Education
CSUN strives to reduce its own footprint on the environment and to educate its students and the broader campus population on sustainable practices.
Main Strategies
- Expand education on sustainability principles and practices to entire campus population
- Increase formal educational offerings in sustainability
- Increase opportunities for hands-on student learning in sustainability
- Increase research opportunities in sustainability
Objectives for 2023
- Participation in a sustainability office program by all campus offices/units by 2015
- Implement university-wide sustainability education for all students by 2018
- Offer M.A. Degree in Sustainability Practices by 2018
- Expand service learning and internship opportunities in sustainability
- Expand network of faculty engaging in sustainability-related research
2020-21 Priorities and Outcomes
- Incorporate sustainability into University 100 First Year Experience courses.
- This was put on hold due to COVID-19, but will begin Fall 2021.
- Continue providing support for sustainability-related faculty research through the Faculty Innovation Grants Program.
- This program is jointly funded through the Institute for Sustainability and Facilities Planning, and is open to all colleges/departments. Eight research Fellows were funded over the last two years with faculty from Art, Family and Consumer Sciences, Marketing, Geography, Sustainability, Engineering, Religious Studies, and Education. The Institute will invite faculty to present their projects/findings once employees return to campus in 2021-22.
- Continue Masters Program Planning for the launch in Fall 2022.
- The program was officially approved by the CSU Board of Trustees to begin Fall 2021 through the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Due to COVID-19, the first cohort will begin Fall 2022.
- Integrate Sustainability Learning Outcomes into courses.
- The Institute for Sustainability will consult with other CSU campuses to learn about successful pathways to adopting SLO's. The Institute will then work with student researchers to create a template for adoption at CSUN.
- Expand Sustainability Champions program with the goal of 50% of campus departments represented.
- Even during the pandemic, this program was able to keep our Champions engaged and has seen the addition of eleven new members which now includes over 50 members from 46 departments and all divisions across campus.
Other Highlights
- The Institute continued its “sustainable menstruation” initiative that was launched last year. The program provides education and alternatives to disposable menstrual products. Institute staff presented about this innovative initiative at three conferences and as panelist at an event hosted by CSU East Bay. A Best Practice award for Social Equity in partnership with CSU San Marcos was received at the CA Higher Education Sustainability Conference in July 2020. Free reusable menstrual cups were distributed to students at the CSUN Food Pantry and Women's Resource and Research Center. This program will be ongoing to continue providing free reusable menstrual cups to the CSUN community.
- CSUN Sustainability collaborated with campus departments to host virtual events for Earth Month. Session topics included: gardening, fashion, virtual National Park tours, zero waste, transportation, DIY projects, and more. Approximately 30 events were held by CSUN departments in April in honor of Earth Month. CSUN also participated in a systemwide Eco Challenge to collectively engage campus members in completing one- time and daily actions to combat climate change. There were over 400 participants across 11 campuses.
- The Institute for Sustainability partnered with 10 CSU campuses to host two CSU-wide virtual events - one in October for Sustainability Month and one in April for Earth Day. Collectively, 70 system-wide events were held in the fall and 82 events were held in the spring. Almost 800 people attended the two large events which focused on social justice and climate action.
- The Institute posted more than 400 posts on social media during the 2020-21 year. Across all social media platforms, CSUN Sustainability accounts have over 8,000 followers. Eleven issues of "The Footprint" newsletter were sent to over 4,000 subscribers. The Institute has published 87 newsletters since 2015.
- Over 400 people participated in the CSU Earth Month EcoChallenge, with 139 of them being from CSUN. View the results of the challenge as well as the systemwide EcoChallenge summary report.
2021-22 Priorities
- Identify and flag sustainability-related courses within the course catalog and faculty research.
- Provide faculty development on sustainability SLOs and on how to incorporate sustainability content into courses.
- Encourage inclusion of sustainability-related SLOs and/or SUST core courses in programs through faculty.
- Integrate sustainability information into University 100 courses.
- Redesign the Sustainable Office Program to generate interest and involvement from campus members.
- Expand programming for the sustainability champions.
Other
SOP Materials
Issue:
ED1.1
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Develop sustainable office program (SOP) training materials for student trainees and office staff
Status:
Training videos, assessment tool (survey), consultant FAQ sheet, and department resource list have been created. (IS)
Party Responsible:
IS, AS
Next/Action Items:
Completed
Training Workshops/Audits
Issue:
ED1.2
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Establish schedule of training workshops for office staff and execute audits
Status:
Training for student consultants conducted in April, 2014 (IS). There are 4-8 students interested in being consultants. AS will schedule assessments in Student Affairs offices.
Party Responsible:
IS, AS, HR
Next/Action Items:
See AD1.4
SOP Tracking
Issue:
ED1.3
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Establish and maintain tracking system for SOP
Status:
Data collected will be stored in survey monkey. New account purchased.
Party Responsible:
IS, AS
Next/Action Items:
Ongoing
Host Events
Issue:
ED1.4
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Continue to host annual sustainability day and water day events, and participate in America Recycles Day and Earth Day
Status:
IS continues to host Sustainability Day in the Fall and Water Day in the Spring. Approx. 525 students attended Sustainability Day, using Garbology as the theme. Thirteen faculty brought their classes and approx. 400 students attended Water Day, where climate change and the drought were the theme AS continues to host America Recycles Day in the fall (700 attendees) and Earth Fair in the Spring (3,000+ attendees)
Party Responsible:
IS, AS
Next/Action Items:
Ongoing
Film Series
Issue:
ED1.5
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Establish sustainability-related film series
Status:
This has not been started yet.
Party Responsible:
IS, AS, SA, Housing
Next/Action Items:
Look into the potential to run a film series through the MataSphere.
Site Signage
Issue:
ED1.6
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Design and post educational signage at sustainability sites on campus
Status:
Signage has been posted at Orange Grove, Fuel Cell, Rainforest, Institute for Sustainability, Student Rec Center, VPAC, AS Recycling, Food Garden, Weather Station, PV projects, Transit Station, Ecoregion Garden, and other sustainability sites on campus. Signage was added for the Matador Dr. and F5 bioswales.
Signs have been posted by AS for new drinking fountain spigots for filling reusable water bottles.
Party Responsible:
IS, FPDC, PPM
Next/Action Items:
Signage will be added as new installations are made. Signs are being posted for new dual-flush toilets. Also new signage is being developed for the restrooms on saving water. (Rosenthal)
Informational Signage
Issue:
ED1.7
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Increase informational signage for waste, food, water and energy use
Status:
FPDC/IS have working with VISCOM to develop a sustainability marketing campaign for all aspects of this plan.
Party Responsible:
IS, AS, TUC, PPM, SA sust.comm.
Next/Action Items:
On-going.
Student Media Pieces
Issue:
ED1.8
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Coordinate with film and journalism departments to encourage student films, documentaries, public announcements and articles related to sustainability. These can be screened before events, on MIND screens, and linked to webpages.
Status:
Potential to use students to create sustainability media pieces.
Party Responsible:
IS, faculty, AS
Next/Action Items:
No action taken.
Campus Tour and Orientation
Issue:
ED1.9
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Coordinate with the University Ambassadors (UA) and Student Development Office (SD) to include sustainability education and features in campus tour and new student orientation
Party Responsible:
SA, AS
Next/Action Items:
AS (Crandall) will work with UA and SD on implementation.
Informal Education in Housing
Issue:
ED1.10
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Provide informal sustainability education to students in campus housing and develop a plan for improving related practices
Status:
Potential to do this through the Matasphere as champions in student housing.
Party Responsible:
IS, Housing
Next/Action Items:
No action taken.
Life-Learning Community
Issue:
ED1.11
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Establish living-learning community in campus housing and train students as peer-to-peer educators in sustainability
Status:
Summer 2014 the MataSphere was created in Student Housing as a living learning community.
Party Responsible:
Housing
Next/Action Items:
On-going.
Assess Sust. Literacy
Issue:
ED1.12
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Assess sustainability literacy within student population
Status:
IS (Cox) developed survey based on one conducted at OSU and obtained Human Subjects Approval in Fall 2013. Conducted pre and post surveys for all SUST classes in F2013. IS (Jackiewicz, Geog) and a student assistant are conducting assessment with a range of classes, mostly lower division in Spring 2014. Goal is to assess 1000 students this semester and continue for 4 years. Analysis to take place based a multiple student attributes starting in Summer 2014.
Party Responsible:
IS, Faculty, AS
Next/Action Items:
Ongoing
Identify Courses
Issue:
ED2.1
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Identify and flag sustainability-related courses. Maintain list of such courses
Status:
Created GE course SUST 111/L GE course in climate change.
Party Responsible:
SCC, IS, LSP
Next/Action Items:
On-going. Need to develop more SUST courses.
Faculty Development
Issue:
ED2.2
Priority:
3
Strategy:
Provide faculty development on sustainability SLOs and on how to incorporate sustainability content into courses
Status:
Some of this is being done through the GE path.
Party Responsible:
SCC, LSP
Next/Action Items:
In-progress.
SLOs and SUST Courses
Issue:
ED2.3
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Encourage inclusion of sustainability-related SLOs and/or SUST core courses in programs
through faculty and Department Chairs
Status:
No action taken.
Party Responsible:
SCC, LSP
Next/Action Items:
No action taken.
Master's Program Tracks
Issue:
ED2.4
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Work with Department Chairs to develop discipline-specific tracks for Master’s program in Sustainability Practices
Status:
MBA with a sustainability concentration has been approved.
Party Responsible:
SCC
Next/Action Items:
In-progress.
Sustainability Literacy
Issue:
ED2.5
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Develop and provide sustainability literacy education to all students
Status:
Also under ED1.6.
Created GE course Sustainability 111/L GE course in climate change.
Party Responsible:
SCC, LSP, IS, AS
Next/Action Items:
On-going.
Identify Faculty
Issue:
ED2.6
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Identify faculty willing and able to teach sustainability
Status:
CSUN has 12 faculty currently teaching Sustainability 300, 2 additional teaching in Sustainability 310.
Party Responsible:
SCC, LSP, IS
Next/Action Items:
On-going.
Online/Hybrid SUST 300
Issue:
ED2.7
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Identify faculty willing and able to teach sustainability
Status:
This has not been done yet. There has not been an issue filling in class sessions. We would add in class sessions before online if expanding.
Party Responsible:
Faculty
Next/Action Items:
On-hold.
Offer Graduate Certificate
Issue:
ED2.8
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Implement and offer Sustainability Practices graduate certificate through Tseng College
Status:
On-hold.
Party Responsible:
SCC, IS, Tseng
Next/Action Items:
On-hold.
On-Campus SL & Internships
Issue:
ED3.1
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Establish list of service learning and internship opportunities on campus related to sustainability
Status:
This has been expanded, garden compost, lighting inventories, RFC, SOP, farmers market, event org.
Party Responsible:
IS, CIELO
Next/Action Items:
On-going: IS will work on expanding On-campus SL & internships.
Community SL & Internships
Issue:
ED3.2
Priority:
3
Strategy:
Collaborate with local agencies and non-profits to establish a list of service learning and
internship opportunities in the community related to sustainability
Status:
There are some opportunities on Moodle.
Party Responsible:
IS, CIELO
Next/Action Items:
Need to contact external companies for opportunities.
Active Learning Procedures
Issue:
ED3.3
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Establish procedures for accepting, allocating, and supervising students in active learning opportunities in sustainability
Status:
Keeping a Moodle page updated with available service learning projects and opportunities.
Party Responsible:
IS, CIELO
Next/Action Items:
On-going.
Active Learning Outreach
Issue:
ED3.4
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Engage in outreach to bring in students from a variety of departments into active learning opportunities in sustainability
Status:
On-going.
Party Responsible:
IS, CIELO
Next/Action Items:
On-going.
Internship Course
Issue:
ED3.5
Priority:
2
Strategy:
Create internship course in sustainability, SUST 494
Status:
In Progress.
Party Responsible:
SCC, Faculty
Next/Action Items:
In Progress.
Faculty Research
Issue:
ED4.1
Priority:
3
Strategy:
Identify and maintain a list of faculty conducting sustainability-related research
Status:
Potential to use the Library team to develop an efficient way to determine faculty involved with sustainability research.
Party Responsible:
IS, RGS
Next/Action Items:
In Progress.
Online Directory
Issue:
ED4.2
Priority:
3
Strategy:
Establish online directory to connect faculty engaging in sustainability-related research
Status:
No action taken.
Party Responsible:
IS, RGS
Next/Action Items:
No action taken.
Faculty Participation
Issue:
ED4.3
Priority:
1
Strategy:
Increase faculty participation in green core team, and expand size and number of working groups
Status:
Potential to use the Library team to develop an efficient way to determine faculty involved with sustainability research.
Party Responsible:
IS
Next/Action Items:
On-going.
Our 10 Focus Areas
Click the icons below to learn more about our initiatives!
