Sustainability in higher education : best practices, trends and obstles impacting champions of sustainability on college campuses / William A. Myers.
(Book - Regular Print)

ProQuest Document ID : 1018403498

Advisor : Pramod Parajuli

Dissertation (Ph.D.) -- Prescott College, 2012

There are champions of sustainable causes and initiatives within higher education; their actions are numerous and diverse as are the employment positions these champions hold on their respective campuses. This dissertation utilizes qualitative research methods inclusive of semistructured in-depth interviews to formulate case studies that are then analyzed in a multi-site comparative case study process. This dissertation gathers information and documents providing an overview of sustainability on community college campuses in Upstate New York in an effort to identify a framework of standards and support systems, that if implemented could facilitate more comprehensive inclusion and success of sustainable initiatives on college campuses in the following categories: leadership and administration, operating practices, curriculum, and community outreach, and student initiative/involvement. This dissertation identifies trends, outliers, best practices and obstacles to the implementation of sustainable initiatives in the five research categories: leadership and administration, operating practices, curriculum, and community outreach and student initiative/involvement. At the time this dissertation was written, there had been no research conducted on community college campuses associated with identifying the champions of sustainability and systems and frameworks that supported their efforts. The findings within this research project indicate that there are structures, initiatives, and behaviors that if implemented are likely to provide a supporting framework for sustainability on college campuses.