Publications

Introduction

AASHE’s publications library is the leading repository of reports, journal articles, books, and student research on sustainability in higher education. Certain publication types are entered in the annual AASHE Awards Program.

At a Glance

3942
Total Resources
1903
Organizations
99
Countries
58
U.S. States & Territories
12
Canadian Provinces

Bars in graphs can be clicked to view resources that align with a particular category. Because a resource may be listed under multiple topics and disciplines, graph data may include higher total counts than what is indicated in total resources above.

3942 resources

Can relational values be developed and changed? Investigating relational values in the environmental education literature

  • University of Vermont (VT)
  • York University

The possible dynamism of relational values is of extreme interest to sustainability scholars and practitioners, yet the fledging field of relational values has seen few research on whether interventions of ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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Reflections of a green university building: from design to occupation

  • RMIT University

The purpose of this paper is to present outcomes from a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of a sustainable university building development.

A POE was conducted for a sustainable university building in ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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Managing in turbulent times: The impact of sustainability in management education on current and future business leaders

  • University of Calgary (AB)
  • University of Surrey

During modern times of economic and political turmoil, we ask how we should be educating current and future business leaders to navigate periods of global turbulence. The paper suggests that ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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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
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Teaching the health impacts of climate change in many American higher education programs

  • University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (IL)

Climate change is the greatest threat to global health today and it challenges professionals in many disciplines. Most American university programs lack courses covering the rising deaths and illnesses from ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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Twenty-First Century Learning as a Radical Re-Thinking of Education in the Service of Life

  • Cape Breton University (NS)

The education reforms called for in 21st century education initiatives have been characterized as radical. International efforts to reformulate education for 21st century teaching and learning are well-funded initiatives by ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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Green sprouts: Transformative learning in learning through participation (LTP)

  • Macquarie University (NSW)

This article explores the transformative learning effects of university courses that integrate academic learning with practical experience, highlighting in particular the tripartite learning that may occur where students are encouraged ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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Embedding Higher Education into a Real-World Lab: A Process-Oriented Analysis of Six Transdisciplinary Project Courses

  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg
  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Since the early days of the emerging research format of Real-world Labs (RwLs), higher education plays a vital role in them. Examples have been presented on teaching activities in RwLs ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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‘Whole Earth?’ Using an Exhibition to Raise Sustainability Awareness at a UK University

  • Canterbury Christ Church University

Despite mounting evidence of global environmental stress, many educationalists appear to be discounting warnings of ecological collapse from scientists, futurists and community leaders. One way of promoting sustainability awareness may ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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Assessing Graduate Sustainability Attributes Using a Vignette/Scenario Approach

  • RMIT University

Equipping professionals with skills to make decisions in line with sustainability principles is essential for transitioning our societies towards sustainable development. Higher education is at the forefront of generating professionals ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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Canadian Student Leaders’ Conceptualizations of Sustainability and Sustainable Universities

  • Dalhousie University (NS)

There are a growing number of university sustainability efforts, but the literature provides limited information to help universities decide if they are focused on sustainability aspects important to their stakeholders ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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Holistic Approaches to Develop Sustainability and Research Competencies in Pre-Service Teacher Training

  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya

Since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) came into effect, both UNESCO and other international organisations recommend empowering youth to implement the SDGs in universities. Getting started with the SDGs at ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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Integrating environmental sustainability in undergraduate mechanical engineering courses using guided discovery instruction

  • University of California, Irvine (CA)
  • Purdue University (IN)
  • Aarhus University

In this paper we discuss a guided discovery instruction approach for integrating environmental sustainability in undergraduate mechanical engineering courses. To validate the proposed approach, we conducted two studies with students ...

  • Posted Jan. 11, 2019
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Providing immediate feedback improves recycling and composting accuracy

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

The volume of solid waste has increased significantly in the past century, directly contributing to global environmental problems. Public engagement with waste sorting is crucial to the diversion of solid ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
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Education for Sustainability Policies: Ramifications for Practice

  • Monash University (VIC)
  • Deakin University

While it is well understood there is an urgent need to address global environmental problems, there is less understanding around how these problems can be addressed. At each level of ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
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A Case Study: Focusing on Sustainability Themes and Ecocomposition through Student Blogs in a Professional and Technical Writing Course

  • Southeastern Oklahoma State University (OK)

Tackling environmental and sustainability issues has grown in popularity in writing courses. Yet, for teachers designing professional and technical writing classes, what are the benefits and drawbacks in asking students ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
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Characteristics of UK higher education institutions that disclose sustainability reports

  • University of Hamburg

This study aims to focus on the following research question: Which institutional characteristics are associated with sustainability reporting by UK higher education institutions?

To answer the aforementioned research question, this ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
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It’s a Hit! Mapping Austrian Research Contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals

  • University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
  • University of Graz
  • University of Innsbruck
  • University of Leoben

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present a global agenda addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges in a holistic approach. Universities can contribute to the implementation of the SDGs by ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
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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
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Transitioning “Upward” When “Downstream” Efforts Are Insufficient

  • Western Colorado University (CO)

This article presents the results of a social marketing campaign to encourage individuals to compost at a university dining facility. Downstream efforts were less effective than desired in changing behavior ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
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The Real Impact of Real Food: 8 Ways Institutional Procurement is Building Real Food Economy

  • Real Food Challenge (MA)

This report pulls from interviews of 50 Real Food vendors across the US detailing how commitments to purchasing Real Food has improved their livelihoods and the overall infrastructure for a ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
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Reactions from AASHE 2018

  • Rheaply, Inc (IL)

How do you confidently answer the question: "Do we have this already"?

Rheaply dives into the ways in which institutions can boost communication and save on procurement costs by connecting ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
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Universities as Models of Sustainable Energy-Consuming Communities? Review of Selected Literature

  • Texas State University, San Marcos (TX)

Given the prominent position of academia in sustainability studies and sustainability science, it is natural to want to look to universities as models of (or keepers of knowledge about) sustainable ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Higher education for sustainable development: actioning the global goals in policy, curriculum and practice

  • University of Queensland (QLD)
  • United Nations University

Higher education for sustainable development (HEfSD) is being significantly shaped by the global sustainability agenda. Many higher education institutions, responsible for equipping the next generation of sustainability leaders with knowledge ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Developing a capstone course on ecological and social sustainability in business education

  • XLRI-Xavier School of Management (Jharkhand State)

Sustainability is an important goal of management education, but it has not been integrated properly into all the functional courses. One option for management schools attempting to fix this misalignment ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Leadership Education and Sustainable Development: Guidelines for Updating the Curriculum

  • Bishop's University (QC)

The sustainable business movement is likely the most important environmental movement in the world today. Therefore, universities must create an education system that does not destroy the biosphere. More specifically ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Educating future corporate managers for a sustainable world: recommendations for a paradigm shift in business education

  • California State University, Los Angeles (CA)

This paper aims to argue for a need for a paradigm shift in business education that would move the focus of curriculum away from profit maximization at all costs to ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Assessing research trends related to Sustainable Development Goals: local and global issues

  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Passo Fundo
  • Manchester Metropolitan University

The Sustainable Development Goals agreed by the United Nations in September 2015 comprise 17 goals and 169 targets aimed at integrating matters related to sustainable development into the overall economic ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Analysing the effects of teaching approach on engagement, satisfaction and future time perspective among students in a course on CSR

  • University of Guelph (ON)
  • Sheridan College (Ontario) (ON)

Heightened media attention to corporate corruption and scandal has led to an increased interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR). There exists, however, little empirical research on incorporating CSR into university ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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The Role of Universities in Private Environmental Governance Experimentalism

  • University of Pennsylvania (PA)

In our federal, constitutional system of government, the states are often lauded as “laboratories of experimentation” for public policy, including for public environmental law. Yet private actors are playing an ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Teaching students the complexity of green chemistry and assessing growth in attitudes and understanding

  • University of California, Berkeley (CA)

Green chemistry emerged over the past several decades as an important component of chemical education. Many different types of educational materials have been created to teach students the 12 Principles ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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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
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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
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Integrating sustainability learning outcomes into a university curriculum: A case study of institutional dynamics

  • University of Vermont (VT)

Higher education institutions increasingly have gained momentum in integrating sustainability into university curricula. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the approval, implementation and management process of the new ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Toward designing sustainability education programs: a survey of master’s programs through semi-structured interviews

  • University of Tokyo
  • Osaka University

With the emergence of sustainability science as an academic field, sustainability education (SE) has increasingly been discussed in terms of nurturing students’ competencies to bring about environmental innovation and global ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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An emerging signature pedagogy for sustainable food systems education

  • Montana State University (MT)
  • University of California, Davis (CA)
  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Concerns are growing over the ability of the modern food system to simultaneously achieve food security and environmental sustainability in the face of global change. Yet, the dominant tendency within ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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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
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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
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Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility Awareness Into a Retail Management Course

  • Babson College (MA)

Both students and industry are demanding that marketing instructors incorporate discussions of environmental and social responsibility into their courses. Marketing educators play a critical role in developing the knowledge and ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Higher education for sustainable development in Flanders: balancing between normative and transformative approaches

  • Open University of the Netherlands
  • University of Antwerp

This paper provides critical reflections on higher education for sustainable development (HESD) from a philosophical perspective. A theoretical framework is developed, based on John Dewey’s thoughts on the aim ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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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
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Toward a Validated Competence Framework for Sustainable Entrepreneurship

  • Wageningen University

Knowledge, skills, and attitudes to manage sustainable development have become significant components of different career paths. Previous research has explored which competencies are needed for future change agents in the ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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The influence of instruction, prior knowledge, and values on climate change risk perception among undergraduates

  • Auburn University (AL)
  • Michigan State University (MI)
  • North Carolina State University (NC)
  • University of Colorado Boulder (CO)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)

We evaluated influences on the climate change risk perceptions of undergraduate students in an introductory Earth Science course. For this sample, domain‐specific content knowledge about climate change was a ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Teaching Sustainable Development Goals in The Netherlands: a critical approach

  • Leiden University

One of the main outcomes of the Rio + 20 Conference was the agreement to set Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The most common terms in the17 goals are economic growth, resilience ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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How Committed Are Australian Universities to Environmental Sustainability? A Perspective on and from the University of Melbourne

  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)

Drawing upon our experiences at the University of Melbourne, we examine the issue of how environmentally sustainable that university and other Australian universities are in an era increasingly impacted by ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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The role of transformation in learning and education for sustainability

  • North-West University (North West)
  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
  • University of Campinas
  • Universidade Federal Fluminense
  • Damascus University
  • University of Latvia
  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Belgrade

Education research has acknowledged the value of transformation, which offers an opportunity for researching and rethinking how appropriate and successful educational practices may be. However, despite the role of transformation ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Deep learning for a sustainability mindset

  • University of Oulu
  • United Nations Global Compact (NY)

While ‘sustainability’ in management education is mostly addressed from a technical perspective, the emotional and ‘being’ aspects can be key for creating a new mindset. In this paper the authors ...


2018 Sustainable Campus Index

  • AASHE (PA)

The 2018 Sustainable Campus Index (SCI) recognizes top-performing colleges and universities overall by institution type and in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating ...


Aggregating Higher Education Demand for Renewables: A Primer

  • AASHE (PA)
  • Edison Energy (CA)

Campuses are increasingly looking to renewable energy as the most financially attractive strategy for achieving dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions while reducing long-term energy costs and minimizing energy price ...


Scholarship and the SDGs: Connecting Yale teaching and research to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

  • Yale University (CT)

In 2015, the Yale Office of Sustainability began looking at how teaching and research at Yale aligns with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adopted by 193 countries ...