI)
In a college dormitory setting where many choices are predetermined for residents, working towards a more sustainable lifestyle can become difficult and frustrating for concerned students. A Creation Care living-learning ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Pittsburgh Climate Initiative In Review
- Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
The Pittsburgh Climate Initiative (PCI) is a collaborative effort designed to lead Pittsburgh's residents, businesses, government, and institutions of higher learning in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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The Prairie Project: Place-Based Faculty Development for Global Sustainability Education
- Central College (IA)
Today there is an urgent need to provide global sustainability education to all college students through a curriculum that is integrative, transdisciplinary, and addresses all three dimensions of sustainability: ecological ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Sustainable Business Coordinators: Regional Collective Impacts
- Chatham University (PA)
A growing number of businesses around the world and in Southwestern Pennsylvania have appointed Sustainability Officers/Coordinators, mirroring the successes of such positions being established at universities.
To meet the ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Corporate Climate Responsibility and the Race to the Top: Why Competition Will Save the World
- Climate Counts
Benefiting from worldwide media coverage, the Climate Counts Company Scorecard has rapidly emerged as a credible measure of corporate climate responsibility. The Scorecard is driving stakeholder dialogue and soul-searching in ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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College of Menominee Nation Campus Grind Coffee Shop: A Case Study in Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Sustainability
- College of Menominee Nation (WI)
The Campus Grind Coffee Shop, located at the College of Menominee Nation (CMN) on the Menominee Reservation, is an indigenous business created by two student organizations at CMN: Strategies for ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Collaboration, Partnership, and Community - Development and Implementation of Waste Focus Team
- Cornell University (NY)
Proposed briefing is to discuss the Waste Focus Team; part of the Focus Team initiative developed at our university in response to the institution's 2010-2015 Strategic Plan which calls ...
- 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.
EN 10: Community Partnerships
- Description of a formal community partnership to advance sustainability (first partnership)
- Description of a formal community partnership to advance sustainability (second partnership)
- Description of a formal community partnership to advance sustainability (third partnership)
- Website URL - Community partnerships to advance sustainability
EN 11: Inter-campus Collaboration
- The national or international sustainability network(s)
- The regional, state/provincial or local sustainability network(s)
- Description of sustainability conference(s) and presentation(s)
- Description of sustainability resource center or awards program and submission(s)
- Description of sustainability board or committee appointment(s)
- Description of sustainability-related mentoring relationship and activities
- Description of sustainability-related peer review activities
- Website URL - Sustainability-related inter-campus collaborations
EN 12: Continuing Education
- Percentage of continuing education courses that are sustainability course offerings
- Inventory of continuing education sustainability course offerings (upload)
- Inventory of continuing education sustainability course offerings (description)
- Description of sustainability-related continuing education certificate program(s)
- Website URL - Continuing education courses and programs in sustainability
EN 13: Community Service
- Percentage of students engaged in community service
- Number of annual community service hours contributed per student
- Description of program(s) to support employee volunteering
- Website URL- Community service programs
EN 14: Participation in Public Policy
- Description of sustainability public policy advocacy at the municipal/local level
- Description of sustainability public policy advocacy at the state/provincial/regional level
- Description of sustainability public policy advocacy at the national level
- Description of sustainability public policy advocacy at the international level
- Website URL - Sustainability advocacy efforts
EN 15: Trademark Licensing
- Description of the independent trademark monitoring and verification organization
- The labor rights code of conduct for licensees (upload)
- The labor rights code of conduct for licensees (description)
- Website URL - Trademark licensing initiatives
Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.