2020 AASHE Sustainability Award Finalists Announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Andrea Huggins
Marketing Manager
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
(888) 347-9997
andrea.huggins@aashe.org

2020 AASHE Sustainability Award Finalists Announced

Philadelphia, PA (November 5, 2020) – The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) is delighted to announce the finalists for the 2020 AASHE Sustainability Awards.

The AASHE Sustainability Awards provide global recognition to the individuals and organizations leading the higher education sustainability movement. With the help of volunteer judges from the community, the awards program raises the visibility of high-impact sustainability projects, pioneering research, and student leadership, helping to disseminate innovations and inspire continued progress toward environmental, social and economic health.

This year’s winners, from among the list of finalists below, will be announced Dec. 3, 2020, during a virtual AASHE Sustainability Awards Ceremony that begins at noon Eastern. The ceremony is free and anyone can attend. 

Campus Sustainability Achievement Award finalists are:

• Associate/2-year Institutions
  • Cedar Valley College’s Student’s Club Revolutionized the Meaning of Green at a Community College!
  • Palo Alto College’s Community Garden
  • Suffolk County Community College’s Energy Waste Reduction Program
  • SUNY Jefferson Community College’s On-site Energy Manager Program
  • Western Dakota Technical Institute’s EchoWorks: An Electronics Recycling Community Partnership

• Institutions with over 10,000 FTE Enrollment
  • California Polytechnic State University’s Gold Tree Solar Farm 
  • Colorado State University’s Addressing Food Insecurity on Campus
  • Georgia Institute of Technology’s Serve-Learn-Sustain’s Affiliated Courses Program
  • Indiana University’s Priming the Sustainability Talent Pipeline: Indiana Sustainability Development Program
  • Kent State University’ Textile Reuse and Recycling Programs

• Institutions with under 10,000 FTE Enrollment
  • Agnes Scott College’s Building Trust and Community: The Transformative Experience of the Green Revolving Fund
  • Dickinson College, Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Muhlenberg College’s Solar Project Collaboration
  • Humber College’s First Net Zero Carbon Building certification for a retrofit in Canada: Humber College NX building
  • The University of California, Merced’s No Food Left Behind: A free text service to reduce food insecurity and food waste
  • University of Winnipeg’s Diversity Food Services: Leading the Way on Socially and Environmentally responsible Campus Dining in Canada

Campus Sustainability Research Award finalists are: 

• Undergraduate Research
  • Reducing Smith College’s Dining GHG emissions: An analysis of beef and milk substitutions by Frances Duncan, Aidan Coffin Ness, Emelyn Chiang, and Kelsey Towne at Smith College
  • UVM’s Roadmap to Zero Waste by Isabel Lisle at the University of Vermont

• Graduate Research
  • Embedding sustainability within higher education: current commitments, approaches and outcomes in higher educational institutions by Obehi F Sule at Anglia Ruskin University (U.K.)
  • Predicting Student Sustainability Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors: Effects of Demography, Environmental Science Education, and Sustainability Intervention Programs at Georgia Southern University by Bailey Chandler at Georgia Southern University
  • Pre-service Teachers’ Knowledge and Perceptions of the Impact of Mitigative Climate Actions and Their Willingness to Act by Sakari Tolppanen and Jingoo Kang at University of Eastern Finland and Anna Claudelin at Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland)
  • Unveiling the path towards sustainability: scientific interest at HEIs from a scientometric approach in the period 2008-2017 by Nuria Bautista Puig at Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain)

• Published Research – Academics
  • Sustainability Education as a Pathway to Minority Participation in STEM by Cassie Xu, Jason E. Smerdon, Ruth DeFries and Natalie Unwin‐Kuruneri at Columbia University 
  • Synergy of the (Campus) Commons: Integrating Campus-Based Team Projects in an Introductory Sustainability Course by Charlotte R. Clark and Tavey M. Capps at Duke University
  • The role of climate change education on individual lifetime carbon emissions by Eugene C. Cordero, Diana Centeno and Anne Marie Todd at San Jose State University
  • Using Vertically Integrated Projects to embed research-based education for sustainable development in undergraduate curricula by Scott Munro Strachan, Stephen Marshall and Paul Murray at University of Strathclyde (U.K.), and Edward J. Coyle and Julia Sonnenberg-Klein at Georgia Institute of Technology

• Published Research – Engagement
  • Climate change and the fossil fuel divestment movement in Canadian higher education: The mobilities of actions, actors, and tactics by Naomi Mumbi Maina, Jaylene Murray and Marcia McKenzie at University of Saskatchewan
  • Intersectional sustainability and student activism: A framework for achieving social sustainability on university campuses by Joshua Long, Joanna Mendez and Nataley Ford at Southwestern University, and Keara Hudler, Lilly Dennis and Muriel DiNella at University of Sydney (Australia)
  • Learning for Transdisciplinary Leadership: Why Skilled Scholars Coming Together Is Not Enough by M J Barrett, Khrisha B Alphonsus, Matt Harmin, Tasha Epp, and Danielle McIntyre at University of Saskatchewan, and Carolyn Hoessler at Ryerson University
  • Links between sustainability-related awareness and behavior: The moderating role of engagement by Gregory Cogut, Noah J. Webster, Robert W. Marans and John Callewaert at University of Michigan
  • Synergy of the (Campus) Commons: Integrating Campus-Based Team Projects in an Introductory Sustainability Course by Charlotte R. Clark and Tavey M. Capps at Duke University

• Published Research – Operations
  • A lifecycle cost analysis of transitioning to a fully-electrified, renewably powered, and carbon-neutral campus at the University of Dayton by Ryan P. Shea, Matthew O. Worsham, Andrew D. Chiasson, J. Kelly Kissock, Benjamin J. McCall at University of Dayton
  • Transportation Plan for Furman University by Lauren Prunkl, Duncan Jones, Marisa Goldsmith, Britt Douglass, Geoffrey Habron and Weston Dripps at Furman University
  • Understanding facility management decision making for energy efficiency efforts for buildings at a higher education institution by Amy A. Kim and Lysandra A. Medal at University of Washington, Seattle, and Yos Sunitiyoso at Bandung Institute of Technology (Indonesia)
  • U.S. Sustainable Food Market Generation Z Consumer Segments by Ching-Hui (Joan) Su and Chin-Hsun (Ken) Tsai at Iowa State University, Ming-Hsiang Chen at Washington State University, Pullman, and Wan Qing Lv at Yunnan University (China)

• Published Research – Planning and Administration
  • A review of empirical data of sustainability initiatives in university campus operations by Ana Rita Amaral, Eugénio Rodrigues, Adélio Rodrigues Gaspar and Álvaro Gomes at University of Coimbra (Portugal)
  • The role of higher education institutions in sustainability initiatives at the local level by Walter Leal Filho at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Valeria Ruiz Vargas at Manchester Metropolitan University (U.K.), and Amanda Lange Salvia and Luciana Londero Brandli at University of Passo Fundo (Brazil)
  • Toward critical environmental education: a standpoint analysis of race in the American environmental context by Sarah Riggs Stapleton at the University of Oregon

Student Sustainability Leadership Award finalists are:

• Tyler Warnock and Katherine Liu at the University of Calgary for Building campus capacity for the SDGs: a case study of the SDG Summit conference
• Himaja Nagireddy at the University of Connecticut for Creating a Digital Environmental Justice Toolkit
• Sarah Swiersz, Emma Roehrig, Dempsey Perno, Celina Lezcano and Jady Chen at the University of Central Florida for Greenspace Sustainability Design Town Halls and Make-A-Thon: A model for empowering campus communities to lead the design of sustainable spaces and places

The higher education sustainability community continues to stay focused on work that contributes toward a thriving, equitable and ecologically healthy world. This is most evident through the entries received for the AASHE Sustainability Awards,” said Executive Director Meghan Fay Zahniser. “I am happy that we can recognize the innovation and leadership demonstrated by this year’s finalists.”

Attend the virtual Awards Ceremony to find out who the winners are on Dec. 3 at 12:00 p.m. ET.

About 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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