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

SDGs Cities Challenge

  • University of Texas at Arlington (TX)
  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)
  • ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability

The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes that local and subnational governments are key stakeholders to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By aligning local sustainability actions and ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Creating Alumni Connections Through a Sustainability Course

  • Connecticut College (CT)

Once per year, the Office of Sustainability offers a 2-credit course called SUS 293: Applied Sustainability. The course is designed for interns in the Office and other students interested in ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Virtually Vital-Going Green, Globally

  • Dallas College (TX)

The members of the Cedar Valley Student Green Club used creativity to utilize a virtual platform to pioneer a variety of firsts for our campus at a time when many ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Sustainably Revisioning the Future: Insights to Build Upon from the COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Texas A&M University-Commerce (TX)
  • University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI)

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a unique global opportunity to reset longstanding practices. The societal, economic, and environmental challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic have reached every facet of life ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Climate Action Simulation (With en-Roads): A Group Role-Playing Game

  • University of Massachusetts Lowell (MA)
  • University of Minnesota System Office (MN)

In a lightning fast and immersive method that the presenters have perfected in numerous online trainings, participants will learn how to facilitate a group role-playing simulation (which functions as a ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Filling the Education Gap for Agenda 2030: SDG Academy Educational Tools and Partners

  • United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (NY)

This discussion will cover filling the gap in higher education systems for Agenda 2030. The mission of the SDG Academy is to create and curate the best educational content on ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Learning How to Move Corporations on Climate and Racial Justice

  • Ceres (MA)
  • Intentional Endowments Network (MA)
  • As You Sow (CA)

SEC Commissioner Allison Lee recently shared with the corporate community that "A study from 2018 .. showed that 71 of the top 100 revenue generators globally were corporations while only 29 ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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COVID, Climate Action Plans and Resiliency in Davis, California: Leveraging a Town-Gown Relationship

  • University of California, Davis (CA)
  • City of Davis (CA)

UC Davis and City of Davis sustainability staff will share how the city and campus have repeatedly leveraged our college town-gown relationship for mutual benefit and support, and helped us ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Building a Climate Movement Within a Field

  • Temple University (PA)

This session will report on the founding and growth of Philosophers for Sustainability, an international organization of philosophers working to promote sustainability within and outside philosophy. Our projects include a ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Engaging with Community Partners to Advance Sustainability Learning -- A New Affinity Group

  • Georgia Institute of Technology (GA)

Integrating Service-Learning/Community Engagement (SLCE) into Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) offers opportunities to enhance student learning outcomes and competencies across diverse disciplines. Research has demonstrated that service-learning can deepen ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Keynote Presentation with Heather McGhee

  • Portland Community College (OR)
  • AASHE (PA)

Heather McGhee designs and promotes solutions to inequality in America. She is the author of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together (2021 ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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University-Community Collaboration for Climate Justice Across Disciplines

  • University of St. Thomas (MN)

Communities locally and globally are re-imagining systems to restore interconnected human and environmental well-being. University-community collaborative partnerships can be a crucial part of this effort. This presentation explores how university-community ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Sustainability & Environmental Career Exploration Series

  • Tulane University (LA)

This presentation will share a new approach to career exploration developed for the spring of 2021 by the Tulane Office of Sustainability. The series brought together a number of existing ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Take Advantage of 179D Government Program for Energy/Savings in Public Campuses

  • Efficiency Energy LLC (CO)

Federal legislation passed in 2021 a permanent tax benefit called 179D that reimburses for a portion of the square footage when one builds in energy efficiency. Your campus should take ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Reducing Campus Waste: Ten Years of a Campus FreeStore

  • Bemidji State University (MN)

Mother earth is crying out for help, and we are the only ones that have the power to do make things better; for this reason the Sustainability office at Bemidji ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Keynote Presentation with Dr. Michael J. Sorrell

  • Paul Quinn College (TX)
  • University of Texas at Arlington (TX)

Named one of America’s 10 Most Innovative College Presidents, Dr. Michael J. Sorrell is pioneering the “New Urban College Model” as the President of Paul Quinn College. With a ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Regeneration & Reclamation in Environmental Justice Projects by Contemporary Artists and Educators

  • Colorado State University, Pueblo (CO)
  • George Washington University (DC)
  • Parsons (IL)
  • ViVA Virtual Visiting Artists (OH)

For many years, internationally renowned award-winning contemporary artists around the country have been leaders of community-based social practice projects that feature creative approaches to urban renewal and communal agriculture, native ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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University Air Travel and GHG Mitigation: An Analysis of Higher Education Climate Policies

  • University of Tennessee at Knoxville (TN)

This presentation will detail and discuss research that examined the climate policies of 46 public doctoral institutions to understand how they address university air travel greenhouse gas mitigation. This research ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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How Earth Month Strengthens Student Engagement & Campus-Community Ties

  • San Jose State University (CA)

In this session, our inter-departmental campus team will share SJSU's unique Earth Day history and tell the story of how we organized a unique Earth Month series of workshops ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Keynote Presentation with Dr. Tracey Osborne, Dr. Stephen Sterling and Dr. Madhavi Venkatesan

  • Northeastern University (MA)
  • Western Washington University (WA)
  • University of California, Merced (CA)
  • University of Plymouth (Devon)

This keynote presentation will reflect on the shifts in educational policy and practice necessary to create a sustainable future.

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Contraception and Consumption in the Age of Extinction

  • Center for Biological Diversity (AZ)

Over the past 50 years, as human populations have doubled, wildlife populations have plummeted by half. Humanity's dependence on fossil fuels and industrial agriculture, persecution of wildlife, massive habitat ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Climate Resilience through Community Resilience: Lessons from Appalachian Kentucky

  • University of Kentucky (KY)

Flooding in Appalachian Kentucky during the spring of 2021 laid bare the now established threat of climate change to a region often left out of conversations about climate resilience. While ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Let Your Actions Speak: How to Connect Individual Change to Systems Change

  • EcoChallenge.org (OR)

To create and enact the solutions necessary for a sustainable future, we need our students - regardless of major - to develop both a sense of and a skill set for agency ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Governing Change: Academic-Operational Cultures of Sustainability Governance at 10 Universities Around the World

  • University of Toronto (ON)

In recent years, universities around the world have sought to integrate and embed sustainability into their four primary domains of activity: education, research, campus operations, and community engagement. This session ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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U.S. & Canadian "Climate Havens" - Networking & Preparedness Around Where It Will Suck Less

  • University at Buffalo (NY)
  • University of Minnesota, Duluth (MN)
  • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (WI)

Water is Life. The Great Lakes Region, the U.S. and Canada, are becoming known as future "Climate Havens" of this century. Cities and universities are beginning to take notice ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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The Future is Being Resilient to Climate Emergencies

  • Rice University (TX)
  • Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (MA)

Resiliency to climate emergencies is necessary to respond to extreme weather events that are occurring more frequently as the climate changes. A climate emergency does not always mean there will ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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From Vision to Action: Lessons in Implementing Sustainability Plans

  • University of Illinois Chicago (IL)

The role of a sustainability professional spans the spectrum from educator, planner, fund raiser, project manager, program designer, plan implementer, to progress reporter. Methods for partnering for and achieving success ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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How the Free Store Can Change the Face of Sustainability

  • University of Southern Maine (ME)

The Office of Sustainability at USM has a group called the Eco-rep. The USM Eco-reps have gone on to create the Free Store, which collects donations to give out to ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Athletics, Activism & Action: Partnering to Creatively Communicate Sustainability

  • University of Kentucky (KY)

Communication can be difficult on a Campus. Utilizing partnerships on campus, UK Recycling, Sustainability and Energy Research created a new way to engage campus - WholeSum- a blog that encourages authentic ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Regional STARS: Challenges and Opportunities

  • Indiana University Bloomington (IN)
  • Indiana University South Bend (IN)
  • Indiana University Southeast (IN)

Do you work at a regional campus whose main campus has a STARS designation? Does your regional campus intend to pursue a STARS designation of its own? Should you? Hear ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Tri-Sector Consulting Projects: Experiential Learning for Societal Impact

  • Kent State University (OH)

For the last decade, companies and business schools alike have struggled with how best to incorporate shared value perspectives into their business and curricular plans. How do we align corporate ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Expanding Sustainability: Using Food Procurement to Help Poultry Workers (through a new consortium)

  • Georgetown University (DC)
  • University of California, Office of the President (CA)
  • University of Michigan (MI)

Many colleges and universities are working on sustainable procurement goals, but how many of us have looked at social sustainability and the impact of our procurement on workers? During the ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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The Future is Collaborative: Outcomes From a Network of Sustainability Professionals in Virginia

  • James Madison University (VA)
  • Radford University (VA)

With an average of just 1.5 - 2.1 paid non-student sustainability staff positions at institutions of higher education, access to a broader network of sustainability professionals with common goals ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Lessons Learned from a Homegrown STARS Support Group with Peer Institutions

  • University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (WI)
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)
  • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (WI)
  • University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (WI)

Staring fixedly at new STARS credits? Not sure where to start? Need to assign the daunting task of completing STARS to a student but can't provide all of the ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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The Future is Co-Created: EfS Through Relationship Building in the Delaware Valley

  • University of Pennsylvania (PA)
  • West Chester University of Pennsylvania (PA)
  • PHENND (PA)

This session will introduce the new PHENND Sustainability network. Starting as a community of practitioners interested in finding partners for real-world Education for Sustainability (EfS), PHENND Sustainability has grown into ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Building the Future We Desire: Crossing Boundaries & Challenging Historical Ideas of Sustainability

  • University of Minnesota, Crookston (MN)
  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)

The Student Engagement Leadership Forum on Sustainability (SELFsustain) is a five-campus collaborative retreat that rotates between campuses. In April 2021, UM-Crookston hosted a provocative online series on indigenous identity, community ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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The People's Fridge: Redistributing Surplus Food and Reducing Food Insecurity

  • University of California, Merced (CA)

The People's Fridge is a plant-based community fridge in Merced County with the dual aims of redistributing surplus food and reducing food insecurity. The pandemic further increased food insecurity ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Keynote Presentation with Dr. Ian Haney López

  • University of California, Berkeley (CA)
  • University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (TX)

Dr. Haney López’s keynote address will explain how the climate movement cannot succeed unless race, class and gender solidarity are at the heart of everything we do. Dr. Ian ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Using the Pursuit of Equitable Tree Canopy to Combat Effects of Redlining in Lexington, Kentucky

  • University of Kentucky (KY)

The historical housing policy of redlining reflected systemic racism in the home lending industry; it disproportionately impacted people of color and created socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods in intentional and negative ways ...

  • Posted Jan. 21, 2022
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Climate Solutions 101: Curricula That Inform Conversations & Inspire Action on Climate Solutions

  • Villanova University (PA)
  • AASHE (PA)
  • Project Drawdown (CA)
  • Solutions Journalism Network (NY)

Project Drawdown and the Solutions Journalism Network are partnering to offer a webinar for AASHE educators and staff who want to shift the conversation about climate change away from gloom ...

  • Posted Jan. 13, 2022
  • Videos & Webinars
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Launching the Emerging Environmental Leaders (EELs) Program in Minnesota

  • University of Minnesota, Morris (MN)
  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)

University of Minnesota campuses (Twin Cities and Morris) collaborated with the State of Minnesota to launch the Emerging Environmental Leaders (EELs) program in the spring of 2021. The program brought ...


Place Setting: Enhancing sustainable approaches to food security & community engagement through design of space

  • University of Kentucky (KY)

The Campus Kitchen at the University of Kentucky (CKUK) is a student-led service organization that is a partner agency of God’s Pantry Food Bank within the Feeding America’s ...


CSUF Celebrates Arbor Day With Tree Planting Ceremony

  • California State University, Fullerton (CA)

Cal State Fullerton, in cooperation with the City of Fullerton, celebrated Arbor Day by planting several trees throughout campus. The mayor, city council members and administrators from the City of ...


A Framework for Advancing Anti-Racism Strategy on Campus

  • National Assocation of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (FL)

The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) serves as the preeminent voice for diversity officers at institutions of higher education throughout the country and around the world ...


Summarizing Your STARS Report for Senior Leadership

  • Boston University (MA)
  • AASHE (PA)

Building off of the “Conversations on STARS as a Strategic Tool for Advancing Sustainability” 2020 GCSHE presentation, this webinar will dive into the creation of the STARS Report Summary (presented ...

  • Posted Dec. 9, 2021
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Our Changing Menu: Climate change and the foods we love and need

  • Cornell University (NY)

We tell the climate change story through something we encounter and communicate about every day. It is imbedded in our cultures and family histories, and we love and need it ...

  • Posted Nov. 29, 2021
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Campus Culture and Communication at the University of Michigan: A Report Developed for and Supported by the U-M President's Commission on Carbon Neutrality

  • University of Michigan (MI)

This report was compiled during the academic year of 2019-2020 for the University of Michigan President's Commission on Carbon Neutrality by the Campus Culture and Communication Internal Analysis Team ...

  • Posted Nov. 17, 2021
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External Collaboration at the University of Michigan: A Report Developed for and Supported by the U-M President's Commission on Carbon Neutrality

  • University of Michigan (MI)

This report was compiled during the academic year of 2019-2020 for the University of Michigan (U-M) President's Commission on Carbon Neutrality by the External Collaboration Internal Analysis Team. Through ...

  • Posted Nov. 17, 2021
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University-Sponsored Travel at the University of Michigan: A Report Developed for and Supported by the U-M President's Commission on Carbon Neutrality

  • University of Michigan (MI)

This report was compiled during the academic year of 2019-2020 for the University of Michigan (U-M) President's Commission on Carbon Neutrality by the University-Sponsored Travel Internal Analysis Team. The ...

  • Posted Nov. 17, 2021
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International Networking Meeting

  • Portland Community College (OR)

Members of the international community and anyone interested in international issues or collaboration are invited to join in a networking meeting to share resources, challenges, and ideas from our countries ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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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