IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v17y2015i2p341-363.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transforming US higher education to support sustainability science for a resilient future: the influence of institutional administrative organization

Author

Listed:
  • Shirley Vincent
  • Stephen Mulkey

Abstract

Interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) academic programs have an important and distinctive role in education for sustainability: preparing sustainability-oriented problem solvers who work at the science–policy, science–management, and policy–management interfaces. IES programs are rapidly expanding at college and universities in the USA and exhibit a variety of forms, including interdisciplinary degree programs housed within a traditional department; programs that span departments, a college, multiple colleges, or the entire university; programs that reside in their own IES departments, schools, or colleges; and degree programs located within IES institutes and centers. A very few institutions are addressing IES education in a holistic manner by developing dedicated campuses for sustainability education or reorganizing their entire campus structure to support sustainability science education and research. This paper presents how Unity College, a small environmental college, reorganized its administrative structure, curriculum and pedagogy around a sustainability science framework. It also illustrates the influence that various forms of IES programs have on sustainability education in the USA as revealed by national studies conducted by the Center for Environmental Education Research of the National Council for Science and the Environment. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Shirley Vincent & Stephen Mulkey, 2015. "Transforming US higher education to support sustainability science for a resilient future: the influence of institutional administrative organization," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 341-363, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:17:y:2015:i:2:p:341-363
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-015-9623-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10668-015-9623-4
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-015-9623-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jahn, Thomas & Bergmann, Matthias & Keil, Florian, 2012. "Transdisciplinarity: Between mainstreaming and marginalization," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1-10.
    2. Philip Vaughter & Tarah Wright & Marcia McKenzie & Lauri Lidstone, 2013. "Greening the Ivory Tower: A Review of Educational Research on Sustainability in Post-Secondary Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-20, May.
    3. James Proctor & Susan Clark & Kimberly Smith & Richard Wallace, 2013. "A manifesto for theory in environmental studies and sciences," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 3(3), pages 331-337, September.
    4. Shirley Vincent & Will Focht, 2011. "Interdisciplinary environmental education: elements of field identity and curriculum design," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 1(1), pages 14-35, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xuening Fang & Bingbing Zhou & Xingyue Tu & Qun Ma & Jianguo Wu, 2018. "“What Kind of a Science is Sustainability Science?” An Evidence-Based Reexamination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Hanlin Fang & Fengrong Zhang & Qianwen Xiao & Ciyun Lin, 2023. "New Policy Research on Education Development and Global Citizenship in a Sustainable Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Seaton Patrick Tarrant & Leslie Paul Thiele, 2017. "Enhancing and promoting interdisciplinarity in higher education," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 7(2), pages 355-360, June.
    4. Yaser Mohammadi & Feyzallah Monavvarifard & Laleh Salehi & Reza Movahedi & Saeid Karimi & Genovaitė Liobikienė, 2023. "Explaining the Sustainability of Universities through the Contribution of Students’ Pro-Environmental Behavior and the Management System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-23, January.
    5. Iván González-Márquez & Víctor M. Toledo, 2020. "Sustainability Science: A Paradigm in Crisis?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, April.
    6. Bokolo Anthony & Mazlina Abdul Majid & Awanis Romli, 2020. "Green IS diffusion in organizations: a model and empirical results from Malaysia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 383-424, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. James D. Proctor, 2020. "EcoTypes: exploring environmental ideas, discovering deep difference," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 10(2), pages 178-188, June.
    2. James Proctor & Jennifer Bernstein & Richard Wallace, 2015. "Introduction: unsettling the ESS curriculum," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 5(2), pages 195-199, June.
    3. James Proctor, 2015. "Theory in, theory out: NCSE and the ESS curriculum," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 5(2), pages 218-223, June.
    4. Stefan Liehr & Julia Röhrig & Marion Mehring & Thomas Kluge, 2017. "How the Social-Ecological Systems Concept Can Guide Transdisciplinary Research and Implementation: Addressing Water Challenges in Central Northern Namibia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-19, June.
    5. Shiji Chen & Clément Arsenault & Yves Gingras & Vincent Larivière, 2015. "Exploring the interdisciplinary evolution of a discipline: the case of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(2), pages 1307-1323, February.
    6. Nicolás Ruiz, Néstor & Suárez Alonso, María Luisa & Vidal-Abarca, María Rosario, 2021. "Contributions of dry rivers to human well-being: A global review for future research," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    7. Ranger, S. & Kenter, J.O. & Bryce, R. & Cumming, G. & Dapling, T. & Lawes, E. & Richardson, P.B., 2016. "Forming shared values in conservation management: An interpretive-deliberative-democratic approach to including community voices," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(PB), pages 344-357.
    8. Juerges, Nataly & Jahn, Stephanie, 2020. "German forest management stakeholders at the science-society interface: Their views on problem definition, knowledge production and research utilization," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    9. Eastwood, C.R. & Turner, F.J. & Romera, A.J., 2022. "Farmer-centred design: An affordances-based framework for identifying processes that facilitate farmers as co-designers in addressing complex agricultural challenges," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    10. Arora-Jonsson, Seema, 2016. "Does resilience have a culture? Ecocultures and the politics of knowledge production," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 98-107.
    11. James D. Proctor & Jennifer Bernstein & Philip Brick & Emma Brush & Susan Caplow & Kenneth Foster, 2018. "Environmental engagement in troubled times: a manifesto," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(3), pages 362-367, September.
    12. Jessica Cockburn, 2022. "Knowledge integration in transdisciplinary sustainability science: Tools from applied critical realism," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 358-374, April.
    13. Lundgren, Jakob, 2022. "Unity through disunity: Strengths, values, and tensions in the disciplinary discourse of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    14. Waes, Arnoud van & Nikolaeva, Anna & Raven, Rob, 2021. "Challenges and dilemmas in strategic urban experimentationAn analysis of four cycling innovation living labs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    15. Haack, Frederik & Nagel, Manuel & Richters, Oliver & Schäfer, Ernst & Wunderlich, Sebastian, 2015. "Energieeffizienz & Rebound-Effekte im Kontext der Energiewende," EconStor Research Reports 142463, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    16. Hubeau, Marianne & Marchand, Fleur & Coteur, Ine & Mondelaers, Koen & Debruyne, Lies & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido, 2017. "A new agri-food systems sustainability approach to identify shared transformation pathways towards sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 52-63.
    17. Jesse M. Engebretson & Zachary Piso & Michael O’Rourke & Troy E. Hall, 2024. "Consultative or participatory?: how environmental science graduate students envision transdisciplinarity," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 14(1), pages 193-201, March.
    18. Jane Wardani & Joannette J. (Annette) Bos & Diego Ramirez‐Lovering & Anthony G. Capon, 2022. "Enabling transdisciplinary research collaboration for planetary health: Insights from practice at the environment‐health‐development nexus," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 375-392, April.
    19. Nancy Rich, 2012. "Introduction: why link Indigenous ways of knowing with the teaching of environmental studies and sciences?," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 2(4), pages 308-316, November.
    20. Nicolae Al. Pop & Steluta Todea & Cristina-Veronica Partenie & Cristina Ott, 2020. "Stakeholders’ Perception Regarding Sustainable Universities," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 22(54), pages 330-330, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:17:y:2015:i:2:p:341-363. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.