Education Commons^™

Leadership Development In Education For Sustainable Development: Evaluation Of Higher Education Students In Sustainable Development Programs, Michelle Dzurenda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) has been working decades towards reaching Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to create peace and prosperity for people and the planet. The 2030 Agenda was created as an urgent call to action, a global partnership, and a comprehensive plan to work towards the 17 SDGs. For this study, the focus is on Goal 4- quality education and the impact of leadership on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Leadership on ESD has been a more recent topic and under researched. By making advancements in leadership on ESD there will be positive …

Sustainability Club, Brianna Bernhardt, Marissa Lindemann

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

An environmental and agricultural-based club focusing on sustainability. Results in a cleaner school environment, knowledge about various sustainable practices, art projects, and an appreciation of nature.

A Qualitative Look Into Repair Practices, Jumana Labib

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This research poster is based on a working research paper which moves beyond the traditional scope of repair and examines the Right to Repair movement from a smaller, more personal lens by detailing the 6 categorical impediments as dubbed by Dr. Alissa Centivany (design, law, economic/business strategy, material asymmetry, informational asymmetry, and social impediments) have continuously inhibited repair and affected repair practices, which has consequently had larger implications (environmental, economic, social, etc.) on ourselves, our objects, and our world. The poster builds upon my research from last year (see "The Right to Repair: (Re)building a better future"), this time pulling …

Review Of A Framework For Sustainable Thinking: Is Ql For Citizenship Even Possible?, Nathan D. Grawe

Numeracy

Van Antwerp and Heun's A Framework for Sustainability Thinking offers an extensive collection of data related to sustainability with an emphasis on energy. Intended for a primary audience of undergraduate students, the authors set the data in the context of the IPARX identity which notes that impacts (I) are the product of population (P), affluence (A), resource intensity of economic activity (R), and impact of the resources (X). In addition to being a useful text for seminars focused on sustainability and energy use, the book provides a context for contemplating the roles of expertise vs. general quantitative literacy when addressing …

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 …

Contribution Of A Higher Educational Institution Towards Advancing Sustainability In The West Texas Paso Del Norte Region, Anand Raj

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Sustainability comprises primarily three elements; environmental, social, and economic, which can be considered the keys to humanityâ??s survival and wellbeing. The pillars can alternately be given informal names: planet, people, and profit. Sustainability is achieved by effectively utilizing available resources through different sustainable development efforts. Generally, groups or entities come together to create sustainable impact in the three primary elements discussed here. City councils, businesses, and higher education institutions are just a few of the entities that engage in sustainability efforts. It is valuable to appraise the role played by a higher education institution in advancing sustainability in the context …

Justification For An Apparel-Based Sustainability Course At The University Of Arkansas, Sydney Taylor

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

The University of Arkansas' Apparel Merchandising and Product Development program does not currently offer a course on sustainability in the apparel and textile sector. Due to a lack of sustainability information, students may not have a thorough understanding of their degree. If students had the opportunity to learn about current sustainability-related topics before entering the workforce, they would have a new perspective and a deeper understanding of the industry, allowing them to potentially make good change.

By elaborating on the need for an apparel-based sustainability course to be offered at the University of Arkansas in the Apparel Merchandising and Product …

The Role Of Place Attachment And Situated Sustainability Meaning-Making In Enhancing Student Civic-Mindedness: A Campus Farm Example, Brandon H. Sorge, Francesca A. Williamson, Grant A. Fore, Julia L. Angstmann

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

This research explores the role that place attachment and place meaning towards an urban farm play in predicting undergraduate students’ civic-mindedness, an important factor in sustainability and social change. In 2017 and 2018, three STEM courses at a private university in the Midwest incorporated a local urban farm as a physical and conceptual context for teaching course content and sustainability concepts. Each course included a four to six-week long place-based experiential learning (PBEL) module aimed at enhancing undergraduate STEM student learning outcomes, particularly place attachment, situated sustainability meaning-making (SSMM), and civic-mindedness. End-of-course place attachment, SSMM, and civic-mindedness survey data were …

The Right To Repair: (Re)Building A Better Future, Jumana Labib

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The goal of this research project was to take a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary approach to research and examine the Right to Repair movement’s progress, current repair practices, impediments, and imperatives, and the various large-scale implications (environmental, economic, social, etc.) stemming from diminished consumer freedom as a result of increased corporate greed and lack of governmental regulations with regards to repair and the environment. This poster exhibits the highlights of my general research project on the Right to Repair movement over the course of this four month internship, and aims to disseminate information about the movement to the wider public in an …

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.

Evaluating Urban Parks Accessibility And Equity: A Case Study Of Hartford, Ct And New Haven, Ct, Natalie Roach, Mara Tu

Honors Scholar Theses

Public parks provide cities with environmental benefits, positive health effects, recreational opportunities, community building, educational spaces, and public amenities. However, certain populations have been systematically denied their fair share of these benefits because of unjust practices in the creation and maintenance of urban parks. With a lens of environmental justice, the goal of this research was to assess park quality and accessibility of two Connecticut cities, Hartford and New Haven, by gathering publicly available information as well as using GIS tools.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has an existing ParkScore rating system that evaluates the quality of a city’s …

Institutional Changes In Western Michigan University For Incorporation Of Education For Sustainability, Saman Khan

Dissertations

Higher Education institutions (HEIs) have the potential to be significant contributors in the pursuit of a sustainable world through the incorporation of Education for Sustainability (EFS). However, HEIs are entrenched with structures and values that are often resistant to change. The literature reveals that instructors’ beliefs and institutional contexts are the two main factors that impact the implementation of institutional change for sustainability education. Western Michigan University (WMU) has created new required curriculum “WMU Essential Studies” (WES) for undergraduate students and they have targeted sustainability as an essential learning outcome, by integrating and applying it in content courses. Using a …

Retention Strategies To Ensure Financial Sustainability In Community Colleges, Claudia Yvette Provost

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractA rapid decline in student retention among community colleges reduces revenue and jeopardizes financial sustainability, meaning leaders of community colleges who lack strategies to retain students have lower revenue and financial sustainability. Grounded in the advocacy and participatory worldview conceptual framework, the purpose of this qualitative, single case study was to explore strategies leaders of community colleges used to increase student retention and revenues for achieving financial sustainability. A purposeful sampling of five leaders from a community college in Louisiana who successfully used strategies to increase student retention participated in this study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and institutional …

Design Of A Shallow-Aero Ebb And Flow Hydroponics System And Associated Educational Module For Tri Cycle Farms, Julie Halveland

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tri Cycle Farms, whose main mission is to reduce food insecurity in their community, is a non- profit urban farm in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The “Tri” in their name refers to the three parts of their foundation: giving a third of their yield to volunteers, giving a third to local food pantries, and selling a third to sustain the farm and demonstrate the economy of local food production. They want to expand on the third part and have a vision of building a hydroponic greenhouse with the intention that it will create more crops to sell and give, as well as …

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.

How To Promote Education For Sustainable Development? Vision Of The Educational Situation And Its Contribution To Sustainable Development., Khalid Aada

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

During the last decade, the importance of leaving a rational paradigm, debtor of functionalist and utilitarian models, towards another more congruent with the preservation of natural resources, and therefore of life, has been widely discussed. In the same way, different voices have been raised, pointing out the urgency of inserting these precepts into the educational field, hoping to achieve the true cultural transformation that is needed to consolidate the change. Multiple International Entities promote sustainability in Education as an initiative that should be ambitious, complex and reforming character, given the global scope of the social, economic and environmental situation affecting …

Gnome Waste Warriors: Waste Reduction Through Sustainability, Hayley E.R. Frost Rubino

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project was on how waste and waste reduction could positively impact a community. Waste reduction is an important issue because the negative impacts of waste affect the whole planet. By educating Monterey Gnome School (MGS) about waste, changes in daily habits are intended to result in lasting change. An evidence-based argument is offered that waste is a global issue that negatively impacts the earth's landmasses, oceans, and human health. Both MGS staff and students were interviewed and surveyed, as their perspectives provide unique aspects of thinking about waste issues. The themes that emerged from an …

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.

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 …

When One Door Closes . . ., Meg Angier

Student Engagement Posters

Meg Angier discusses student engagement at Linfield College with regard to her participation in Residence Life.

Imagining Across Disciplines For A Sustainable Future, Emily James

Writing Center Analysis Papers

At present, the words sustainable and sustainability tend to be associated with environmental issues. Yet, the word sustain comes from the Old French sostenier meaning, “hold up, bear; suffer, endure” and Latin’s sustinere that adds, “hold upright; furnish with means of support; undergo.” Latin’s sustinere can further be broken down into the elements sub and tenere, the root of which, ten, means, “to stretch” (Harper). This paper reflects upon the ways in which the concept of sustainability affects my role as a writing tutor and composition instructor as I seek to help students stretch their abilities to develop ideas …

Environmental Clearinghouse Of Schenectady, Kate Van Patten

Honors Theses

This paper analyses Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady, a local nonprofit environmental organization. The paper investigates the history of the organization as well as the effectiveness of its organizational and funding habits. A literary review was conducted to analyze the success of ECOS mission as well as the positive effects ECOS has on society using elements such as environmental education, the importance of early environmental education, how well the organization connects urban residents with the outdoors and the effectiveness of environmental programs. This research promotes the importance of early environmental education on our future generations health and environmental conditions. Additionally, through …

Biology, Art And Sustainability, Linda Jolly, Jan Van Boeckel, Solveig Slåttli

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

How can the teaching of biology contribute to sustainability education? The authors of this article suggest that their approach has the potential to increase the students’ level of engagement with the natural environment. The scope of biology teaching can be widened by allowing room for more experience and art-based activities. Such a change may deepen and expand the learners’ insights in natural phenomena, which in turn might foster or enhance an attitude of care-taking for the natural environment.

Arts-Based Education For Enchanting, Embodied And Embedded Sustainability, Hans Dieleman

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This article sketches two contrasting ideal-typical narratives of sustainability, a disenchanting and an enchanting one, and argues that current thinking in sustainability is mainly situated in the narrative of disenchantment. This narrative is based on various obsolete philosophical assumptions, and hampers the transformation process, as it distances the population from being part of this. It then sketches the narrative of enchanting sustainability and shows how this has the capacity to engage, intrigue and motivate people to be involved. It is rooted in an arts-based approach of connecting aesthetics, associative thinking, reflective practice, emotion-based working, aspiration and intentionality. The article moves …

The Global Energy Crisis, Katie Calhoun

Facing the Future Lessons

The world is at an energy tipping point. Countries and communities can choose to be proactive or wait and be reactive, however it is much less costly to do the former. In this project, high school environmental science students will examine the current energy use and concerns in a named country or community, analyze the pros and cons of the current energy situation and how it effects the social, economic and environmental aspects of the culture, then create a more sustainable, resilient plan for that country.

University Sustainability: Assessing College Sustainability Rating Systems, James M. Albis

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

This paper seeks to assess the three major university sustainability rating systems in the United States on their ability to drive positive sustainability outcomes. Since the mid-2000s the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, the Princeton Review, and the Sierra Club have attempted to rate universities on their sustainability policies and practices. A wide range of actions are rated by these organizations, from energy usage to transportation to procurement to academic offerings in the field of sustainability. This analysis shows that each organization values sustainability in different ways – for example, academics/co-curricular activities accounted for anywhere from 16%-49% …

Universities And Sustainable Food Practices: An International Comparison Along The Pacific Coast Of North America, Alexandra Schulte

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

My research project examined sustainable practices in relation to food sources at three universities located along the Pacific Coast of North America. The academic institutions were the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), and the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. These schools were selected because while they each foster an abundance of “local” foods and food industries, they represent different stages in the three pillars of sustainability for food practices. My project sought to understand the role of each institution in building a local and sustainable food culture at each university. I …

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 …

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.