Abstract
Abstract
RU Sustainable events, held across the state of New Jersey, bring together students, faculty, staff, and local community representatives, including businesses, government, and nonprofits, to engage with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The purpose of the events is to learn, share, and shape opportunities as individuals and collectively as members of the Rutgers community whereby we can foster sustainability in our lives, local communities, Rutgers, and society by connecting with the SDGs through service, education, research, the arts, or some other means. While each of us may be able to contribute to the advancement of the SDGs in our own way, together, our collective impact will be greater than the sum of our individual actions.
Introduction and Background
Rutgers University President Robert L. Barchi presented a charge to the Rutgers Sustainability Committee in 2014, “The University Sustainability Committee's mission is to organize and articulate sustainable practices and principles in education and research, and in our university operations, with the goal of reducing our impact on the environment as we fulfill our expanding mission as a comprehensive public research university.” 1
Rutgers University (RU) has many pockets of sustainability efforts across its three campuses, which together offer more than 350 courses that touch upon one or more of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Numerous faculty members are doing research in support of those goals in addition to the physical plants, which are part of the overall planning for a sustainable future. New buildings at Rutgers are designed to LEED Silver equivalent at minimum. Solar panels, geothermal systems, rain gardens, water refill stations, and other sustainability features abound throughout the campuses. As part of the overall sustainability efforts, a new section of the university website was added to document all of the sustainability features to attract new students who are interested in advancing a culture of sustainability (see: https://sustainability.rutgers.edu/).
Project Description
The RU Sustainable event series was conceived as a way for faculty, staff, and students from the New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden campuses to come together to explore big and small ways to take action and contribute to projects to improve sustainability at Rutgers and beyond.
Events are organized with a general theme, but the heart of the event is the opportunity to participate in hackathon style roundtable discussions organized around projects that are designed to advance one or more of the SDGs. Students, faculty, staff, and community representatives participate in the facilitated discussion and project planning to deepen their commitment to collective action towards the SDGs and their chosen project. Each group records its progress and next steps on a Google slide to facilitate presentations at the end of the event, and to distribute as a shared resource. Suggestions for additional events, actions, and other opportunities to provide tangible results are collected and followed up upon by the participants, and supported by the Rutgers Sustainability Committee.
The first event of RU Sustainable began in the spring of 2016 with a panel of experts who spoke about sustainability features, research, and scholarship. The keynote speaker was Leith Sharp, director of executive education for sustainability at Harvard University's Center for Health and the Global Environment. Building on the success of that event, subsequent events featured speakers from the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Secretariat under the United Nations Global Compact, businesses, nonprofits, government agencies, and academic speakers. At the spring 2018 RU Sustainable event, Richard Jackson, professor emeritus from UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health, spoke about the interconnection between the environment and health.
Participants are mainly students, with faculty, staff, business and non‐profit leaders, and government representatives acting as facilitators and subject matter experts. Based on feedback from student participants, the events continued to evolve and become increasingly more action‐oriented and project‐based. For the fall 2018 RU Sustainable event, three speakers were selected to discuss sustainability within the communities that surround the Rutgers campuses. Keith Jones represented the mayor's office in the city of New Brunswick. Nathaly Agosto Filión, Newark chief sustainability officer, discussed how students could get involved in sustainability initiatives in Newark. Sculptor and interdisciplinary artist Elizabeth Demaray discussed eco‐art, including a project combining plants and robotics she developed in Camden. The Collective Impact for the Global Goals event was launched in March 2019 at Rutgers Newark to foster social impact and make a tangible difference related to the 17 SDGs. With the support of the new Rutgers Institute for Corporate Social Innovation (RICSI) (see: http://www.business.rutgers.edu/ricsi) and funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, more than a dozen concrete projects were identified, a competition was launched, and work is ongoing to achieve measurable results by the close of the spring semester 2019. A few illustrative projects include:
Designing and developing an urban agriculture business model with a comprehensive network including multiple suppliers and distribution channels. A Don't Miss a Day Boxed Food Drive, in partnership with the Rutgers University Police Department, providing and packing nonperishable meals for K‐5 school children to ensure they have three meals per day when school is closed. An interdisciplinary curriculum for community gardens to be used as learning laboratories. Identification of vacant lots in Newark to move to renewable energy. Enhancing manufacturing capacity across Newark by creating a consortium of Newark manufacturers, engaging schools, and creating a Manufacturing Is Cool video. Developing a business plan to bridge waste/upcycling with fashion, and art, sustainable fashion and social investments, focusing on gender equality and responsible consumption and production.
A similar event has been planned for Rutgers Camden in April 2019.
As the article authors and leaders of this program, we believe fellowship is the key to any successful movement, and sustainability should touch every aspect of our lives. We embody these principles by providing a free sustainably sourced meal for our guests to enjoy during an open discussion period before our formal discussions. The Rutgers Menus of Change program 2 through Dining Services, features delicious, plant‐forward, locally‐sourced foods served with reusable plates and utensils. In Newark, a local business, Marcus B&P, with sustainably sourced food was chosen as the caterer.
The goals of RU Sustainable are to:
bring together people who have an interest in sustainability; connect students to faculty and staff who are teaching or researching issues related to the UN SDGs; empower students to become more involved with the SDGs, to broaden their knowledge, and to network with local community businesses, government, and nonprofits; work together for collective impact to advance the SDGs; and enhance the culture of sustainability at Rutgers.
Implementation
The Rutgers Sustainability Committee is the source of RU Sustainable. The committee convenes to discuss themes, venues, and speakers for the events. The committee considers suggestions put forward from attendees at previous events. Student input is solicited from student representatives at committee meetings, the student‐run Rutgers Sustainability Coalition, and from students in the project‐based sustainability practicum. All suggestions from the students are accommodated, if possible, to make this a truly student‐centered event.
These events have been held at a variety of Rutgers New Brunswick locations, as well as in Newark and Camden, to accommodate students and faculty from different parts of our large campus, and to engage in different spaces. Events were held at the Livingston, Cook, and College Avenue Student Centers, Rutgers Business School in Newark, Rutgers Camden Student Center, and in active learning classrooms. In spring 2018, the keynote address took place in the Rutgers Academic Building in New Brunswick and then attendees moved to a large outdoor tent for dinner and table discussions.
Speakers for the events have been drawn from academia (e.g., Leith Sharp from Harvard and Richard Jackson from UCLA), United Nations Global Compact (e.g., Jonas Haertle and Florencia Librizzi), nonprofits (e.g., Elijah's Promise; Tobias Fox from Newark's Science & Sustainability, Inc.; Jens Molbak from WinWin); business (e.g., Bruno Sarda from NRG; www.nrg.com); Gary M. Cohen from BD; www.bd.com; state and local government, and Rutgers professors and staff. Keynote speakers and table convener speakers/project leads have been sought from a variety of specialized fields and also from interdisciplinary backgrounds, both inside Rutgers University and from the nonprofit and business communities.
The events take place over a half day, and have been held in the morning from 9 a.m.–1 p.m., including lunch, in the afternoon 12–4 p.m., and in the evening, 5–9 p.m., including dinner. Feedback indicates students prefer evenings since they often have tight schedules that preclude their attendance during the day. Holding the event after the majority of classes end, or on a Friday when fewer classes are held, has improved access for students across the university including both New Brunswick and Newark campuses. For the majority commuter student campus in Camden, events are most accessible when held during the shared lunch period or soon after the majority of classes end, approximately 4–6 p.m. To accommodate students from multiple campuses, round trip bus transportation was provided between Newark to New Brunswick so that students could more easily attend events not on their own campus.
Providing the opportunity to present posters has brought in unique ideas for advancing the sustainability agenda at Rutgers. Posters were presented by Engineers Without Borders for global projects, the Sustainability Coalition, and from students enrolled in unique project‐based sustainability classes. Presenters had the opportunity to communicate their projects and research to a wider audience, which helped them increase their impact and form partnerships with like‐minded students, faculty, and organizations. In more recent events, student organizations have also had the opportunity to host a table to lead project planning discussions and network with other attendees. Students and other attendees interested in community based initiatives also had the opportunity to participate in tables led by local nonprofits and business leaders.
Timeline
Planning for each event varies from one to four months. However, longer planning cycles are needed because scheduling is often difficult. The eventual goal is to have the RU Sustainable events built into the Rutgers calendar each semester so that faculty would be aware of the events and could build them into their syllabi. More regularly scheduled events in the future could allow more students to prepare and present a poster. Incentives may include extra credit and professional experience. Students in the Rutgers Business School were also eligible to receive Suitable points (an online student engagement system) to incentivize their participation in the events and the projects. In addition, for the Newark initiative, a competition has also been launched which includes cash prizes, funded through a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to the RICSI.
Financing
Costs to hold an RU Sustainable event include room rental, audio‐visual and IT support, guest speaker fees and travel, catering, photographer, sustainable giveaways, and supplies. Costs vary, but have been up to $10,000 for a single event.
A fund created by the chancellor's office financed the events in 2016, 2017, and spring 2018. Additional funding came from sponsorships from Rutgers departments, schools, and student organizations. Faculty and student time has been all volunteer work. Rutgers Global has been an active partner, and completely funded the event in fall 2018 and the Camden event in spring 2019. A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to the Rutgers Institute for Corporate Social Innovation helped fund the Newark event.
Feedback and Outcomes
Students, faculty, and staff are surveyed after the event for feedback and suggestions for the next event. Their comments are overwhelmingly positive, and demonstrate their support for sustainability, broadly defined, and inclusive of social, economic, and environmental issues.
After Jonas Haertle, formerly Head, PRME Secretariat, UN Global Compact (now project leader at United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)), spoke about the UN Global Compact and the opportunity for the university to join the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), the Rutgers Business School (RBS) joined PRME. Carrying that commitment forward, a visioning session was held, which created a “flawless future scenario,” and identified six shared vision themes, including: pride/leadership; socio‐economic impact; green/environmental impact; teaching/academic impact; stakeholder/Community impact; and Personal agency. Currently five active committees are working on implementation of PRME at Rutgers, led by Rutgers Professor Jeana Wirtenberg.
The committees are currently focusing on:
enhancing Student Engagement and Corporate Social Responsibility by infusing the SDGs into the activities of all student clubs; following up on recommendations from a baseline survey of RBS faculty and staff who assessed current activities and interests related to the SDGs in research, teaching, service, and personal activities; and enhancing student resources by integrating sustainability opportunities for jobs/internships/mentoring.
This initiative ensures that Rutgers has a legacy of commitment and action supporting the SDGs.
In fall 2017, students from a number of different student clubs decided to partner and form a Sustainability Coalition of student organizations. Several organizations were working on similar projects or needed help promoting events and opportunities for other students. They realized that by forming the coalition, they could increase their impact on and off campus through partnerships and shared events. As a coalition, they promote a culture of sustainability on campus and advocate for the creation of a Rutgers Office of Sustainability and Engagement. While they are still growing, the coalition currently comprises 18 organizations including the Students for Environmental Awareness, Engineers Without Borders, RU GEN UN (a United Nations Association initiative to engage college students around global issues), NJ Public Interest Research Group, Alpha Zeta, Students for Environmental and Energy Development (SEED), Wildlife Club, Enactus, and several of the governing councils of the various schools that are part of Rutgers University.
The RU Sustainable events are replicable at other colleges and universities. After a presentation in fall 2017 about RU Sustainable at the New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability (NJHEPS), Kean University decided to host its own event modeled after the fall 2017 RU event. They successfully hosted an event in April 2018 that included 150 students, faculty, and staff from 15 colleges in the area. They brought in a speaker from the United Nations, and then conducted facilitated roundtable discussions about the 17 UN SDGs. They served vegetarian food on compostable plates. It was a resounding success.
Students are excited by the possibilities of using the campus as a living lab, to learn about sustainable features such as solar fields, geothermal heating/cooling, rain gardens, green roofs, constructed wetlands, pollinator gardens, etc. However, since there was no organized way to learn about all of these features, the students worked to put together a campus map with the features labeled. The map is now prominently featured on the Rutgers sustainability website.
Conclusion
The RU Sustainable program has demonstrated how to extend its engagement to the communities that surround its campuses through sustainability initiatives. As RU Sustainable transitioned to project‐based discussion roundtables, it became easier for students to identify their next steps to getting involved in specific initiatives related to the overall goal of sustainability. There are now more than two dozen projects that are being tracked, including: zero waste, campaign for 100 percent renewable energy, encouraging people of color to enter sustainability fields, addressing food insecurity among students and the community, addressing microplastics, using green infrastructure, and growing duckweed hydroponically.
Newark‐based projects now getting under way focus on urban agriculture, farmers' markets, clean potable water, enhancing energy efficiency for small and medium sized businesses, and providing healthy food on a sustainable basis to school children who would otherwise go hungry. Developing follow‐up methods, such as online Zoom calls, check‐in e‐mails, mentorship, or smaller workshop style events could increase support following the event and help ensure project success. Future endeavors include a follow‐up competition-style event, in which teams return after working on their projects for one semester to compete for funding opportunities, while celebrating and sharing their progress.
Through the RU Sustainable series of events, students, faculty, and staff participate in a large‐scale organizational change process, translating pedagogical principles, ideas, and research into real‐time action on campus and in the community. Our intention is to develop a scalable and replicable regionally/locally based model and intervention where students, faculty and staff, corporations, nonprofits, and communities can work collaboratively across sectors and disciplines to foster collective social impact and make a tangible difference related to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.