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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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Sustainability based careers and graduate prospects

  • University of West London

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals aim to create a sustainable global future through seventeen inter-related objectives that encompass the environment, social justice, and good governance. Countries are deploying national …

Map of the Sustainability Ecosystem at Concordia University

Mapping Concordia’s Sustainability Ecosystem, a system mapping experiment

  • Concordia University (QC)

Tristan Harris, the founder of the Center for humane Technology, once said: "Our ability to meet the world's challenges depends on us making sense & coordinating together." It means that …

Growing seedlings

Engaging with Indigenous Communities for Climate Action: The Bayano-McGill Reforestation Project

  • McGill University (QC)

The Bayano-McGill Reforestation Project is an initiative that is at the leading edge of carbon offsetting projects in higher education. The multi-faceted initiative, financed by the University, provides benefits to …

EchoWorks Ribbon Cutting

EchoWorks: An Electronics Recycling College-Community Partnership

  • Western Dakota Technical College (SD)

There are more than a thousand toxic substances associated with electronic waste (e-waste), and improper disposal can lead to soil, water, food, and air contamination. E-waste is the fastest growing …

Purdue University Chapter members and Lafayette City Chapter members lobbying Representative Jim Baird's Legislative Director, Cory Harris.

Establishing and sustaining Indiana’s first higher education chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby at Purdue University

  • Purdue University (IN)
  • Citizens' Climate Lobby (CA)

In an effort to learn how to meaningfully engage with my community on the issue of climate change, I joined Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization which advances …

Setting the Direction for a Sustainable Future? A Critical Review of University-Enterprise Partnership Evaluation

  • Lancaster University

University–enterprise partnerships foster great opportunities for sustainable development by enabling the translation of research into viable commercial solutions. However, how do we measure the relative “success” of such a partnership? …

Mapping and Critical Synthesis of Current State-of-the-Art on Community Engagement in Higher Education

  • Global University Network for Innovation

This publication defines the concept of community engagement in higher education and its role in contemporary debates about the role of higher education in the 21st century and maps international …

Contactless Food Box Deliveries: Driving Down Food Insecurity

  • University of California, Merced (CA)

The University of California, Merced (UC Merced) launched the Contactless Food Box Delivery Program in December 2020 which continues to this day. 5-10 boxes are delivered every week to those …

The six dimensions of collective leadership that advance sustainability objectives: rethinking what it means to be an academic leader

  • Colorado State University (CO)
  • Iowa State University (IA)
  • Northeastern University (MA)
  • Northern Arizona University (AZ)
  • Salisbury University (MD)
  • Stanford University (CA)
  • University of Maryland, College Park (MD)
  • McGill University (QC)
  • University of British Columbia Okanagan (BC)
  • National Geographic Society (DC)
  • TREE Foundation (FL)

Solutions to our most pressing environmental problems demand the development and application of leadership skills that are not typically fostered in traditional academic programs: skills that advance new transdisciplinary approaches …

Towards a European framework for community engagement in higher education – a case study analysis of European universities

  • University of Twente
  • Ghent University
  • Technological University Dublin (Dublin)
  • University of Rijeka
  • Institute for the Development of Education

This paper aims to examine the development and piloting of a novel European framework for community engagement (CE) in higher education, which has been purposefully designed to progress the CE …

The engagement CUBE: a dialogical tool for designing, facilitating and monitoring engaged research and teaching strategies

  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Community engaged research and learning strategies are considered meaningful methods for universities to demonstrate their critical importance to today’s societies. At the same time, it is stressed that not all …

Pedagogies for peacebuilding in higher education: How and why should higher education institutions get involved in teaching for peace?

  • Universidad de los Andes
  • University of Sussex (Sussex)
  • University of Rwanda
  • Univerzitet u Sarajevu

This article makes the case for why higher education institutions should take the teaching of peacebuilding seriously. It is co-authored by a team from four countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, …

Management research and the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs): A bibliometric investigation and systematic review

  • University of Trento (Trentino)
  • University of Lincoln
  • Università di Foggia
  • Università del Salento

The comprehension of the businesses’ impact to sustainable development requires consideration of the different factors that affect firms’ behavior, such as corporate governance, non-financial regulation, and the external environment. The …

Developing leadership qualities in environmental sustainability through university co-curricular activities

  • University of Calgary (AB)

This study aims to provide insight into the question of whether graduate students who deliver environmental education workshops/residencies to elementary school children will develop environmental sustainability leadership qualities in themselves: …

Community-responsive scholar-activist research: conceptualizing capacity building and sustainability in a Northern California community-university partnership

  • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick Campus (NJ)
  • University of California, Davis (CA)
  • University of California, Merced (CA)

We critically examine the ongoing development of a collaborative, responsive, activist research process between academics and farmworkers. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with community-based researchers and scholar-activists, we assess our team’s …

From publications to public actions: the role of universities in facilitating academic advocacy and activism in the climate and ecological emergency

  • University of Kent
  • Cardiff University
  • University of Lausanne

Thousands of universities have made climate emergency declarations; however the higher education sector is not rising to the collective challenge with the urgency commensurate with scientific warnings. Universities are promoting …

UNESCO's Education for Sustainable Development Framework and the Reality of University–Community Cooperation in the Caucasus Mountain Region

  • University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
  • Armenian State Pedagogical University
  • Tbilisi State University

The project Transdisciplinarity for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Caucasus Region (CaucaSusT) initiated the integration of transdisciplinary approaches into partner universities in Armenia and Georgia. The aim was to develop …

Investigating Web-Based Sustainability Reporting in Italian Public Universities in the Era of Covid-19

  • University of Salerno
  • Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"

Universities are increasingly called to demonstrate to stakeholders their active commitment to responding to social and environmental issues through comprehensive reporting practices. Such expectations were further enhanced by the recent …

Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement through Social Media. Evidence from the University of Salerno

  • University of Salerno

Over the last few decades, stakeholders’ growing attention towards social and environmental issues has challenged universities’ traditional accountability boundaries, imposing the adoption of innovative reporting tools that facilitate stakeholders’ engagement …

Social Media for Engaging and Educating: From Universities’ Sustainability Reporting to Dialogic Communication

  • Università degli Studi ""Gabriele d'Annunzio""

Traditionally, universities are committed to the missions of conducting research and teaching. Recently, they were also called to contribute to supporting sustainable development in society. Many universities worldwide have experienced …

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 …

Can Higher Education Institutions’ Stakeholders Drive Regional Sustainable Development? Yes, They Can?!

  • University of Beira Interior

Although Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) develop and announce actions related to sustainable development (SD), these actions and the results achieved are often not perceived by their stakeholders. This article aims …

Communicating Sustainability Through Social Media in the Italian Universities Context

  • Università degli Studi di Cagliari

The research purpose is to analyze how social media can be adopted to communicate sustainability by universities. More precisely it is to investigate whether the online platforms are used to …

University contributions to co-creating sustainable tourism destinations

  • University of Queensland (QLD)
  • University of Gothenburg
  • Universita' di Macerata

A debate is emerging about the evolving functions and roles of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). New functions pivot on value-adding to the social, environmental and economic sustainability of communities – …

Investigating the environmental behavior of business and accounting university students

  • National Technical University of Athens
  • University of West Attica

The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying dimensions of environmental behavior (EB) and examine how environmental education (EE) and ecological sensitivity (ES) motivate the EB of Business …

Praxis-Poiesis: University–Community Relationship in an Epoch of Uncertainty and Disruption

  • Brock University (ON)

This paper presents findings from a critical ethnographic study that spanned 3 years from 2018 to 2021 in a Canadian post-secondary context and engaged transdisciplinary quantum feminisms as a conceptual …

A Positive Impact Rating for Business Schools: Case Study

  • University of St. Gallen
  • The Institute for Business Sustainability
  • LUISS Guido Carli

Business school rankings have been criticized, to blindly “follow the money” with their strong focus on salaries and economic performance, thereby reflecting the values and expectations of the times the …

Sustainability behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge: comparing university students and the general public

  • Michigan State University (MI)

Sustainability science integrates many academic fields, requiring a broad understanding of diverse scientific concepts. Additionally, its focus on real-world issues means that researchers must also understand sustainability behaviors and attitudes. …

Accelerating the implementation of SDG 4: stakeholder perceptions towards initiation of sustainable community engagement projects by higher education institutions

  • University of Mpumalanga

This paper aims to present the results of an investigation on how a reciprocal relationship between the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) in South Africa and the surrounding communities can be …

Investigating critical community engaged pedagogies for transformative environmental justice education

  • University of Utah (UT)

Effective environmental justice education poses unique challenges to both educators and students. For students, this pursuit is cognitively challenging at best and emotionally paralyzing at worst. It requires deconstruction of …

Protected areas and environmental conservation in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: on HEIs, livelihoods and sustainable development

  • University of Zululand

The paper aims to advocate for innovative approaches in terms of the involvement of higher education institutions (HEIs) in the conservation of the environment, which fully considers and includes the …

Revelations of service-learning project: Multiple perspectives of college students’ reflection

  • Cheng Shiu University

This study explored the reflections of college students at different stages of their service provided to preschoolers and proposed recommendations on service-learning curricula according to the research findings. Thirty-six college …

Climate change concern among youth: Examining the role of civics and institutional trust across 22 countries

  • Columbia University (NY)

Although scholars have long documented perceptions of climate change and the public’s evolving response to the perceived risk it poses, only more recently have these analyses begun to examine youth …

The fierce urgency to create safe spaces for the heart in relation to sustainability

  • Heart Sense Research Institute

The paper aims to rediscover the subtle heart and discuss its importance in relation to conversations regarding sustainability. Based on the imaginal approach of the author’s doctoral research, this paper …

From the “Greta Thunberg Effect” to Green Conversion of Universities: The Reconstructive Praxis of Discursive Mobilizations

  • Stockholm University

This paper investigates how one could envision a discursive mobilization process totransform protest movements into agents that help reconstruct the universities as agentssupporting material mobilizations leading to ecological reconstruction. After …

Growing action research on environmental learning in schools: a school-university partnership

  • University of Toronto (ON)

A team of teacher-researchers in a large urban school board is working in partnership with researchers from a leading Canadian university to use action research to broaden and deepen environmental …

Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue (ICAD): Community conversations for a sustainable and equitable future

  • James Madison University (VA)

With a mission to “inspire dialogue and deliberation that shapes engaged and inclusive communities and informs sound policies,” the Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue (ICAD) at James Madison University …

A Discussion About Environmental Justice in Vermont

  • University of Vermont (VT)

Project Green Schools was delighted to host A Discussion About Environmental Justice in Vermont in partnership with Vermont House Speaker, Conor Kennedy, Shelburne Farms, VT FEED, Hunger Free Vermont, VEEP, …

  • Posted May 9, 2022
  • Videos & Webinars
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Upcycled Sword in Stone

Nebraska State Fair Sustainability Pavilion

  • Central Community College (NE)

In partnership with the Nebraska State Fair, students are invited to develop sustainability projects and present them at the Sustainability Pavilion. 2021 student projects include a kayak made from mushroom …

Pacific Northwest Just Futures Institute for Racial and Climate Justice

  • University of Oregon (OR)

The Pacific Northwest (PNW) Just Futures Institute is a transformational regional platform for racial and climate justice funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. We hold collaborations among the University …

CLIMATE CRISIS ANTHEM Music Video

  • AASHE (MA)

The CLIMATE CRISIS ANTHEM is a visually and musically engaging 6:20 minute video that portrays the dire situation we all face in the current environmental breakdown.

Musical styles range from …

  • Posted May 4, 2022
  • Videos & Webinars
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JMU Geography Students Celebrate 10 Years of Gardening at Local Elementary School

JMU Geography Students Celebrate 10 Years of Gardening at Local Elementary School

  • James Madison University (VA)

JMU Geography faculty and students celebrated Earth Day with students from an elementary school in Harrisonburg, Virginia as a continuation of 10 years of gardening together. Dr. Amy Goodall and …

Bradford Elementary students in the amphitheater watching the stage

Montclair State University Hosts Bradford Elementary School for Earth Day 2022

  • Montclair State University (NJ)

For Earth Day 2022, the Montclair State University Facilities team hosted 400 K-5 students from Montclair Township's Bradford Elementary School. The event was held outdoors in the campus Amphitheater and …

Sierra Nevada University Earth Day Student Sustainability Showcase

Earth Day Student Sustainability Showcase

  • Sierra Nevada College (NV)

This photo shares a scene from the Sierra Nevada University Earth Day celebration held on 4/20/22 on the Incline Village campus in Lake Tahoe, NV. The day started with a …

  • Posted April 28, 2022
  • Photographs
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Showing visitors how to make the paper-pots

Binghamton University Sustainability Hub Earth Day Event

  • Binghamton University (NY)

The Binghamton University Sustainability Hub had an Earth Day event that included a student panel talking about the work they did to create the newly launched Equitable Sustainability Resource Guide. …

  • Posted April 28, 2022
  • Photographs
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Two students who made paper-pots, one who improvised their own pot by using oragami

Sustainability Hub table at the Binghamton University Earth Day Festival

  • Binghamton University (NY)

The Sustainability Hub had a table at the campus main Earth Day Festival. The table featured an overview of what the Hub has to offer and swag including plantable notebooks …

  • Posted April 28, 2022
  • Photographs
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Attendees use pedal power to make smoothies with all vegan ingredients

Earth Fest 2022

  • University of Wisconsin-River Falls (WI)

River Falls, WI Community Celebrates Sustainability Over 1,000 people gathered in Glen Park on Sunday, April 24th despite cold and windy conditions to experience Earth Fest 2022. The event featured …

  • Posted April 28, 2022
  • Photographs
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UM6P has planted 200 olive trees with its community

Plant it Forward

  • University Mohammed VI Polytechnic

Planting Trees is one of the most effective ways to act towards climate change as it benefits our everyday lives efficiently. They filter clear air, help curb climate change, create …

  • Posted April 25, 2022
  • Photographs
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Top action tips for graduate students and researchers to act on SDGs

  • George Mason University (VA)
  • Illinois State University (IL)

Graduate students are preparing to enter an academic and career climate that is 21 percent of the way through a new century, part of a generation burdened with two tasks: …

  • Posted April 21, 2022
  • Outreach Materials
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GIS and Sustainability Engagement in Higher Education

  • University of Maryland, Baltimore County (MD)

Does the use of an interactive GIS web map significantly influence the level of sustainability stakeholder engagement at institutions of higher education? With over 1,000 institutions of higher education across …

  • Posted March 18, 2022
  • Publications
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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

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