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

 

AASHE Announces 2020 Sustainability Award Winners

(December 3, 2020) – The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) announced today the 2020 winners of its annual Sustainability Awards, recognizing outstanding achievements and progress toward environmental, social and economic health. AASHE bestows its prestigious awards on the institutions and individuals that are leading higher education to a sustainable future. 

AASHE named 11 winners, and one honorable mention, from 450 submissions across four award categories: 

  • The Lifetime Achievement Award honors outstanding leaders who have made significant contributions to the advancement of sustainability in higher education over their lifetime.
  • The Campus Sustainability Achievement Award honors higher education institutions for the successful implementation of projects that significantly 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. 

Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

  • Nan Jenks-Jay, who recently retired as the dean of Environmental Affairs at Middlebury College, is a leading voice for the environment and sustainability in higher education. She played leadership roles in the development of Environmental Studies programs at Williams College, University of Redlands and Middlebury College. In addition to her work as an educator, Nan also pioneered a wide variety of campus sustainability strategies – from green buildings and on-site composting to sustainable purchasing, fuel switching and land conservation – that have helped to make Middlebury an internationally recognized leader in sustainability. She has published and presented widely on her work and served as an advisor to multiple sustainability organizations, including AASHE.

Campus Sustainability Achievement Award Winners

  • Palo Alto College’s Community Garden, a space to grow food, cultivate community and improve food security for the greater Palo Alto community.
  • Dickinson College, Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Muhlenberg College’s Solar Project Collaboration, a collaboration to source 100 percent of electricity from renewable sources of energy.
  • Georgia Institute of Technology’s Serve-Learn-Sustain’s Affiliated Courses Program, a program that helps faculty integrate sustainable communities education into their courses, with an emphasis on experiential learning through community partnerships.

Campus Sustainability Student Leadership Award Winners

Campus Sustainability Research Award Winners

Award recipients receive a variety of recognition, including a plaque made of Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood from Rivanna, a woman-owned B Corp with a strong commitment to sustainability. To date, nearly 110 winners have 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/ and attend an upcoming webinar as part of the Award Winner Webinar series.

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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