Sustainability Commons^™

Plas 439: Organic Farming And Food Systems Faculty-Led Inquiry Into Reflective Scholarly Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Christian Stephenson

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Organic Farming and Food Systems is a senior and graduate level course for students in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture. This course was previously offered but has been significantly modified as I have taken on responsibility for the course. Goals for the course include student comprehension of the methods of organic and regenerative farming and the impacts of those methods on economic, environmental, and social sustainability. An additional goal is to build student competency in the evaluation of primary, secondary, and tertiary information resources and critical thinking surrounding issues in food production. Assessment for the course was through diverse …

Building A Strategic Framework With A Sustainability Lens At Wcu, Stefanie Schwalm

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

Dr. Stefanie Schwalm, WCU Associate Provost for Accreditation, SRPS Spring '24 4/17: "Building a Strategic Framework with a Sustainability Lens at WCU."

Eating Change: A Critical Autoethnography Of Community Gardening And Social Identity, Jessica Gerrior

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Community gardening efforts often carry a social purpose, such as building climate resilience, alleviating hunger, or promoting food justice. Meanwhile, the identities and motivations of community gardeners reflect both personal stories and broader social narratives. The involvement of universities in community gardening projects introduces an additional dimension of power and privilege that is underexplored in scholarly literature. This research uses critical autoethnography to explore the relationship of community gardening and social identity. Guided by Chang (2008) and Anderson and Glass-Coffin (2013), a systematic, reflexive process of meaning-making was used to compose three autoethnographic accounts. Each autoethnography draws on the author’s …

Building Capacity For Socio-Ecological Change Through The Campus Farm: A Mixed-Methods Study, Francesca A. Williamson, Amber J. Rollings, Grant A. Fore, Julia L. Angstmann, Brandon H. Sorge

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Given the ongoing socio-ecological crises, higher education institutions need curricular interventions to support students in developing the knowledge, skills, and perspectives needed to create a sustainable future. Campus farms are increasingly becoming sites for sustainability and environmental education toward this end. This paper describes the design and outcomes of a farm-situated place-based experiential learning (PBEL) intervention in two undergraduate biology courses and one environmental studies course over two academic years. We conducted a mixed-method study using pre/post-surveys and focus groups to examine the relationship between the PBEL intervention and students’ sense of place and expressions of pro-environmentalism. The quantitative analysis …

A Food-Themed Cross-Disciplinary Faculty-Staff Learning Community Enriches Place-Based Experiential Learning Curricula - (Instructor Resource), Julia L. Angstmann, Grant A. Fore, Francesca A. Williamson, Brandon H. Sorge

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

This document contains instructional resources to facilitate an 8-month Faculty-Staff Learning Community (FSLC) focused on learning and discussion to support the creation of campus farmsituated place-based experiential learning (PBEL) lessons that inspire place attachment, sustainability meaning making, environmental science literacy, and civic mindedness. The development of this professional development resource is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. DUE-1609219 and DUE-1915313.

Saving The Campus Farm: One Approach To Leveraging Institutional Support For A Campus Farm Space, Julia L. Angstmann

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The number of university and college campus farms have increased 13-fold since 1992 to over 300 campuses (LaCharite, 2016). According to reporting by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) (2018), 80% of campus farm spaces are less than 5 acres in size and 86% are located on campuses with no agriculture school (AASHE, 2018). Campus farms provide a rich interdisciplinary social context of community based, sustainable agriculture that spans the entire suite of social and physical sciences as well as non-STEM fields such as business, religious studies, and communication. Yet, the majority of these farm …

Smith Neilson Library: The Sustainability Story, Smith College

The New Neilson Library

The complete "Sustainability Story" of the New Neilson Library project.

Up Close And Personal With Mr Sundar Selvam: Hitting Zero Targets, Sundar Selvam

Oral History Collection

He might not be one you would have come across on campus. And not one you might read much about in SMU news or in the limelight for its achievements, preferring to remain in the background. But look around the SMU campus and you will see the fruits of his work and that of his team. Meet Sundar, SMU’s Vice-President for Campus Infrastructure and Services. Since January 2015, he has been at the forefront of driving SMU’s own sustainability journey which has resulted in several “firsts”. This interview was published in the August edition of SMU CIRCLE.

Blackstone Communion, Anne-Catherine Schaaf

Office of Sustainability

This short story describes a spiritual connection with nature experienced by the author when walking along a trail in Blackstone Gateway Park. Blackstone Gateway Park is an urban, riverfront park in Worcester, Massachusetts. Features of the park include walking paths and an elevated boardwalk which crosses the Middle River and the surrounding wetlands.

Reducing Paper Usage Through Monthly Printing Reports: A Case Study From The College Of The Holy Cross, Office Of Sustainability

Office of Sustainability

This case study outlines the project goals, implementation, and results of a reporting initiative aimed to reduce waste on a small, liberal arts college campus.

Mitchell Center_April Update, University Of Maine Senator George J. Mitchell Center For Sustainability Solutions

Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

Email update for the University of Maine Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, including an update regarding the Center's activities during the COVID-19.

Transformative Education In Agroecology: Student, Teacher, And Client Involvement In Co-Learning, Charles A. Francis, Anna Marie Nicolaysen, Geir Lieblein, Tor Arvid Breland

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Educational methods have evolved rapidly in agroecology, which is a complex and holistic field without a long history or the formal tradition of any single academic discipline. Definitions of agroecology have evolved from its initial conception as a marriage of agriculture with ecology, to an aggregation of different paths including science, practices, and movements, and recently as a broad appreciation of the ecology of food systems. In contrast with traditional courses that begin with a history of the discipline and review the contributions of early leaders, we have embraced phenomenology to firmly establish roots in students’ learning through their experiences …

Emotional Response To Climate Change Learning: An Existential Inquiry, Jennifer Hutchinson

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative study aims to explore and explain the existential underpinnings of learning about climate change and potential emotional responses to climate change learning. Undergraduate students in environmental sciences and studies classes at the University of Washingrounded theory on in Seattle, WA participated in semi-structured interviews. Participants were asked about their experiences learning about climate change and how they responded emotionally to the learning. This dissertation examines the responses from those interviews and builds a theory out of the data analyzed. Constructivist Grounded theory as outlined by Kathy Charmaz (2014) was used to analyze the interviews. Codes were created and …

Smith New Neilson Library: Healthier Materials, Dano Weisbord, Matthew Gifford, Amanda Garvey

The New Neilson Library

With so much change happening in the manufacturing industry with the onset of new product transparency and disclosure standards, it can be difficult to know how to get involved in market transformation efforts. Our goal for this session is to share an example of how Smith College tackled this challenge. It will include an overview of the Material Health & Transparency Initiative implemented on the Neilson Library project, and the project's team efforts to use this iconic building as a way to advocate for positive change in the marketplace.

Additional materials include draft presentation in parts and whole.

Organic Agriculture Teaching And Learning In 2025: Transforming The Future Learning Landscape, Randa Jabbour, Charles A. Francis, Mary Barbercheck, Katharina S. Ullman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

University instructors are compelled to anticipate future changes in farming and food systems that will impact their students. Sixteen educators met in 2018 to envision the future of organic agriculture courses needed by 2025. Likely future global issues include food access, especially for people of limited economic means; climate change; and fossil fuel costs. Changes that will impact education are increasing demand for quality food, more organic production, and globalization of food systems due to consolidation. Probable course content changes are increasing focus on whole farm systems; designing for resilience in changing physical, economic, environmental, and political climates; and increasing …

Art And The Environment, Ellen Dexter, Lydia Dexter

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

After school club that teaches the importance of sustainable practices and conversation activities through art projects and imagination.

A Pedagogical Framework For The Design And Utilization Of Place-Based Experiential Learning Curriculum On A Campus Farm, Julia L. Angstmann, Amber J. Rollings, Grant A. Fore, Brandon H. Sorge

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Campus agriculture projects are increasingly being recognized as spaces impactful to student engagement and learning through curricular and co-curricular programming; however, most campus farm activities are limited to agriculture or sustainability programs and/or co-curricular student clubs. Thus, campus farms are largely underutilized in the undergraduate curriculum, marking a need to explore the efficacy and impact of engaging a diverse array of disciplinary courses in the rich social, environmental, and civic context of local sustainable agriculture. The Farm Hub program presented here incentivizes instructors to refocus a portion of existing course content around the topic of local, sustainable agriculture, and reduces …

Sulitest®: A Mixed-Method, Pilot Study Of Assessment Impacts On Undergraduate Sustainability-Related Learning And Motivation, Alicia Mason

Faculty Submissions

A United Nations international collaboration between the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) resulted in the creation of Sulitest® (aka Sustainability Literacy Test) an open, online training and assessment tool freely available to higher education institutions globally. This study analyzes the effectiveness of the newly developed Sulitest® to not only measure sustainability literacy of higher education student populations, but also act as a catalyst for boosting affective learning outcomes by: (a) generating interest in sustainability-related issues, (b) improving sustainability-related understandings, and (c) enhancing students’ interests in the subject matter. In order to do …

Life Events Which Motivate Youth To Become Climate Activists In Sydney And Canberra, Phoebe Dolan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Climate activism is the tool of young people to rise and fight for their future and the future of the planet. Today it is necessary that young people engage as climate activists. My research asks what life events motivate youth to become climate activists. I looked into the initial life events which spark the motivation of young people to understand their initial motives for joining the climate movement. I looked into where the motivation came from, a concern for nature, a concern for social justice or the interconnectedness of the two. I also looked into the life events of individuals …

Ua66/8/2 Ogden College Of Science & Engineering Geography & Geology Centers & Institutes, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Centers and Institutes administered by the Geography & Geology Department. Including:

• Center for Cave & Karst Studies
• Center for Local Government Services
• Hoffman Environmental Research Institute
• Kentucky Climate Center
• Resources Management Institute
• Small Public Water System Technology Center

Stem And Sustainability: Creating Aviation Professional Change Agents, P. Clark, Doreen Mcgunagle, L. Zizka

Publications

With the evolution of the workforce and the growing needs of the aviation industry, a clear need for concrete sustainability initiatives and actions have emerged. Sustainability in this sense becomes a matter of survival. For this reason, in this chapter, we will attempt to close three gaps in current sustainability studies: Theory vs practice, intention vs behavior, and education vs workplace.

Our purpose is to develop a ‘simple’ strategy for integrating all three pillars of sustainability into STEM HE programs that create authentic engagement and real buy-in from the students that are then replicated in the workplace. Based on the …

New Neilson Library Life Cycle Assessment Report, Thornton Tomasetti

The New Neilson Library

Life cycle assessment results for achieving credits for LEED v4 MRc1 Building Life-cycle Impact reduction credit and its Option 4: Whole building impact assessment.

Neilson Library Final Charter, Smith College

The New Neilson Library

Final charter for the New Neilson Library project.

Senator George J. Mitchell Lecture On Sustainability, Senator George J. Mitchell Center For Sustainability Solutions

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

On Thursday, October 15, 2015 the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions will host the 2015 Senator George J. Mitchell Lecture on Sustainability. This event is free and open to all. It will take place at 1pm at Wells Conference Center on the University of Maine campus. Roger A. Pielke, Jr., a key thought leader on effective roles for scientists in political debates and the formulation of public policy, will be the keynote speaker. Senator Mitchell will provide remarks.

The central mission of the Mitchell Center is to serve as a leader and valued partner in understanding and …

Putting Impact First: Community-University Partnerships To Advance Authentic Neighborhood Sustainability, Michelle L. Holliday, Tony Defalco, Jacob Sherman

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This article profiles a partnership between the Living Cully ecodistrict and Portland State University’s Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative. The case studies presented in this article explore how Living Cully leveraged PSU assets to advance their goals, highlighting successes and lessons learned. This article also addresses how the partnership was formed, what makes the partnership innovative, the role of interdisciplinary/intercommunity organizational strategies, and how the community partner commits to urban sustainability and social justice.

Elce - Sustainable Serving, Kevin Curwick, Allison Fischbach

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

Describes the Sustainability Student Worker Network (SSWN) and the connections between ELCE (Experiential Learning & Community Engagement) and sustainability at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.

Engagement Of Academic Libraries And Information Science Schools In Creating Curriculum For Sustainability: An Exploratory Study, Maria A. Jankowska, Bonnie J. Smith, Marianne A. Buehler

Library Faculty Publications

In 2010, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education released, “Sustainability curriculum in higher education: A call to action,” encouraging infusion of sustainability topics into universities' teaching and research. Since then, academic programs and research related to social, economic, and environmental sustainability have enriched university curricula. An exploratory study was conducted to determine the position and engagements of academic libraries and information science schools in their contributions to scholarly sustainability activities and curricular initiatives. This article presents the results of the study which reveals a number of engagements by library professionals in the areas of sustainability, such …

Re-Storing The Earth: A Phenomenological Study Of Living Sustainably, Jessica B. Buckley

Faculty Scholarship

Living sustainably evokes ideas of lived, bodily engagement with and perception of the earth. Yet, modern ways of thinking and speaking have slowly alienated the earth from consciousness. Using phenomenological methods, the author examines the experience of living sustainably, exploring her own background and the idea of restoring the earth to consciousness, before examining the lives of two students dedicated to living sustainably. Components of upholding the earth, in-volving humanity, perceiving differences in studying and embodying sustainability, and engaging in choices fill the experience of living sustainably.

Critical Research Needs For Successful Food Systems Adaptation To Climate Change, Michelle Miller, Molly Anderson, Charles A. Francis, Chad Kruger, Carol Barford, Jacob Park, Brent H. Mccown

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

There is a growing sense of the fragility of agricultural production in the Global North and South and of increasing risks to food security, as scientific observations confirm significant changes in the Gulf Stream, polar ice, atmospheric CO₂, methane release, and other measures of climate change. This sense is heightened as each of us experiences extreme weather, such as the increasing frequency of droughts, floods, unseasonal temperatures, and erratic seasonality. The central research challenge before us is how global, national, regional, and local food systems may adapt to accelerating climate change stresses and uncertainties to ensure the availability, …

The Greening Of The Information Systems Curriculum, Patricia Sendall, Li-Jen Shannon, Alan Peslak, Bruce Saulnier

Organization Studies and Analytics Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is related to Green Information Technology (IT), Green Computing, and/or Sustainability (GITS) curriculum initiatives in institutions of higher education in the US and abroad. The purpose of this study is threefold; 1) to evaluate whether GITS academic programs have been initiated in higher educational organizations; 2) to analyze if GITS programs and/or courses are currently in place; and 3) to investigate the conceptual framework of GITS across campuses.