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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.

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Implementing social projects with undergraduate students: an analysis of essential characteristics

  • Université de Sherbrooke (QC)
  • University of Campinas
  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Passo Fundo
  • Universidade Federal Fluminense

This study aims to analyse the essential characteristics for the success of social projects developed with undergraduate students of higher education institutions (HEIs).

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
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Community needs and interests in university–community partnerships for sustainable development

  • University of Northern British Columbia (BC)

This paper aims to examine the broad concept of university–community partnerships as it applies to creating sustainability initiatives. The benefits of university–community partnerships are increasingly recognized, and this paper offers …

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
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Infusing the UN Sustainable Development Goals into a global learning initiative

  • Pennsylvania State University (PA)
  • University of North Texas (TX)
  • University of South Florida (FL)

The Global Citizens Project (GCP) is a university-wide global learning initiative at the University of South Florida, aimed at enhancing undergraduate students’ global competencies through curricular and co-curricular experiences. The …

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
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Sustainability practices at private universities: a state-of-the-art assessment

  • College of Charleston (SC)
  • Universidade Federal de Vicosa
  • University of Worcester
  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Passo Fundo
  • Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
  • University of Minho
  • Pompeu Fabra University
  • University of A Coruña (a Coruña)

Private universities also play a key role in the sustainability debate. But despite their importance, there a shortage of research on how sustainability is being implemented at private universities. Based …

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
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‘Challenge to the South’ Revisited: A Case Study Worldwide of Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

  • Yorkville University (NB)

Three decades ago Julius Nyerere (1990) wrote Challenge to the South. In response to the legacy of colonialism, Nyerere challenged the nations of the Global South to advance their development …

  • Posted April 8, 2021
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Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals through Education Abroad

  • The Forum on Education Abroad (RI)

These guidelines serve to direct the education abroad sector toward social, economic, and environmental sustainability by connecting the Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad and the United Nations Sustainable …

Webinar: Greenspace Town Halls and Make-A-Thon

  • University of Central Florida (FL)
  • AASHE (MA)

This event is part of the AASHE Award Winner Webinar Series, featuring a presentation of the Student Sustainability Leadership Award winning project.

This webinar will outline the Greenspace Sustainability Design …

  • Posted March 25, 2021
  • Videos & Webinars
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Green Talks 2019 Presenters

Annual Green Talks Symposium

  • University of California, San Diego (CA)

Green Talks is a TED-style talk symposium specifically geared towards environmental awareness. This annual event aims to engage and educate the UC San Diego student body and broader community about …

  • Posted March 8, 2021
  • Case Studies
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Engage in Climate Solutions: Help Get the Climate Policies We all Need

  • AASHE (MA)
  • Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) (PA)

Do your students and staff want to do something more for climate change that creates a large positive impact? The Beyond Doom and Gloom: Climate Solutions initiative is collaborating with …

  • Posted Feb. 24, 2021
  • Videos & Webinars
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Strengthening local economy – an example of higher education institutions’ engagement in “co-creation for sustainability”

  • Hochschule Niederrhein, University of Applied Sciences

Major societal challenges like energy efficiency, climate change and resource scarcity trigger and influence continuous change processes worldwide, nationwide, but also on all regional levels. They force regions to think …

  • Posted Feb. 19, 2021
  • Publications
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Democracy and the (missing) politics in environmental education

  • Oberlin College (OH)

Our work as educators does not match the scope, scale, and urgency of the challenges we presently face and that our descendants will confront through the centuries of the “long …

  • Posted Feb. 19, 2021
  • Publications
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Higher education for times of climate crisis – critical awareness, purpose and community

  • The University of Newcastle (NSW)

Climate change impacts cascade across scales and sectors, and present specific threats to education institutions and systems, including reduced educational access, participation and attainment by students. In this paper, we …

  • Posted Feb. 19, 2021
  • Publications
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Towards climate justice education: views from activists and educators in Scotland

  • University of Edinburgh

In the context of a resurgence of civic activism to address climate change, we present findings from an exploratory research project on climate justice education (CJE). We conducted deliberative focus …

  • Posted Feb. 10, 2021
  • Publications
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Collegiate athletics environmental sustainability efforts within STARS reporting

  • Texas A&M University (TX)
  • University of Tennessee at Knoxville (TN)

The purpose of this paper is to examine higher education institutions’ participation in association for the advancement of sustainability in higher education’s (AASHE’s) Green Athletics category in the sustainability tracking, …

Universities and Multistakeholder Engagement for Sustainable Development: A Research and Technology Perspective

  • Università degli Studi di Torino
  • Politecnico di Torino

If we have any hope of achieving sustainability, we, as researchers, need to develop a new perspective on universities and multistakeholder engagement. Stakeholder theory teaches us that engaging stakeholders in …

Competence Literate but Context Lacking? Investigating the Potential of Study Abroad Programs to Promote Sustainability Competence Acquisition in Students

  • Blekinge Institute of Technology

The examination of pedagogies that promote effective sustainability learning has led to vigorous academic discussion, as has research regarding the role of competence-based learning for sustainability. This paper investigates the …

Building bridges: overview of an international sustainable tourism education model

  • Colorado State University, Pueblo (CO)

The purpose of this paper is to present and explore a sustainable tourism education model that employed Fair-Trade learning principles and experiential learning philosophies. In collaboration with universities in Mexico …

Determinants of Carbon Emission Disclosures and UN Sustainable Development Goals: The Case of UK Higher Education Institutions

  • Tallinn University
  • Newcastle University
  • Durham University

In recent years, organisational sustainability has become a topical issue in many institutional fields and a number of calls have been made to improve the disclosure of carbon information as …

Effectiveness of digital games in producing environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviors: A mixed methods study

  • Purdue University (IN)

Awareness of environmental sustainability issues alone is not enough. Environmental Sustainability Education (ESE) should produce changes in attitude and encourage lifelong behaviors. However, behavioral changes are curtailed by constraints and …

Campus greening from social sciences: emerging formulas on social responsibility and teaching innovation

  • University of A Coruña (a Coruña)

Purpose This paper aims to show how the Green Campus Program has been implemented at the Faculty of Sociology of the University of A Coruña (Spain). It describes the criteria …

Integrating the circular economy into engineering programs in India: A study of students’ familiarity with the concept

  • XLRI-Xavier School of Management (Jharkhand State)

Human production and consumption activities are depleting the earth’s resources faster than they are being replenished. The Global Footprint network estimates “Earth Overshoot Day 2020” (the day the use of …

Impact of personality traits and university green entrepreneurial support on students' green entrepreneurial intentions: the moderating role of environmental values

  • Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology
  • Mohammad Ali Jinnah University
  • Iqra University

Purpose The earth needs to go green as it clarifies that humans should adopt a sustainable lifestyle that will be friendly to the environment and society. The emerging stream of …

SDGs Report 2019

  • National University of Sciences and Technology (Federal)

Realizing the importance of United Nations 17 SDGs, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) , Pakistan has adopted UN SDGs framework to monitor and improve the impact of contribution …

Engendering sustainable development competencies in higher education: The case of Egypt

  • Zayed University
  • Cairo University

Higher Education Institutions are a crucial player in achieving the international 2030 sustainable development agenda on the national levels. This study examines the role that Cairo University plays in promoting …

When relational capabilities walk in education for sustainability scenario

  • Universidade Federal do Paraná (PR)

Since higher education institutions are considered relevant catalysts in the formation of future business leaders, the concern for sustainability issues can take place in such institutions through the so-called Education …

The promotion of sustainable development in higher education institutions: top-down bottom-up or neither?

  • Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the sustainability approach within higher education institutions. Universities, as institutions of knowledge, play an important and strategic role in maximizing social and economic benefits …

Exploring emerging learning needs: a UK-wide consultation on environmental sustainability learning objectives for medical education

  • University of Bristol
  • University College London (London)
  • University of Hull
  • Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (Oxford)

Objectives: This study aimed to engage wide-ranging stakeholders and develop consensus learning objectives for undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.

Methods: A UK-wide consultation garnered opinions of healthcare students, healthcare educators …

Truth before reconciliation: the difficulties of transforming higher education in settler colonial contexts

  • The University of British Columbia (BC)

In response to the contemporary context of reconciliation in Canada, colleges and universities have made efforts to ‘Indigenise’ their campuses, extending earlier, Indigenous-led efforts to create more space for Indigenous …

Indigenous perspectives on education for sustainable healthcare

  • University of North Dakota (ND)
  • University of Washington, Seattle (WA)
  • University of Auckland
  • Bond University (Queensland)
  • El Fondo para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas de América Latina y El Caribe (FILAC)
  • Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation (NT)

A range of global environmental changes are contributing to an increasing global burden of disease. Since human health and well-being are intimately associated with the health of our planet, healthcare …

Building an environmentally accountable medical curriculum through international collaboration

  • Georgetown University (DC)
  • The University of British Columbia (BC)
  • University of Edinburgh
  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)
  • University of Cape Town
  • Aarhus University
  • University of East Anglia
  • University of Tasmania (TAS)
  • University of Hull

Background: Global environmental change is associated with significant health threats. The medical profession can address this challenge through advocacy, health system adaptation and workforce preparedness. Stewardship of health systems with …

Decarbonising academia: confronting our climate hypocrisy

  • University of Otago (Otago)
  • University of Surrey

Academia is generally carbon intensive. Many academics are highly aeromobile to an extent that is now being framed as a form of ‘climate hypocrisy’. Technological advances are not enough to …

Carbon Footprint of Academic Air Travel: A Case Study in Switzerland

  • École Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Relatively low travel costs and abundant opportunities for research funding in Switzerland and other developed countries allow researchers large amounts of international travel and collaborations, leading to a substantial carbon …

Community capacity-building for sustainable development: Effectively striving towards achieving local community sustainability targets

  • UNSW Sydney (NSW)
  • United Nations University

Purpose Although the value of community capacity building is widely accepted within scholarly literature, these initiatives thus far appear to have achieved very little impact in the achievement of community …

Governing the university in the perspective of the United Nations 2030 Agenda: The case of the University of Bologna

  • Università di Bologna

Purpose Starting from the experience of the University of Bologna, this paper provides an innovative framework to analyse how universities are rethinking courses and curricula, teaching, research programmes, campus operation …

Changing roles of universities in the era of SDGs: rising up to the global challenge through institutionalising partnerships with governments and communities

  • American University of Beirut

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development covers a wide range of interrelated goals, including poverty eradication and economic growth, social inclusion, environmental sustainability and peace for all people by 2030. …

The use of the theory of planned behaviour to assess graduate attributes for sustainability

  • RMIT University

Higher Education plays an influential role in societal transformation towards sustainability. An understanding of the application of sustainability learning from degree programs in a graduate’s professional practice can serve as …

Funding community sustainable development using zero energy buildings

  • Millersville University (PA)

This paper aims at bridging the gap between theoretical frameworks for community sustainable development and descriptive-only case studies by using a case study to demonstrate a conceptual model or framework …

  • Posted Jan. 12, 2021
  • Publications
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Higher Education Institutions: Partners in Social & Economic Community Resilience

  • Central Community College (NE)
  • University at Buffalo (NY)
  • Second Nature (MA)
  • AASHE (MA)
  • Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) (PA)

This webinar is is brought to you by the Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) with support from Second Nature and the American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP).

There is …

  • Posted Oct. 29, 2020
  • Videos & Webinars
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Two of the students that did all the amazing work in the class (Erin Ganzke and Christopher Dwyer: not pictured Hannah Burby, Spencer Charczuk, Megan Weller, and Kate Markiewicz).

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee - Alliance for Water Stewardship Partnership

  • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (WI)

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has partnered with the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) to develop the first curricular program in the nation dedicated to training students in professional water stewardship planning …

Urban and Metropolitan Universities: The Transformative Power of Anchor Institutions

  • Democracy Collaborative (DC)

'Urban and Metropolitan Universities: The Transformative Power of Anchor Institutions' focuses on the role of urban and metropolitan universities as anchor institutions in their community to address long standing inequities. …

  • Posted Oct. 23, 2020
  • Publications
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Book Cover

Toward Sustainable Communities: Solutions for Citizens and Their Governments, 4th edition

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Simon Fraser University (BC)

The need to make our communities sustainable is more urgent than ever before. Toward Sustainable Communities remains the single most useful resource for creating vibrant, healthy, equitable, economically viable places. …

  • Posted Oct. 23, 2020
  • Publications
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UCLA Students wearing licensed products 3 of 3

UCLA Licensed Products images for Sustainable Campus Index

  • University of California, Los Angeles (CA)

Students on UCLA's campus wearing officially licensed products

Humber College Kenya Education for Employment Program

Humber College - Kenya Education for Employment Program (KEFEP)

  • Humber Polytechnic (ON)

Humber is the lead of the Kenya Education for Employment Program (KEFEP)-02 consortium working to harness the capacity of three Kenyan National Polytechnics to develop industry-responsive skills training programs and …

Humber College Forest Nature Program - Watching for painted turtles

Humber College - Forest Nature Program

  • Humber Polytechnic (ON)

The Forest and Nature Program (FNP) is a unique play and learning experience that offers children the opportunity to succeed and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning experiences in …

Clean Energy Corps student presents findings

UMass Amherst Clean Energy Corps

  • University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)

Clean Energy Extension students review and photograph architectural plans for an elementary school they are assessing, as well as present their findings.

An IUPUI employee uses a compost bin

IUPUI and Butler Collaborate to Launch Commercial Food Compost Program in Indianapolis

  • Indiana University Indianapolis (IN)

IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) has an ongoing partnership with Butler University to employ a large waste hauler for food waste compost collection. Both universities leveraged their respective networks to …

An IUPUI student volunteers during the IUPUI Day of Caring

IUPUI Day of Caring

  • Indiana University Indianapolis (IN)

IUPUI partners with the United Way to host a Day of Caring to support local social organizations across Indianapolis. This year, the IUPUI community volunteered with Growing Places Indy, a …

Bike to Work Day May, 10, 2018. For SCI 2020 Submission.

Santa Clara University Bike to Work Day

  • Santa Clara University (CA)

SCU faculty and staff have participated in Silicon Valley's Bike to Work Day since 2015! In partnership with Human Resources, and Parking & Transportation, the Center for Sustainability hosts these …

Glean Team in front of Swig Hall. For SCI 2020 Submission.

Santa Clara University - Gathering Fruit with the Glean Team

  • Santa Clara University (CA)

SCU's Glean Team is a volunteer-based group that gathers fruit from the hundreds of fruit-bearing trees on campus and surrounding area. Harvested fruit is donated to on-campus food pantries and …

UAB Solar House and Sustainable Neighborhood

University of Alabama at Birmingham Solar Community and Microgrid

  • University of Alabama at Birmingham (AL)

In 2019, the University of Alabama at Birmingham opened its Solar House and Sustainable Neighborhood, featuring the Urban Multisource Microgrid and the the UAB Surviv(AL) house, built for the 2017 …

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

EN 11: Inter-campus Collaboration

EN 12: Continuing Education

EN 13: Community Service

EN 14: Participation in Public Policy

EN 15: Trademark Licensing

Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.

Public Engagement Partners

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