Examples of how UH, ASU and EAN express categories of university relationships to societal transformations toward sustainability at the strategic level (c.f., Stephens et al., 2008) based on a review of university strategies, goals in sustainability and responsibility programs and program/course websites
| Category | UH | ASU | EAN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microcosm of a society (campus operations) | Aims to become carbon neutral by 2030 | Sustainability goals centered on making on-campus activities more sustainable (e.g. ASU has been climate neutral since 2019) | Aims to reduce its own impacts and implement sustainable architecture, including its emblematic main campus building |
| Place of concentrated learning | Seeks to educate students to become “experts who change the world and the direction of responsibility and sustainability” Sustainability is to become a part of all programs, and the success of this aim is measured with the number of students taking the online sustainability course | The online bachelor’s in arts in sustainability and the masters of sustainability leadership emphasize practical and experiential learning and community engagement that can support students in “making an impact on the world after graduation” | The master’s program in sustainable development projects portrays itself as providing students with skills to design and lead projects that contribute to the sustainable development of their surroundings |
| Place where knowledge is created but also exchanged | Research and teaching seek to support problem-solving for sustainability issues | Prioritizes interactions with the wider society to “co-develop solutions” that would ensure sustainability and resilience, particularly in relation to the regional scale of Arizona | Undertaken changes in internal structure, implemented programs that have sustainable entrepreneurship and knowledge embedded in them and promoted research on those topics |
| Transdisciplinary agent of change | Strategic goals of creating knowledge in interaction with the society and exchanging knowledge to decision-making | As part of efforts to become a “new American university”, has embraced design principles that emphasize student success, transforming society, transdisciplinarity and being socially embedded in communities | Envisions supporting and promoting businesses that align with resilience, prospection, ethics-esthetics and bio-inspiration Active engagement with small businesses, industries and government agencies (e.g. for compliance with the SDGs) |
| Category | UH | ASU | EAN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microcosm of a society (campus operations) | Aims to become carbon neutral by 2030 | Sustainability goals centered on making on-campus activities more sustainable (e.g. ASU has been climate neutral since 2019) | Aims to reduce its own impacts and implement sustainable architecture, including its emblematic main campus building |
| Place of concentrated learning | Seeks to educate students to become “experts who change the world and the direction of responsibility and sustainability” | The online bachelor’s in arts in sustainability and the masters of sustainability leadership emphasize practical and experiential learning and community engagement that can support students in “making an impact on the world after graduation” | The master’s program in sustainable development projects portrays itself as providing students with skills to design and lead projects that contribute to the sustainable development of their surroundings |
| Place where knowledge is created but also exchanged | Research and teaching seek to support problem-solving for sustainability issues | Prioritizes interactions with the wider society to “co-develop solutions” that would ensure sustainability and resilience, particularly in relation to the regional scale of Arizona | Undertaken changes in internal structure, implemented programs that have sustainable entrepreneurship and knowledge embedded in them and promoted research on those topics |
| Transdisciplinary agent of change | Strategic goals of creating knowledge in interaction with the society and exchanging knowledge to decision-making | As part of efforts to become a “new American university”, has embraced design principles that emphasize student success, transforming society, transdisciplinarity and being socially embedded in communities | Envisions supporting and promoting businesses that align with resilience, prospection, ethics-esthetics and bio-inspiration |
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