Wellbeing & Work
Introduction
An institution’s people define its character and capacity to perform; and so, an institution’s achievements can only be as strong as its community. An institution can bolster the strength of its community by offering benefits, wages, and other assistance that serve to respectfully and ethically compensate workers and by acting to protect and positively affect the health, safety and wellbeing of the campus community.
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Writing Sustainability Case Studies with ESRAP: A Collaboration Practice for Graduate Education
- Iowa State University (IA)
- Educators for Socially Responsible Apparel Practices (MN)
The global apparel and textile industries are damaging the environment, from fiber production to consumer disposal. University apparel programs have identified the gap in knowledge that students possess regarding the …
- Posted Jan. 21, 2022
- Conference Presentations
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Introducing a Climate Anxiety Toolkit and Generating Insights from a Co-Evaluation Process
- AASHE (MA)
- University of Technology Sydney
In this webinar, the presenters will introduce a recently developed climate toolkit as well as conduct a co-evaluation process of the resource with participants. The webinar will draw on insights …
- Posted Nov. 18, 2021
- Videos & Webinars
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Sustainability Job Descriptions & Details
- AASHE (MA)
This spreadsheet is designed to capture key information about sustainability staff (non-teaching) positions in higher education.
Anyone can add positions and details to the file. Please add position information in …
- Posted Nov. 16, 2021
- Tools
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Healthier building materials and equity: the upstream and downstream impacts of material choices
- Williams College (MA)
- Integrated Eco Strategy
Materials used in current building construction often contain chemicals that at best have not been tested for human health impacts and at worst are actively harmful to human health. While …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Coping With Climate Anxiety In and Beyond the Classroom
- University of Hawaii System Office (HI)
- University of Vermont (VT)
We're all surrounded by students from what's been dubbed the 'climate generation' (a group that is particularly attuned to the threat and inequity of climate change) as well as faculty …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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I Wonder Can You Hear Me Now? The Emotional Work of African-Americans and University Engagement
- University of Virginia (VA)
We are fighting two pandemics, COVID-19 and racism. The tragic deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor have sparked discussions around the country on the impact of institutional …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Pandemic as Opportunity to Strengthen Campus Food Resources and Address Food Insecurity
- University of the Pacific (CA)
Prior to the pandemic, efforts to co-brand food-related resources: a garden, food pantry and kitchen, as a strategy for addressing food security had begun. There were also plans for assessing …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Measuring Campus, Climate Anxiety and Ideas for Coping Beyond the Classroom
- University of Vermont (VT)
We're all surrounded by students from what's been dubbed the 'climate generation' (a group that is particularly attuned to the threat and inequity of climate change) as well as faculty …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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(Some of the) Surprising Findings About Living Wages in Higher Education During a Global Pandemic
- Saint Joseph's University (PA)
Between the global pandemic, broadening awareness of racial inequalities, and intensifying financial pressure, American higher education institutions are having to revisit their core beliefs, implicit assumptions, and day-to-day operations. During …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Green Career Planning Workshop with the National Wildlife Federation
- National Wildlife Federation (VA)
A goal without a plan is merely a wish - start writing your green career plan today in this interactive workshop, utilizing the National Wildlife Federation's Career Center resources and …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Don't Just do Something, Sit There: The Role of Meditation in Mobilizing a Just Transition
- Colorado Mountain College (CO)
This presentation will focus on the challenges and successes the presenter has experienced while trying to get his students, co-workers, and neighbors to meditate. Meditation has proven benefits for physical …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Learning from Nature to Become a Better Change Maker
- University of California, Berkeley (CA)
As sustainability staff, building relationships between other staff and students can be critical to making change. Pulling from the lessons learned in adrienne maree brown's book, Emergent Strategy, this session …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Encountering Unjust Transitions: Sustainability, Masculinities, and (m)Anthropocene Collapse
- College of Charleston (SC)
This session builds on the Just Transition insight that, 'The transition itself must be just and equitable' and must include 'redressing past harms and creating new relationships of power for …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Keys to Safer Disinfection in a COVID Environment
- University of Virginia (VA)
- Healthy Schools Campaign (IL)
Sustainability in higher education often follows a top-down approach, focusing on student enrichment and project-based solutions. What has been missing is the willingness to consider who has been left out …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Integrating Wellness and Diversity into the Sustainability Model: A Faculty and Staff Perspective
- Augsburg University (MN)
- Bemidji State University (MN)
The Bemidji State University (BSU) Sustainability Office realized in 2008 that the work they felt called to do required a different visual representation than the typical Venn diagram that includes …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Your Mileage May Vary: Creating Your Institution Roadmap to Just Employment
- Saint Joseph's University (PA)
An increasing number of institutions have adopted living wage policies or practices to ensure that their employees (and in some cases contractors' employees) are paid an adequate income to make …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Solastalgia: Reconnecting With the Natural World and Mobilizing for the Greater Good
- The College of Saint Scholastica (MN)
Solastalgia is a term coined by Glenn Albrecht used to describe mental distress (anxiety, grief, depression) caused by experiencing changes in one's environment. Though Western science has started to quantify …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Everything I Learned in a Kindergarten Classroom: Designing Timeless Spaces for Equity, Learning and
- University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)
Sustainability is more than energy efficiency and materials management. Designing sustainable learning spaces requires addressing multiple desired outcomes with limited resources. Truly sustainable spaces account for how the space welcomes …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Teaching Climate Change: Understanding Faculty Work & Identity
- University of Hawaii System Office (HI)
The purpose of the Teaching Climate Change Study is to better understand faculty perspectives, pedagogical practices and overall confidence in teaching climate change and related issues. From this information, I …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Menstrual Equity is not a Luxury. Period.
- University of Pittsburgh (PA)
This proposal would address the process of acquiring funding regarding menstrual equity, finding dispensers that work for everyone, recognizing the importance of ADA compliance and hygiene standards, and how to …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Accessibility in Campus Green Spaces
- University of North Carolina, Asheville (NC)
This presentation will discuss the beneficial role UNC Asheville's urban green spaces play on campus, with a special focus on accessibility. When considering college enrollment, I was worried by the …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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We Need To Teach Bicycle Riding
- University of North Carolina, Charlotte (NC)
Universities are investing significant resources to improve bicycle infrastructure and even provide bicycles via sharing, renting, and even giveaways. Recent surveys in the USA suggest that younger Americans are twice …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Making Room for Millennials: Strategies for creating an office culture that we want to work in
- University of Florida (FL)
Standard values for workplaces are shifting and members of the emerging workforce are expecting more from their office culture. At the University of Florida (UF) Office of Sustainability, our team …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Who Made Your T-Shirt & Why Should You Care? What You Need to Know About University Ethical Sourcing
- Sumerra (OR)
You wear the same mascot-clad t-shirt to every home football game. It's a valuable good luck charm, but what value did the factory worker who made your t-shirt get in …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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St. Scholastica's Free Store Creation
- The College of Saint Scholastica (MN)
During this presentation we will discuss the processes that enabled St. Scholastica to establish a free store within the sustainability office. The initial inspiration for creating a free store on …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Living up to the UN SDG's with the Living Building Challenge
- International Living Future Institute (WA)
Many colleges and universities have aligned their sustainability plans with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG's). These 17 global goals aim to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Product Selection and Design that Prioritize People and Planet
- Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute (CA)
Green and healthy buildings require selecting products that are safe for humans and the environment. As we transition from our current take-make-waste linear systems into models that enable greater cycling …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Creating Pathways to Empower Sustainability Professionals
- Colorado Mountain College (CO)
- International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) (OR)
Sustainability professionals lead organizations and communities in driving social justice, environmental health, and a regenerative economy. For graduates of sustainability-oriented academic programs, professional, post-nominal, credentials help create an immediate on-ramp …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Stay Rad Post Grad!
- Post-Landfill Action Network (NH)
Are you graduating? Are you panicking? Or maybe you know exactly what you want to do, but it's just a matter of making it happen. Join the PLAN staff (with …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Project Management for Sustainability Offices to Keep Moving Forward
- University of Florida (FL)
- University of Southern Maine (ME)
Whether you're a single-person operation, have a team of staff members, or have a group of fantastic student volunteers or interns, we are all facing more requests for our time …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Piloting, Scaling and Committing to Healthier Materials
- Colby College (ME)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)
- Thornton Tomasetti (ME)
When it comes to the processes and chemicals used to make building materials, there is an urgent need for market transformation. It takes institutions, like the ones in this panel, …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Undermined Every Day: The Impact of Recycling Staff Marginalization and Mattering on Waste Diversion
- University of Virginia (VA)
When I worked in university recycling, our efforts were often undermined by other members of the campus community and our colleagues within facilities management. In conversations with recycling staff at …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Developing a culture of trust, feedback, and growth in the workplace
- Duke University (NC)
- Trust (MA)
Change moves at the speed of trust.' -Stephen Covey To be intentional in creating change, we need to have enough data points. One essential data point for our own personal …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Adaptive Mindsets for Transformative Action
- University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI)
Expertise and good intentions are only part of the equation. To achieve what Stephen Sterling calls 'a transformative response,' we also need adaptive mindsets. In this interactive session, we'll illuminate …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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How the University of California is Evaluating the Sustainability of Supplier Supply Chains
- University of California, Office of the President (CA)
- University of California, Los Angeles (CA)
What is the best way to measure the social and environmental sustainability of suppliers and their long supply chains that are located in and across multiple countries? This panel will …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Leaders of Color: Navigating Environmentalism and Sustainability
- University of Northern Colorado (CO)
This networking event is for, but not exclusive to, environmental leaders of color. It will start with a concise presentation on ecological leaders of color who have paved the way …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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International Living Future Institute - Higher Education Cohort
- International Living Future Institute (WA)
Higher education institutions around the country are pursuing the Living Building Challenge and Living Community Challenge - using the frameworks from ILFI to guide their sustainability efforts to go beyond …
- Posted Nov. 15, 2021
- Conference Presentations
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Higher Education Telework and Flexible Work Survey
- George Mason University (VA)
The “Higher Education Telework and Flexible Work Survey" was designed to address a general lack of understanding about how higher education institutions are approaching telework and flexible work as a …
- Posted Oct. 6, 2021
- Publications
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Humboldt Bike Share
- Cal Poly Humboldt (CA)
Photo shows bicycles that are a part of the newly relaunched community bike share program, which is a partnership between Humboldt State University, the City of Arcata, and Tandem Mobility. …
- Posted Sept. 10, 2021
- Photographs
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UC Berkeley Student Engagement and Community
- University of California, Berkeley (CA)
Students at the Iconic UC Berkeley Sather Gate
- Posted Sept. 10, 2021
- Photographs
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UC Berkeley Staff Focusing on Wellbeing and Health in the Workplace
- University of California, Berkeley (CA)
Staff wellbeing practices during COVID.
- Posted Sept. 10, 2021
- Photographs
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Warrior Food Distribution
- California State University, Stanislaus (CA)
Warrior Food Distribution, a collaboration between the Stanislaus State chapter of the California Faculty Association (CFA), Student Affair's Warrior Food Pantry, and our community partner, the United Samaritans Foundation, is …
- Posted Sept. 8, 2021
- Photographs
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UC Berkeley Staff Focusing on Wellbeing and Health in the Workplace
- University of California, Berkeley (CA)
UC Berkeley offers a range of wellness programs that support staff and faculty well-being through nutritional, ergonomic, young mother and other types of programs. That includes healthy catering programs, exercise …
- Posted Sept. 8, 2021
- Photographs
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University of Queensland Wellbeing at work
- University of Queensland (QLD)
UQ yoga class on campus
- Posted Sept. 8, 2021
- Photographs
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Equipping Students for Lives of Impact
- Davidson College (NC)
- AASHE (MA)
- Trust (MA)
As a community of practice, sustainability professionals sometimes forget the driving mission of higher education institutions. By helping students to develop skills of change agency and to discern their own …
- Posted Sept. 3, 2021
- Videos & Webinars
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Campus Sustainability Month Tips 2021
- AASHE (MA)
This document gives some helpful tips to get started on planning events throughout Campus Sustainability Month.
- Posted Aug. 27, 2021
- Tools
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Monarch Nursery Program
- Dawson College (QC)
The flowers of the Dawson College Ecological Peace Garden and naturalized rooftops are part of a nectar corridor for monarchs flying over Montreal. College students and staff have been rearing …
- Posted Aug. 25, 2021
- Photographs
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UCCS Food Next Door | Farm Subscription Program
- University of Colorado Colorado Springs (CO)
The Food Next Door Farm Subscription Program at University of Colorado Colorado Springs was created to support community food security and literacy. Through the program, a participant buys a subscription …
- Posted Aug. 11, 2021
- Photographs
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Working with Vulnerable Communities on Climate Action through Nonformal Higher Education and Peacebuilding
- Salisbury University (MD)
- University of Cambridge
- M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence (NY)
Nonformal higher education provides an avenue to bypass the rigidity of hierarchical structures and prescribed norms within formal education, which offers opportunities to assist marginalized communities with climate action through …
- Posted July 7, 2021
- Videos & Webinars
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2020 Sustainable Career Panel Series: Public Service
- Villanova University (PA)
This panel series highlights the amazing work Villanova alumni are doing to create a sustainable future for all of us. The Public Service panel features: Mike Garland, Director of Environmental …
- Posted June 10, 2021
- 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.
PA 12: Employee Compensation
- Local living wage for a family of 4
- Percent of employees that receive a living wage
- Living wage policy or commitment
- Website URL - Employee compensation
PA 13: Assessing Employee Satisfaction
- Methodology for evaluating employee satisfaction and engagement
- Website URL - Assessing employee satisfaction
PA 14: Wellness program
- Description of the institution’s wellness program
- Smoke-free policy (upload)
- Smoke-free policy (description)
- Website URL - Wellness programs
PA 14: Workplace Health & Safety
- Annual number of employee work-related injury incidents per 100 FTE employees
- Website URL - Workplace health and safety
Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.