FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Andrea Huggins
Marketing & Communications Coordinator
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
(888) 347-9997
andrea.huggins@aashe.org

AASHE Announces
2017 Sustainability Award Winners

San Antonio, Texas (October 15, 2017) – The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) is pleased to announce the 2017 winners of its annual Sustainability Awards for their outstanding achievements and progress toward sustainability. AASHE bestows its prestigious awards on the institutions and individuals that are leading higher education to a sustainable future.

This year we received 230 total entries — a record number — with winners named in three categories:

• The Campus Achievement Sustainability Award honors higher education institutions for successful implementation of projects that advance sustainability.
• The Student Sustainability Leadership Award honors students and/or student teams from higher education who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in promoting sustainability on campus.
• The Campus Sustainability Research Award recognizes research that contributes to the advancement of higher education sustainability.

The awards were presented at the 2017 AASHE Conference & Expo in San Antonio, Texas.  

Campus Sustainability Research Winners:

• Ethan D. Schoolman, Mike Shriberg, Sarah Schwimmer and Marie Tysman for “Green cities and ivory towers: how do higher education sustainability initiatives shape millennials’ consumption practices?” This study found that millennial students do not become more committed to sustainable consumption during their time on campus, suggesting the need for new approaches to encourage sustainable consumption among students.
• Katja Brundiers and Arnim Wiek of Arizona State University for the “Beyond Interpersonal Competence: Teaching and Learning Professional Skills in Sustainability“. This article argues that academic sustainability programs do not sufficiently facilitate students’ acquisition of professional skills in communication, teamwork, and stakeholder engagement and presents a model for how these skills can be taught in an undergraduate course.
• Elizabeth A. Castner, Allison M. Leach, Neil Leary, Jill Baron, Jana E. Compton, James N. Galloway, Meredith G. Hastings, Jacob Kimiecik, Jonathan Lantz-Trissel, Elizabeth de la Reguera, and Rebecca Ryals for “The Nitrogen Footprint Tool Network: A Multi-Institution Program to Research and Reduce Nitrogen Pollution”. This paper shares the results of a collaborative effort to assess the amount of  nitrogen pollution caused by seven different institutions.
• Allison K. Wisecup, Dennis Grady, Richard A. Roth, and Julio Stephens of Radford University for “Comparative study of the efficacy of intervention strategies on student electricity use in campus residence halls“. This study found that communications and programming around energy conservation is a cost effective way to reduce student electricity use.
• Nick Morris of Kent State University for “Relocating Education for Sustainability: From the campus to the community“.This dissertation examines the benefits of partnerships between higher education institutions and environmentally-oriented community partners like parks.
• Danielle Chun of Messiah College for “The Drivers Behind Edible Food Recovery Programs at Institutions of Higher Education“. Based on a survey of 100 AASHE members, this study found that an institution’s “sustainability mindset” was the most significant determinant of whether a food recovery program was in place. Interestingly, institutional wealth did not seem to have an significant impact.

Campus Sustainability Achievement Award Winners:

• Johnson County Community College for their “Student Sustainability Committee” initiative that helps develop student leadership skills and sustainability knowledge. The committee has funded over 100 individual grant proposals since its inception, totaling nearly three million dollars.
• Illinois State University for the “Fix It Friday” project, in which fashion students offer free sewing, mending and clothing repair services to anyone in need.
• Black Hills State University for the “Black Hills Food Hub: rural food hubs serving a wider demographic” project, a partnership between the university and the local community that reduces barriers to local food.

Student Sustainability Leadership Award Winner:

• The Engineers for a Sustainable World chapter at Georgia Institute of Technology for the “Natural Herbicides Project” that developed an effective natural herbicide and conducted tests to demonstrate its efficacy for use on campus lawns.

“The 2017 award winners demonstrate an inspiring passion for solving some of the world’s most complex challenges. They are truly pioneering the campus sustainability movement,” said AASHE Executive Director Meghan Fay Zahniser.

Award recipients receive recognition in a variety of formats as well as a plaque made of Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood from Rivanna, a woman-owned B Corp with a strong commitment to sustainability. To date, more than 75 campuses been recognized through this prestigious award program since its inception in 2006.

To read more about AASHE’s awards programs, please visit https://www.aashe.org/get-involved/awards/.

About the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)  

AASHE empowers higher education administrators, faculty, staff and students to be effective change agents and drivers of sustainability innovation. AASHE enables members to translate information into action by offering essential resources and professional development 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. For more information, visit www.aashe.org. Follow AASHE on Facebook and Twitter.

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