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.

2946 resources

Earth Day 2017

  • Indiana State University (IN)

These pictures capture the wonderful turnout that our department managed to create for our largest, and favorite, event of the year.

  • Posted April 25, 2017
  • Photographs
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Earth Day Fair 2017 at Lehigh University

  • Lehigh University (PA)

Lehigh University celebrated its annual Earth Day Fair on Friday, April 21 from 11am-130pm on the UC Front Lawn. There were 30-40 interactive booths, 4 electric cars on display, an ...

  • Posted April 25, 2017
  • Photographs
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Permaculture on Campus

  • Hiram College (OH)

Students help sheet mulch and add edible landscaping on Hiram College's campus this Earth Day.

  • Posted April 24, 2017
  • Photographs
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Suffolk County Community College - Earth Week!

  • Suffolk County Community College (NY)

Suffolk County Community College Earth Week Events!

  • Posted April 21, 2017
  • Photographs
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Suffolk County Community College Earth Week!

  • Suffolk County Community College (NY)

Earth Week Events at Suffolk County Community College

  • Posted April 21, 2017
  • Photographs
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Students see promise in careers in the business of sustainability

  • Colby College (ME)
  • College of the Atlantic (ME)
  • Unity Environmental University (ME)
  • AASHE (PA)
  • International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) (OR)

Two small, isolated Maine colleges that focus on sustainability and the environment know they aren’t for everyone.

Students have to work in the local community, where they experience the ...

  • Posted April 20, 2017
  • Publications
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Emory Earth Festival

  • Emory University (GA)

Emory's annual Earth Festival kicks off Earth Month. The Festival runs in conjunction with Emory's weekly Farmers Market and brings together Atlanta based non-profits, government agencies, and businesses ...

  • Posted April 17, 2017
  • Photographs
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Xiuhtezcatl Martinez; 16-year-old indigenous Climate Activist

  • Georgia College & State University (GA)

Georgia College's Sustainability Fee Program will be hosting Xiuhtezcatl Martinez at the 2017 Sustainability Fee Program Symposium on April 20, 2017 at 5pm on Front Campus.

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is ...

  • Posted April 11, 2017
  • Photographs
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Green Gigawatt Partnership: Reinventing Renewable Power Purchase Agreements for Higher Education

  • AASHE (PA)
  • Edison Energy (CA)

The higher education renewable energy market has grown dramatically in recent years as campus buyers have executed power purchase agreements (PPAs). But for all of the successes, two substantial obstacles ...

  • Posted March 30, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Developing High Impact Applied Learning for Sustainability Programs

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Portland State University (OR)
  • AASHE (PA)

This webinar explores leading examples of applied learning in sustainability programs that are designed create exceptional student experiences and a lasting impact on the sustainability goals pursued by the community ...

  • Posted March 15, 2017
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Higher Education in the World: Towards a Socially Responsible University: Balancing the Global with the Local

The 6th Higher Education in the World Report deals with the dual responsibilities of universities at local and global scale, exploring the potential conflict, or intrinsic difficulties, in addressing both ...

  • Posted March 14, 2017
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Sharing the Load: Aggregating Renewable Energy Purchases with Others

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)
  • AASHE (PA)
  • Coho Climate Advisors (MD)

The idea of pooling resources to increase bargaining power is not new. But it is being newly applied to renewable energy purchases. Now, no matter the size or location of ...

  • Posted March 9, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Preparing for Campus Sustainability Month 2016

  • University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)
  • University of North Florida (FL)
  • University of Washington, Seattle (WA)
  • AASHE (PA)

October is Campus Sustainability Month (CSM)! Watch this webinar to gain ideas and inspiration for how you can take advantage of CSM to engage and inspire incoming students and other ...

  • Posted March 7, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Future Leaders Survey 2006/7

This report presents the results of a survey distributed to UK residents aged 21 and under who applied to universities and colleges in 2006. Key findings include:

  • 46% say that ...
  • Posted March 6, 2017
  • Publications
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Community Partnerships: A Key Component of Sustainability

  • University of Maryland, College Park (MD)
  • Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) (PA)

Partnerships between higher education institutions and their surrounding communities are a powerful tool for advancing sustainability and educating for sustainability. Colleges and universities, longtime leaders in sustainability, are increasingly realizing ...

  • Posted March 3, 2017
  • Publications
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Sustainability Career Resources List

  • U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development
  • Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) (PA)

This Google sheet lists job boards focused on sustainability as well as related resources.


Beyond Doom and Gloom - Include Solutions to Climate Change

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

Are you or your students worried about climate change impacts? Are you connecting your students to ways to be involved in solutions? This webinar focuses on expert materials to engage ...

  • Posted March 2, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Sustainability as competitive advantage in higher education in the UK

  • University of Leeds (West Yorkshire)

This paper draws on a series of five ESRC-funded seminars held between 2006 and 2008 on 'Sustainability as competitive advantage in higher education in the UK'. We sketch the background ...

  • Posted March 1, 2017
  • Publications
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AASHE Award Winner Webinar - Taking Carbon Off-Setting Beyond the Campus

  • Furman University (SC)
  • AASHE (PA)

This webinar tells the story of the Community Conservation Corps (CCC), a community weatherization program run through the David E. Shi Center for Sustainability at Furman University. The CCC was ...

  • Posted Feb. 23, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Good Practices on Campus Sustainability in Japan 2016

  • Hokkaido University (Hokkaido)
  • Chiba University
  • Kyoto University
  • Fukushima College

Released by the Campus Sustainability Network in Japan (CAS-Net Japan), the booklet was created to share campus experiences in conducting environmental activities and efforts to find solutions to environmental problems ...

  • Posted Feb. 21, 2017
  • Publications
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Towards a Real-world Laboratory: A Transdisciplinary Case Study from Lüneburg

  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg

Real-world laboratories have gained currency in transdisciplinary sustainability research. Establishing real-world laboratories by means of a transdisciplinary process offers promising prospects since it fosters trust among the participants and leads ...

  • Posted Feb. 20, 2017
  • Publications
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Immerse in Your Watershed: Problem-Based, Service Learning for Undergraduate Sustainability Education

  • Maharishi University of Management (IA)

This case study describes a problem-based and service learning module in which undergraduate students participated in a community-based project. Students joined a group consisting of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), public ...

  • Posted Feb. 20, 2017
  • Publications
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Energy and development: the role of academia in education, research, and technological cooperation for sustainability

Over the last decades, the interest of the international community for the multiple interconnections among energy, environment, and society has widely increased. Today, the close link between energy and development ...

  • Posted Feb. 17, 2017
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Universities’ intermediary role in the “design for sustainability” field: Case studies from the Netherlands and Turkey

  • Technische Universiteit Delft

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the intermediary role of universities in spreading design for sustainability into industry.

Design/methodology/approach - Three case studies were undertaken on Delft University of ...

  • Posted Feb. 17, 2017
  • Publications
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Ethics in Higher Education: Values-driven Leaders for the Future

The values and virtues practised in universities heavily influence the leaders of the future, but outside the limelight of excelling education institutions there is a concerning violation of good practises ...

  • Posted Feb. 14, 2017
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The use of educational game design and play in higher education to influence sustainable behaviour

  • Cardiff University

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss a novel life cycle approach to education for sustainable development (ESD) where the students become “design thinkers”.

Design/methodology/approach - A ...

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
  • Publications
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Higher education for sustainable development at EARTH University

  • Universidad Iberoamericana, A.C. (DF)
  • EARTH University

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to present the experience of a Central American university that has been successfully advancing an educational model focused on sustainability for over 25 ...

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
  • Publications
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What do people know about key environmental issues? A review of environmental knowledge surveys

  • St. Catherine University (MN)

This paper presents results from 15 little publicized state and national environmental surveys in the US that used similar questions. Our analysis reveals trends in adult understanding of environmental issues ...

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
  • Publications
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European university-community partnership-based research on urban sustainability and resilience

  • University of East London
  • University College Dublin, National University of Ireland

The Transitioning Towards Urban Resilience and Sustainability (TURAS) project is based on the partnership between decision makers in local authorities with SMEs and academic institutions to develop and demonstrate transition ...

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
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Towards an engaged campus: Measuring and comparing definitive stakeholders’ perceptions of university social engagement in South Korea

Purpose - This paper aims to measure and rigorously compare the perceptions of South Korean university social engagement between faculty and students, two definitive stakeholders identified by stakeholder theory – but considerably ...

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
  • Publications
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Green Gigawatt Partnership: How to Apply for AASHE's On Campus Solar Project Support

  • AASHE (PA)
  • Edison Energy (CA)
  • Dallas College (TX)

AASHE is offering cost-free support for up to five campuses (http://greengigawatt.org/aashe-campus-project.php) to develop and implement on-campus (or near campus) solar projects.This webinar presents how the ...

  • Posted Feb. 9, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Using Photovoice to Explore Environmental Sustainability Across Languages and Cultures

  • Bellarmine University (KY)
  • Centre College (KY)
  • University of Kentucky (KY)

Though work in the area of photovoice (in which students take photos to structure a dialogue that can serve to advance social action as the community responds to the participants ...


An experience-based learning framework: Activities for the initial development of sustainability competencies

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg

Purpose - This paper aims to present an experience-based learning framework that provides a bottom-up, student-centered entrance point for the development of systems thinking, normative and collaborative competencies in sustainability.

Design ...


Creating sustainable cities through knowledge exchange: A case study of knowledge transfer partnerships

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of knowledge transfer partnership (KTP)as a means for universities to generate and exchange knowledge to foster sustainable cities ...


Are we educating engineers for sustainability?: Comparison between obtained competences and Swedish industry's needs

  • Chalmers University of Technology

Purpose – The aim of this study is to contribute to the quality improvement and long‐term strategic development of education for sustainable development (ESD) in engineering education curricula.

Design/methodology ...


A New Era of Sustainability: CEO reflections on progress to date, challenges ahead and the impact of the journey toward a sustainable economy.

This report describes the results of a survey of 766 United Nations Global Compact member CEOs. Findings include:

  • 93 percent of CEOs see sustainability as important to their company’s ...

Responding to environmental challenges: an initial assessment of higher education curricula needs by Australian planning professionals

  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)

Environmental planning education has become crucial given the projected implications of climate change for human settlements and nature. However, despite the identified importance of educating planners with regards to sustainability ...


Education for Sustainability, Graduate Capabilities, Professional Employment: How They All Connect

  • RMIT University

Education for Sustainability (EfS) has an intimate relationship with professional employment as we seek to develop graduates who will take EfS values and understanding into their workplaces to build a ...


Sustainability, Learning and Capability: Exploring Questions of Balance

It is argued that sustainable development makes best sense as a social learning process that brings tangible and useful outcomes in terms of understanding and skills, and also reinforces the ...


Connecting curriculum, capabilities and careers

  • RMIT University

Purpose

The reported research aims to examine the extent to which sustainability capabilities have been delivered by a specific example of Education for Sustainability (EfS) and Education for Sustainable Development ...


2015 National Solar Jobs Census

  • George Washington University (DC)

The Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census 2015 is the sixth annual update of current employment, trends, and projected growth in the U.S. solar industry. It found that ...


The Role of Transacademic Interface Managers in Transformational Sustainability Research and Education

  • Arizona State University (AZ)

Working towards sustainable solutions requires involving professionals and stakeholders from all sectors of society into research and teaching. This often presents a challenge to scholars at universities, as they lack ...


Utilizing international networks for accelerating research and learning in transformational sustainability science

  • University of Tokyo
  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
  • Stellenbosch University (Western Cape)
  • Lund University
  • Maastricht University
  • Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (DF)
  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg
  • Arizona State University (AZ)

A promising approach for addressing sustainability problems is to recognize the unique conditions of a particular place, such as problem features and solution capabilities, and adopt and adapt solutions developed ...

  • Posted Jan. 31, 2017
  • Publications
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The Sustainability Literacy Test: Implementation strategies for campuses

  • McGill University (QC)
  • AASHE (PA)
  • U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development
  • KEDGE Business School (Bordeaux)

The Sustainability Literacy Test provides higher education institutions, companies and other organizations around the world with an internationally recognized and locally relevant tool to measure and improve sustainability literacy. This ...

  • Posted Jan. 31, 2017
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Green chemistry = social and environmental justice

  • Bridgewater State University (MA)
  • Beyond Benign (MA)

Green Chemistry Education Webinar Series: A webinar series for chemistry faculty and students highlighting relevant and important topics in green chemistry education.

Presented by: Dr. Ed Brush Professor of Chemistry ...

  • Posted Jan. 31, 2017
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Engaging the Community Through Student Led Initiatives: Highlights and Opportunities

  • University of Tennessee at Martin (TN)
  • Beyond Benign (MA)
  • American Chemical Society (DC)

Green Chemistry Education Webinar Series: A webinar series for chemistry faculty and students highlighting relevant and important topics in green chemistry education.

Presented by: Jennifer MacKellar ACS, GCI

Dr. S ...

  • Posted Jan. 31, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Greening Your ACS Student Chapter - Models of Success

  • Beyond Benign (MA)

Green Chemistry Education Webinar Series: A new webinar series for chemistry faculty and students highlighting relevant topics in green chemistry education.

Presented by: Jennifer MacKellar Program Manager American Chemical Society ...

  • Posted Jan. 30, 2017
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Student Led Green Chemistry Initiatives

  • University of Toronto (ON)
  • Beyond Benign (MA)

Green Chemistry Education Webinar Series: A new webinar series for chemistry faculty and students highlighting relevant topics in green chemistry education.

Presented by: Anna Ivanova Communications Director Network of Early-Career ...

  • Posted Jan. 30, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Modernizing the Organic Chemistry Laboratory with Green Chemistry

  • Beyond Benign (MA)

Green Chemistry Education Webinar Series: A new webinar series for chemistry faculty and students highlighting relevant topics in green chemistry education.

Presented by: Dr. Jane Wissinger Associate Professor, Department of ...

  • Posted Jan. 30, 2017
  • Videos & Webinars
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Green Chemistry: The missing element in chemistry education

  • Beyond Benign (MA)

Green Chemistry Education Webinar Series: A new webinar series for chemistry faculty and students highlighting relevant and important topics in green chemistry education.

Presented by: Dr. John C. Warner Founder ...

  • Posted Jan. 30, 2017
  • 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.

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