Educating for a Sustainable Future

Event and speakers

On September 29, 2021, ESI held an event titled “Educating for a Sustainable Future: Mobilizing Higher Ed for the Climate Century.” Speakers from four universities discussed the ways they are changing their institutions’ curricula and practices to provide a quality sustainability education, and the need for cross-university collaboration to scale up successes and build a movement for teaching sustainability in higher ed.

The speakers would love to work with you to advance the ideas addressed at this event. They are:

• SARAH MEYERS, Education Program Manager, MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
• CHRISTOPHER BOONE, Dean of the College of Global Futures and Professor in the School of Sustainability, Arizona State University
• PAMELA MATSON, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor in Environmental Studies, Director of the Change Leadership for Sustainability Program, and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute, Stanford University
• ALEX HINIKER, Executive Fellow for Sustainability Initiatives and a key member of the Sustainability Initiative Leadership, Carnegie Mellon University

Reading list

The following publications helped inform the content of this event and are useful resources for exploring sustainability education at the university level:

• Strengthening Sustainability Programs and Curricula at the Undergraduate and Graduate Levels
  • Report of the National Academies (2020)
• Voluntary University Review of the Sustainable Development Goals
  • Report by Carnegie Mellon University (2020)

• Pursuing Sustainability: A Guide to the Science and Practice
  • Book by Pamela Matson (2016)
• “Key Competencies in Sustainability Higher Education – Towards an Agreed-Upon Reference Framework” (2020) and “Key Competencies in Sustainability: A Reference Framework for Academic Program Development” (2011)
  • Articles on core competencies

Watch the event

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