Sustainability

Resources & Publications

An ACPA member exclusive - login and download a complimentary PDF copy of Toward A Sustainable Future: The Role of Student Affairs in Creating Healthy Environments, Social Justice, and Strong Economies.

Printed copies on FSC-certified paper are available for purchase at the ACPA online store.

Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Materials Guidebook
ACPA’s Sustainability Task Force partnered with the Commission on Assessment and Evaluation with the goal of creating assessment tools to help ACPA members effectively measure student learning around sustainability. Towards these ends, Kimberly Yousey-Elsener (StudentVoice), Diana Richter Keith (Columbia University), and Staci Lynne Ripkey (New York University) formed a team in 2007 to begin a literature and web-search of assessment tools being used by various institutions.

This guidebook is built upon a framework of student learning outcomes developed by the ACPA Sustainability Task Force and published in the Monograph, Toward a Sustainable Future: The Role of Student Affairs in Creating Healthy Environments, Social Justice, and Strong Economies. Therefore, the assessment tools in this guidebook focus on one piece of the sustainability puzzle — student learning — and should be used to complement the assessment of operation and program effectiveness.

Download your copy of the Guidebook.

Download the Triple Bottom Line Quick Guide.

Download the HEASC Fellow Application

On December 7, 2005, ACPA and eight other higher education associations officially founded the Higher Education Association Sustainability Consortium (HEASC). As part of the U.S. Partnership for Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, the mission of the work of the consortium is to help ". . .leverage the United Nations Decade to foster education for sustainable development in the United States."

ACPA recognizes that colleges and universities provide students with the knowledge they need to make an impact in their personal, civic and professional lives. By educating them on sustainable development, they can make positive changes for society by making economically, environmentally and socially responsible choices that help create a flourishing ecosystem, healthier communities and stronger societies.

How does sustainability reflect ACPA's core values?
Among ACPA's stated core values are the following:

• Education and development of the total student;
• Diversity, multicultural competence and human dignity; and
• Free and open exchange of ideas in a context of mutual respect.

ACPA is committed to the advancement of healthy and sustainable communities throughout the world. By supporting college student educators and the work they do with students, ACPA's core values will help solidify the action steps taken to achieve the mission of HEASC. By advocating the total development of students, ACPA plays a key role in the consortium by emphasizing the student development approach to teaching and learning with the national higher education community.

What is ACPA doing to support sustainability?

• The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) presented its first annual Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards in October, 2006. A representative from the ACPA Sustainability Task Force served on the selection committee. View the list of winners.
  
  
• ACPA is working on the development of a toolkit for college student educators. This electronic resource will serve as a step-by-step guide to help educators and their campuses begin their efforts to involve students, faculty, staff, and even community residents in collaborative sustainability activities. Now, you can download the sustainability flyer to sign up student groups on your campus! You can also download ideas for campus activities that support and educate about sustainable living.

• This website is also a way for ACPA to provide you with a variety of resources that you can use on your campus and provides events related to sustainability.

• Greg Roberts, Executive Director of ACPA, will be the moderator of the webcast,"Where Is Your Campus On the Continuum of Integrated, Comprehensive Sustainability Planning?," presented by the Society for College and University Planning on October 25, 2006.
  
  

• Title: "Change Agent Abilities Required to Help Create a Sustainable Future"
  Authors: ACPA in collaboration with the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development
  Download list of Change Agent Skills: Word | PDF
  (May be reproduced for educational purposes with credit given)
  
  

• Title: Social Justice and Sustainable Development
  Authors: Keith E. Edwards, Macalester College, Kathleen G. Kerr, University of Delaware at the Tools for Social Justice Conference, November 2007
  Download Powerpoint Presentation [379 KB]
  
  

• Title: "A National Trend: Sustainability in Higher Education and ACPA's Leadership Role"
  Author: Debra Rowe, Ph.D
  Download Powerpoint Presentation [681 KB]
  
  
• Title: "ACPA's Presidential Task Force on Sustainability"
  Authors: Kathleen Gardner, Southern Illinois U-Edwardsville
  Kathleen G. Kerr, University of Delaware
  at Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 10, 2007
  Download Powerpoint Presentation [152 KB]
  
  
• Title: "Integrating Sustainability into a Learning Community"
  Authors: Kathleen Gardner, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville;
  Kathleen Kerr, University of Delaware;
  Jeanne Steffes, Syracuse University
  at the National Living-Learning Conference, Fall 2006
  Download Powerpoint Presentation [261 KB]
  
  
• The ACPA Sustainability Taskforce will plan, catalyze, facilitate, and assess the infusion of awareness and education for a sustainable future into all aspects of the association’s activities.  Our vision is that students and educators will be literate about sustainability challenges and engaged in solutions.  View Taskforce Members.
  
  
• Title: "Advanced Sustainability Techniques Institute-I: Moving from Rhetoric to Substance"
  Authors: Kathleen Gardner, Susan Mendoza-Jones, Dr. Jeanne S. Steffes
  Download Powerpoint Presentation [157 KB]
  
  
• Title: "Advanced Sustainability Techniques Institute-II: Current Trends and Assessment"
  Authors: Kathleen Gardner, Susan Mendoza-Jones, Dr. Jeanne S. Steffes
  Download Powerpoint Presentation [1.6 MB]
  
  
• Title: "Sustainable Student Affairs Preparation Programs: Visioning for Our Profession"
  Authors: Dr. Susan D. Longerbeam, Northern Arizona University; Dr. Boyd Yarbrough, Furman University
  Download Powerpoint Presentation [358 MB]
  

Envisioning a student affairs division that supports sustainability

Imagine working for a division of student life that has as its mission educating students so they can contribute to the development of a sustainable society.  Programs, initiatives, and budgetary expenditures are driven by one clearly articulated educational goal: Educate students who will become the leaders of our world so as many people as possible on the planet are healthy and can meet their basic needs; have fair and equitable access to Earth's resources; have a decent quality of life; celebrate cultural diversity; are realizing their highest aspirations; and restore and preserve the biologically diverse ecosystems on which we all depend. Read more.