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.

2945 resources

Putting the Action in a Climate Action Plan: Sustainability Planning with Community Input as the Foundation

  • Virginia Commonwealth University (VA)

Virginia Commonwealth University has been a leader in sustainability since signing onto the ACUPCC in 2008. VCU drafted its first Climate Action Plan in 2010, and submitted its first STARS ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Expanding Sustainability Horizons - Educational Tourism and the Virtual Classroom

  • Virginia Tech (VA)

Graduate and professional (non-credit) programs offered through Virginia Tech's Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability prepare students for careers in an increasingly interconnected, urbanizing, and global workplace by combining ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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The Seed of a Great Idea: Wells College Seed Exchange Program

  • Wells College (NY)

The Wells College Center for Sustainability and the Environment fielded an intriguing inquiry from a campus librarian who wondered what the Center thought of the idea for the college Library ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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The Gibbs Farm: A Permaculture Learning Lab

  • Western Michigan University (MI)

The Gibbs Farm is a 2-acre historic homestead currently undergoing a landscape reimagining to create an engaging environment for students, staff, and the greater community. Students with diverse backgrounds and ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Liberal Arts Institutions Networking Meeting (2015)

  • Willamette University (OR)

A lunch meeting for representatives of liberal arts colleges and universities. A similar lunchtime networking event was hosted by others in Nashville in 2013 with approximately 100 attendees, and in ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Canadian University and Colleges Sustainability Meet Up

  • University of Saskatchewan (SK)
  • Vancouver Community College (BC)

Campus sustainability is a strategic priority focus for many Canadian universities and colleges. As universities and colleges across Canada ramp up efforts in campus sustainability the need for mechanisms to ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Learning Gardens: A Platform for Sustainability Education

  • Appalachian State University (NC)

How can learning gardens be used as a platform to teach sustainability principles? This session will introduce an adaptable framework that uses a three-dimensional living model to clearly communicate the ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Town Gown Sustainability: How to Develop a Vibrant Partnership

  • DePauw University (IN)

DePauw University and Greencastle, Indiana have historically not had a great "town-gown" relationship. That’s changing, and one of the reasons is because of their sustainability partnerships. After beginning to ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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On-Campus Food Rescue: A Campus Kitchen Project at IUPUI

  • Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) (IN)

The Campus Kitchens Project (CKP) is a national leader in community engagement and service through student-led initiatives to decrease waste in campus cafeterias. This is accomplished through food rescue and ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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It Takes a Campus to Raise a Living Learning Laboratory

  • Colorado State University (CO)

Laurel Village at Colorado State University is a state-of-the-art living learning laboratory that integrates student housing, academics, active research, summer conferences, and a sustainability peer education program. This session will ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Strengthening Sustainability through External Partnerships

  • Boston University (MA)
  • Harvard University (MA)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)

Through participation in the Boston Green Ribbon Commission and Cambridge Community Compact for a Sustainable Future, Boston University, Harvard University, and MIT are partnering with peers in higher education, health ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Partnerships to Develop More Sustainable Student Tenants

  • Ithaca College (NY)

A landlord for off-campus student housing for Ithaca College students approached us with an interesting question: how could we work together to better prepare our students for the experience of ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Story of Self: Defining Your Story to Advance your Movement

  • U.S. Green Building Council (DC)

Every person has taken their own path to develop passion and drive in the sustainability field or chosen career. In “Story of Self,” we will define and leverage each journey ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Sustainability Awareness Week – An incredible engagement opportunity

  • University of Alberta (AB)

Originating in 2008, Sustainability Awareness Week (SAW) is an annual celebration of all things sustainable at the University of Alberta - it educates and motivates our campus community to live a ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Community Building Through Permaculture: Engaging Stakeholders for Effective Programming

  • Lehigh University (PA)

The Community Leaders’ Initiative for Permaculture is a student group at Lehigh University that utilizes the principles of earth care, people care and fair share in culturally approximate ways to ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Reclaiming the Commons to Foster Sustainability

  • Portland State University (OR)

A growing number of scholars and change agents have embraced a commons framework for raising consciousness and action related to sustainability. The national “On the Commons” movement describes the commons ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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How to Effectively Use Cross Town Rivalry for More Than Just Competition

  • Appalachian State University (NC)

While cross town rivalries can be fun, perhaps they are not the best environment to promote programming; which is inherently community centered in nature. Collegiate sustainability managers are tasked with ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Make a Difference that Lasts: End Campus Food Waste & Community Hunger

  • Food Recovery Network (MD)

Looking for a way to make a long-term, big-picture impact on campus and in your community? Thinking ahead to graduation and worrying that the work you’re putting into sustainability ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Partnerships Open New Capital Market to Spur Campus Energy Innovation

  • Ball State University (IN)
  • Southern Oregon University (OR)
  • Spelman College (GA)
  • U.S. Green Building Council (DC)
  • Chevrolet (OR)

Six partners come together to share their unique perspectives on what it takes to drive systemic change across US higher education – using a ground-breaking series of public/private partnerships to ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Cultivating Community-based Food Systems via Community Connections

  • University of Vermont (VT)

I focus on campus-community partnerships via service-learning courses I teach at UVM (based on the PARE model and using Clayton’s DEAL approach to foster deep reflection) that relate to ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Videos Tell Sustainability Stories, Work toward Sustainable Futures

  • University of Vermont (VT)

As an effective pedagogical approach for addressing planetary-scale Anthropocene challenges at the local level, I consider storytelling—enhanced by videos-- as a social transformation tool to work toward sustainable futures ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Using Earth Day as a catalyst: Creating a link between the university and community

  • University of South Dakota (SD)

As universities begin to embrace sustainability efforts, it is essential that those efforts extend beyond the universities and into their broader communities. The University of South Dakota (USD) is the ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Sustainable Universities Growing 21st Century Cities

  • University of Missouri, Kansas City (MO)

Universities and cities exist so that people of diverse backgrounds can come together to live, work and play in a vibrant environment where new ideas and opportunities are boundless. When ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Utilizing campus partnerships to enhance sustainability campaigns

  • Stanford University (CA)

For the past 30 years, Stanford has designed and implemented innovative, campus-wide infrastructural programs to address environmental sustainability in energy, water, waste and building efficiency. Stanford’s Office of Sustainability ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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GreenTown: Creating Cross-Sector Sustainability Collaboration

  • Indiana University South Bend (IN)

Most of the time, most of us attend professional conferences intended only for inhabitants of the Ivory Tower. The same is true of other professions. Rarely do we come togehter ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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The Kentucky College & University Carbon Consortium

  • University of Louisville (KY)
  • Western Kentucky University (KY)

Beginning in 2009, in celebration of the annual America Recycles Day event, college campuses across the nation began informally competing on the self-reporting website Recordsetter for “largest cardboard box fort ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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A Geodesign Approach to GIS for Sustainability Management

  • University of Washington, Seattle (WA)

Geodesign is an emerging approach to using geographic information systems (GIS) for addressing complex sustainable systems problems, e.g., improving land use, transportation, and water resources that have impacts on ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Community Partnerships: Celebrating Poets, Painters, and Projects

  • Delta College (MI)

Utilizing the campus and the community environment can create an engaging experience for teaching and learning and can serve as an invitation for partnership and participation. Off The Page: A ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Regional Centers for ESD: Increasing Impact Through Collaboration

  • Portland Community College (OR)
  • Portland State University (OR)
  • York University
  • University of Regina (SK)
  • Aquinas College (MI)

Can you envision healthy, just, and thriving communities where sustainability education is prioritized and everyone has opportunities to shape a more sustainable future? The United Nations University has fostered an ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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LCC’s Downtown Campus: Adventures in Housing, Collaboration and LEED

  • Lane Community College (OR)

Profile: The Lane Community College Downtown Campus in Eugene, Oregon is a landmark project for education, business and the community. The innovative design and features of the campus allow Lane ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Promoting Campus Sustainability in Developing Countries

  • Universidad de Monterrey
  • American University in Cairo (Cairo)
  • American University of Nigeria (Adamawa,)

Four speakers from developing countries will briefly present and then discuss the challenges of implementing a university sustainability program in an environment where long-term sustainability seems eclipsed by poverty, political ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Building Community Partnerships to Promote Sustainable Waste Practices

  • Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (DF)
  • Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Campus Leon

As part of a research project run by the Sustainability department at the Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores Unidad León (ENES), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico, professors ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Analysis of Ecovillages as Model Sustainable Communities

  • Eckerd College (FL)

This research analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of several ecovillages, which are intentional communities that strive to live in an environmentally sustainable way. The purpose of the research was to ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Online magazine and social media network for regional synergies

  • College of Charleston (SC)

Institutions of higher learning share the responsibility of empowering the individual, building community, and enriching society. The question is not whether to pursue community engagement and public outreach but how ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Campuses as Living Laboratories for Sustainable Communities

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)
  • Portland State University (OR)
  • EcoDistricts (OR)

How can universities use ecodistricts to create transformational change in the campus setting? What are the key roles for academic institutions to accelerate sustainable neighborhood development in their communities? This ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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There’s No Place Like A Sustainable Home: Greening Off-Campus Housing

  • University of Arizona (AZ)

In the summer of 2013, the University of Arizona launched the Undergraduate Off-Campus Housing Sustainability Coordinator (OCHSC) position designed to bring sustainability into the homes of students living off-campus. The ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Understanding the Community Rights Framework

  • Portland State University (OR)

Ecuador’s 2008 Constitution gives nature the right to “respect for its existence and for the maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles.” Many sustainability scholars are well aware of ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Working Together To Fight Hunger and Waste

  • Bon Appétit Management Company
  • Food Recovery Network (MD)

Every day students are asking more of the university around them and it can be difficult for dining service providers to know how to address requests. Whether it be for ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Green Space Certifications as Tools for a Sustainable Community

  • Emory University (GA)
  • University of Alberta (AB)

Separated by approximately 3800 kms--Emory University and University of Alberta have closed the north/south gap between their two large research-intensive institutions by working together to share lessons learned regarding ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Putting the U in Community Solar: Creating a local, meaningful offset program

  • University of Utah (UT)

U Community Solar is an innovative program to give the University of Utah a local, tangible way to offset its carbon footprint over the next 20 years. The one-time program ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Symbiotic Sustainability: Oberlin Town and Gown Collaboration

  • Oberlin College (OH)

College towns across the country are facing growing economic, social, and environmental challenges. A shared vision to build a more sustainable community between city and college leaders can be a ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Fostering Social Change through Action and Recognition Programs

  • Western Washington University (WA)

Sustainability is often approached from economic and environmental viewpoints which, while exceptionally valid, can be restrictive when approaching a project with limited quantitative data. Through the Residents’ Resource Awareness Program ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Strengthening Rural Community Health through Collaboration

  • Black Hills State University (SD)

Nestled in the northern Black Hills of South Dakota, Spearfish is a small town of about 10,000 and home to Black Hills State University (BHSU). BHSU is spearheading a ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Stanford’s Building Level Sustainability Program: A Retrospective

  • Stanford University (CA)

Formally launched in 2009, Stanford’s Building-Level Sustainability Program harnesses the actions of individual building occupants to achieve resource savings. Over the past five years the program has matured to ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Creating a Green Economy in a Red County in a Blue State

  • McHenry County College (IL)
  • Southwestern Illinois College (IL)

Growing Partnerships The Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN) is a consortium of Illinois community colleges working to grow the green economy of Illinois. IGEN’s unique statewide cooperative approach leverages ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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What’s Hope Got to Do With It? A Research Collaborative

  • Appalachian State University (NC)
  • Colorado Mountain College (CO)
  • Prescott College (AZ)

Sustainability educators often hear they must be careful not to share too much distressing information with their students and colleagues because they risk sending them into a passive, shut-down mode ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Partnerships for Developing Community Sustainability Indicators

  • Emory University (GA)
  • Florida International University (FL)
  • University of Texas at Austin (TX)
  • Wake Forest University (NC)

Developing Community Sustainability Indicators through Campus-Community Partnerships In the words of social ecologist Peter Drucker, “What gets measured, gets managed.” Whether with the STAR Community Index or AASHE’s STARS ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Innovation & Partnership for Landfill Waste Diversion

  • Emory University (GA)

Creativity, innovation, and partnership are essential for successful campus waste minimization and landfill diversion efforts. A series of collaborative efforts have recently emerged in order to work towards meeting Emory ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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The Art of Hearing: the journey of AASHE’s Listening Project

  • Ball State University (IN)
  • Princeton University (NJ)

The Listening Project, launched in 2013, was the first collaborative organizational and member-driven effort of its kind for AASHE and has since been the subject of keen interest by other ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Learning for Sustainability Scotland

  • Environmental Association for Universities & Colleges (EAUC) (Gloucestershire)

There is an undeniable need for a world that is sustainable: where people and communities value and are engaged with the natural environment; societies are inclusive and equitable; and a ...

  • 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

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