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Foreword: The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE
SUSTAINABLE CAMPUSES
MEGHAN FAY ZAHNISER, AASHE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
is proud to support the “Sustainable Campuses” series that recognizes achievements of the higher education sector and their efforts toward developing a thriving, equitable and ecologically healthy world.
AASHE empowers higher education administrators, faculty, staff and students to be effective change agents and drivers of sustainability innovation. We enable members to translate information into action by offering essential resources and professional development opportunities to a diverse, engaged community of sustainability leaders. We work with and for higher education to ensure that our world’s future leaders are motivated and equipped to solve sustainability challenges.
We support the higher education community through the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), modeling Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, the AASHE Conference & Expo and more.
STARS
STARS was introduced as a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. This program incentivizes institutions to deepen their efforts and provides an open platform for information sharing. STARS has become the global standard for sustainability in higher education and has more than 320 rated institutions from nearly 1,000 participants.
STARS is being used by institutions in 38 countries, and we are happy to share a few recent STARS firsts including: • The University College Cork becoming the first institution in Ireland to earn a STARS rating and the first institution outside the U.S. and Canada to achieve STARS Gold rating.
• Thompson Rivers University becoming the first institution in Canada and the first Master’s institution to achieve a STARS Platinum rating. • American University of Sharjah becoming the first institution in the Middle East to achieve a STARS rating.
We are also excited to share that in 2019, we will release STARS version 2.2 which will align with the Sustainable Development Goals. This will enable institution’s to not only celebrate their successes and identify areas for improvement within their institution, but also to better understand how their efforts on campus are contributing to the global goals. In time this will enable us to demonstrate the important role that higher education plays in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION
We recently shared our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) statement. Though the statement is new, we have been working to advance DEI for several years both within our organization as well as the larger movement. Now, more than ever before, there’s a sense of urgency to not only publicly proclaim our commitment, but to reaffirm our resolve to advancing DEI as core values.
We have always defined sustainability as an inclusive way, encompassing human and ecological health, social justice, secure livelihoods and a better world for all generations. Releasing this statement not only demonstrates the importance of DEI, but it also reaffirms our view in sustainability being all-encompassing.
2019 AASHE CONFERENCE & EXPO Expected to draw approximately 2,000 participants, AASHE’s annual conference is the largest stage in North America to exchange effective models, policies, research, co-
laborations, and transformative actions that advance sustainability in higher education and beyond.
With a theme of Co-Creating a Sustainable Economy, AASHE 2019 is tackling the root cause for the continued rise in carbon emissions: our dysfunctional economic system. The conference seeks to showcase and strengthen higher education’s contributions to the movement for a sustainable economy, which we see as inclusive of the exciting work happening under a variety of other names such as the solidarity economy, wellbeing economy, circular economy, postgrowth economy, regenerative economy and restorative economy.
This year’s conference takes place Oct. 27-30 in Spokane, Washington, USA. Attendees can expect thought-provoking keynote speakers, hundreds of sessions to engage all higher education sustainability interests, and an expo hall with innovative products and services sure to inspire.
THANK YOU
We are grateful to represent and support a community that is focused on leading the global sustainability transformation through STARS, DEI, our annual conference, and more. It is critical that all sectors of society play a vital role in advancing global sustainability. Higher education, along with businesses, governments, and civil society organizations around the globe, have significant impacts on human and ecological health. While we believe that higher education can be the foundation for creating a thriving, equitable, and ecologically healthy world, we embrace and thank the supporters from all sectors who contribute to making a better world for all generations.
The “Sustainable Campuses” series provides us the opportunity to better recognize and understand what strategies and programs work well at institutions throughout the world. Higher education, in many ways, is already leading in various aspects of sustainability innovation and other sectors can learn a lot from the successes of colleges and universities. Through partnership and collaboration across sectors, my hope is that we will continue to learn, innovate and work to achieve the sustainable world we want and need.
Thank you,
Meghan Fay Zahniser
AASHE Executive Director
