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

Boston University Earth Week

  • Boston University (MA)

In 2019 Boston University hosted its Ninth Annual Earth Week. Partnering with numerous area organizations, businesses, University departments, and student clubs, sustainability@BU put on several events to celebrate Earth ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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Annual Chittenango Creek Clean-Up & Wildlife Shrub Seedling Planting

  • Cazenovia College (NY)

More than 35 people from Cazenovia College's Environmental Club and chapter of Alpha Phi Omega (volunteer/community service group), Trout Unlimited, Cazenovia Preservation Foundation, 4-H, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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EarthFest 2019 Cleveland State University

  • Cleveland State University (OH)

Over 30 exhibitors and a giant earth dome contribute to making EarthFest at CSU both fun and educational! Students gain stamps on their eco-passports by engaging with campus and community ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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ACG Volunteers Reforest Mt. Hymettus!

  • The American College of Greece (Aghia Paraskevi)

In March, volunteers from The American College of Greece (ACG) got together for a great cause!

Over eighty community members – Deree and Pierce students, staff, faculty, alumni, and parents – gathered ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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Union College Collaborates with the SEAT Center for an Environmental Justice Event

  • Union College - NY (NY)

Union College Students from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and SEAT Center collaborated on an event to provide free air filter installations, information on free weatherization, and registration for community ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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MUSC Earth Day & Local Food Festival

  • Medical University of South Carolina (SC)

On Wednesday April 10th, 2019 MUSC hosted the largest Earth Day event in the Charleston area. Running from 11am to 2pm on the MUSC Horseshoe, MUSC Earth Day and Local ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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"A Sustainable Second Century "

  • American University in Cairo (Cairo)

The Office of Sustainability kick off AUC’s EarthWeek, an annual event celebrating international Earth Day. This year’s theme is EarthWeek: A Sustainable Second Century, focusing on the Past ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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CSI (College of Southern Idaho) 10th Annual Sustainability Fair

  • College of Southern Idaho (ID)

Picture of some of the thirty exhibitors at CSI's 10th Annual Sustainability Fair

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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UConn Earth Day Spring Fling

  • University of Connecticut (CT)

50 sustainability-themed vendors and a zero-waste barbeque filled Fairfield Way on Tuesday, April 16th for the annual UConn Earth Day Spring Fling. The zero-waste barbeque, hosted by dining services, featured ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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William & Mary Earth Day Festival 2019

  • College of William & Mary (VA)

Individuals celebrating Earth Day at the College of William & Mary through tabling, a butterfly tent, and photographs taken with the Lorax

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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Earth Day Reception & Award Ceremony

  • Indiana University South Bend (IN)

The 11th Annual Earth Day Reception & Award Ceremony at Indiana University South Bend. The event took place Thursday, April 18, 2019, 5:30-7:30pm in the University Grill. The ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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Earth Month Activities

  • University of Scranton (PA)

Earth Day Fair

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Photographs
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Styrofoam Densifying and Waste Diversion

  • Georgia State University (GA)

Styrofoam, one of the most unwieldy and uncooperative forms of waste, came to the forefront of Georgia State University’s sustainability concerns upon evaluating its large volume in the University ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Case Studies
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How Can Wolves & Ag Co-Exist? (Earth Day Event)

  • Feather River College (CA)

Feather River College's Sustainability Action Team hosts a Spring Sustainability Series. This year it culminated with an event called "How Can Wolves and Ag Co-Exist" in partnership with the ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Case Studies
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Growing Sustainable Communities Together Through Leadership in Higher Education

  • Governors State University (IL)
  • Joliet Junior College (IL)
  • Lewis University (IL)
  • Moraine Valley Community College (IL)
  • Prairie State College (IL)
  • University of St. Francis (IL)

The South Metropolitan Higher Education Consortium (SMHEC) is a unique partnership of 10 higher education institutions in the south metropolitan area of Chicago extending west to Joliet, south to Kankakee ...

  • Posted April 29, 2019
  • Case Studies
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The university's role in sustainable development: Activating entrepreneurial scholars as agents of change

  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Inholland University of Applied Sciences
  • LM Thapar School of Management

The role of (entrepreneurial) universities as change agents in regional economic development has been highlighted previously, but how they can drive regional sustainable development in developing countries has been largely ...

  • Posted April 5, 2019
  • Publications
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Field Guide for Urban University-Community Partnerships

  • University of Virginia (VA)

Over the past three decades, American universities and colleges have witnessed a surge in activities oriented around their civic and social purposes. From the signing of the first Campus Compact ...

  • Posted April 4, 2019
  • Publications
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Facilitating work performance of sustainability-driven entrepreneurs through higher education: The relevance of competencies, values, worldviews and opportunities

  • University of Vechta
  • Vienna University of Economics and Business
  • Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
  • Terra Institute

This article explores the work performance of sustainability-driven entrepreneurs in order to be able to provide better learning settings in higher education for sustainability-driven entrepreneurship (SDE). Sustainability-driven entrepreneurs are actors ...

  • Posted March 31, 2019
  • Publications
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SEED Center

  • National Council for Workforce Education (FL)

The Sustainability Education, and Economic Development (SEED) Center aims to advance sustainability and clean technology education programs at community colleges by sharing innovative practices to help college administrators, faculty, and ...


Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Zero Waste Program

  • University of Southern California (CA)

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has influenced generations across the world through events such as the Olympics, World Series, and Super Bowls as well as community events like papal and ...

  • Posted March 15, 2019
  • Case Studies
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Does the knowledge economy advance the green economy? An evaluation of green jobs in the 100 largest metropolitan regions in the United States

  • Australian National University
  • Wageningen University

Institutions of higher education are significant economic engines and innovative places in local economies: they directly employ large numbers of people, often with well-paying jobs; they are magnets for businesses ...

  • Posted March 15, 2019
  • Publications
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University Contributions to the Circular Economy: Professing the Hidden Curriculum

  • Cranfield School of Management

In a world dominated by linear economic systems, the road to improving resource use is multi-faceted. Whilst public and private organisations are making progress in introducing sustainable practices, we ask ...

  • Posted March 15, 2019
  • Publications
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Expanding Student Engagement in Sustainability: Using SDG- and CEL-Focused Inventories to Transform Curriculum at the University of Toronto

  • University of Toronto (ON)
  • London School of Economics and Political Science

The Expanded Student Engagement Project (ESE) has developed three comprehensive inventories which aim to increase student knowledge of sustainability-related course content and increase student engagement in on- and off-campus, curricular ...

  • Posted March 15, 2019
  • Publications
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From contracts to culture: Exploring how to leverage local, sustainable food purchasing by institutions for food systems change

  • Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (ON)

In recent years, certain hospitals, schools, and campuses across Canada have shown that they can transform their practices to serve more local and sustainable food. These changes have often been ...

  • Posted March 6, 2019
  • Publications
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Building actor-centric transformative capacity through city-university partnerships

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Portland State University (OR)
  • Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (DF)
  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg
  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Cities worldwide are rising to the challenge of sustainable development, calling for large-scale and fast-paced transformations towards sustainability. Urban sustainability challenges are now being reframed as a lack of capacity ...

  • Posted March 4, 2019
  • Publications
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Graduate attribute for minimising environmental harm – Assessing effectiveness in the graduates’ workplaces

  • Monash University (VIC)
  • RMIT University

Over recent times concern about the physical environment has fluctuated. Even after the coverage of environment and sustainability issues in the education of many professions, a decline of community concern ...

  • Posted March 4, 2019
  • Publications
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Regional Centers of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development

  • University of Texas at Arlington (TX)
  • University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth (TX)
  • The University of Texas at Dallas (TX)
  • Dallas College (TX)

Why UT Arlington Deserves the Excellence in Sustainability Award

Under the leadership of Office of Sustainability at the University of Texas at Arlington, North Texas was recognized on Feb 7 ...

  • Posted March 1, 2019
  • Case Studies
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PCC, Sustain Me! A Higher Education Sustainability & Environmental Justice Podcast

  • Portland Community College (OR)

This has been an ongoing project that has blossomed from a local/regional production and has now been promoted, recognized, listened to, and presentations have been given nationally and internationally ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2019
  • Case Studies
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STARS Data Quality Boot Camp Webinar Series: Engagement

  • AASHE (PA)

Expanded from last year, the STARS Data Quality Boot Camp Series will help you gain the insights you need to submit a high-quality STARS report in time for the 2019 ...

  • Posted Jan. 30, 2019
  • Videos & Webinars
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A - B Tech's Apiary Overview

  • Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College (NC)

A look at A-B Tech's very own Apiary. Created by Erik Moellering (English), Josh Littlejohn (former instructor Sustainability Technologies), and Russ Palmeri (Biology). The Apiary was constructed by A ...

  • Posted Jan. 30, 2019
  • Videos & Webinars
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A New Alliance for Service-Learning and Community Engagement: Cultivating Citizens with an Ecocentric Vision of Justice

  • Wingate University (NC)

A core conviction that should inform service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) courses is that we cannot have thriving human communities, robust democratic citizenship, and authentic community/civic engagement when the ...

  • Posted Jan. 25, 2019
  • Publications
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Heartware as a driver for campus sustainability: Insights from an action-oriented exploratory case study

  • University of Malaya
  • Kyoto University

Literature on campus sustainability transitions is mainly focused on the hardware and software approaches, with less attention on the so-called ‘heartware’ approach. Heartware refers to the internal and voluntary motivation ...

  • Posted Jan. 25, 2019
  • Publications
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Assessing Air Quality through a Sustainable Educational Model

  • San Diego State University (CA)

The purpose of this paper is to describe the application of a sustainable learning framework through a community-based project in the Southern California region. The Sage Project is a partnership ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
  • Publications
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Skills for Employment in the Environment Profession: Insights from Australia

  • RMIT University

Like other professionals, the skills expected to be exercised by those working in the professional environment and sustainability sector cover a wide range. There has been considerable discussion given to ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
  • Publications
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The University, Neighborhood Revitalization, and Civic Engagement: Toward Civic Engagement 3.0

  • SUNY Buffalo State (NY)
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)

This essay analyzes and syntheses key theories and concepts on neighborhood change from the literature on anchor institutions, university engagement, gentrification, neighborhood effects, Cold War, Black liberation studies, urban political ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
  • Publications
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Service Learning Catalyst

  • University of Texas at El Paso (TX)

Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) is a non-profit network that creates solutions to local and global sustainability challenges through service learning projects. Current and past projects have centered around ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
  • Conference Presentations
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Network Analysis of Goal 14 Within the PD4SDG Database

  • Tarleton State University (TX)

Research is being done to analyze how networks promote regime formation. The goal of the project is to understand if an increase in cooperation will lead to sustainable development transforming ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
  • Conference Presentations
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Reduce Peak Demand and Increase Grid Stability with On-Site Energy Storage

  • Austin Community College (TX)

SHINES, or Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar, is a three-year project focused on making solar energy cost-competitive with traditional energy sources. The goals of this project ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
  • Conference Presentations
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Making the World Safe for Pollinators, One Campus at a Time

  • Abilene Christian University (TX)

Bee City USA is an organization that is dedicated to protecting declining pollinator populations. These organisms are keystone species in the environment and one third of human food production depends ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
  • Conference Presentations
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Transitioning to Renewables

  • Dallas County Community College District System Office (TX)

Each year, a transition to all-renewable sources of energy seems more feasible for colleges and universities. The Texas Higher Education Renewable Energy Consortium is a coalition of colleges committed to ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
  • Conference Presentations
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Healthy Communities

  • Dallas College (TX)

Student activists at North Lake College researched tobacco usage on campus and how it affected students and faculty. Through activism the students were able to have their district pass a ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
  • Conference Presentations
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Strengthening sustainability leadership competencies through university internships

  • University of Calgary (AB)
  • Beyond Chacay Foundation
  • Asociacion Humboldt

This paper aims to determine whether high school students can become agents of change in their local communities by participating in a formal internship program implemented through a partnership between ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
  • Publications
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Sustainability and academic air travel in Australian universities

  • RMIT University

Air travel is becoming increasingly recognized as a source of greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change. This is particularly relevant for the university sector, which relies heavily on staff ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
  • Publications
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Toward zero waste events: Reducing contamination in waste streams with volunteer assistance

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Public festivals and events generate a tremendous amount of waste, especially when they involve food and drink. To reduce contamination across waste streams, we evaluated three types of interventions at ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
  • Publications
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Bill McKibben’s Influence on U.S. Climate Change Discourse: Shifting Field-Level Debates Through Radical Flank Effects

  • Temple University (PA)
  • University of Michigan (MI)
  • 350.org (NY)

This article examines the influence of radical flank actors in shifting field-level debates by increasing the legitimacy of preexisting but peripheral issues. Using network text analysis, we apply this conceptual ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
  • Publications
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The challenge of coordinated civic climate change education

  • Pennsylvania State University (PA)
  • St. Mary's College of Maryland (MD)
  • University at Albany (NY)
  • Dickinson College (PA)
  • Stanford University (CA)
  • James Madison University (VA)
  • University of Richmond (VA)
  • Bard College (NY)

Many sustainability educators want to more effectively engage their students with climate policy. They also seek to support students’ civic and change agent skills and dispositions to take on critical ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
  • Publications
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Why do people accept environmental policies? The prospects of higher education and changes in norms, beliefs and policy preferences

  • University of Gothenburg

Pressing problems of environmental degradation are typically argued to require coordination, primarily through state intervention. Social scientists are struggling to understand how attitudes toward such state interventions are formed, and ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
  • Publications
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Sustainability Competition and Interactive Map

  • University of Illinois Chicago (IL)

This project was developed to accomplish grant deliverables focusing on campus education surrounding sustainability initiatives and upgrades to Illinois electrical infrastructure. The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Office of ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
  • Case Studies
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Transferring Sustainability Solutions across Contexts through City–University Partnerships

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Portland State University (OR)
  • Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (DF)
  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg
  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

The urgency of climate change and other sustainability challenges makes transferring and scaling solutions between cities a necessity. However, solutions are deeply contextual. To accelerate solution efforts, there is a ...

  • Posted Nov. 26, 2018
  • Publications
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Communicating a social agenda within HEIs: the role of the social enterprise mark

  • University of Salford
  • University of Huddersfield

By using the lens of the social enterprise mark (SEM) accreditation which enables social enterprises to “prove” that the interests of people and planet are put before shareholder gain, this ...

  • Posted Nov. 26, 2018
  • 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