Campus Sustainability Office

Vision
The values and skills of campus sustainability are an integral part of the institutional culture and core decision-making processes at Penn State.

Mission
To lead and support financial and ecologically responsible campus sustainability initiatives through stakeholder engagement, education, and collaborative project development, implementation, and evaluation.  The Office supports activities through partnerships across the Penn State system including Commonwealth Campuses and World Campus.

What is Sustainability?
We define sustainability as the practices and policies that protect and enhance the financial, human, and ecological resources of The Pennsylvania State University, and the planet on which it depends, for current and future generations. 

Services
We lead and support campus sustainability efforts by offering these services:

• Providing a clearinghouse of information on best practices in campus sustainability made easily accessible and usable via print and online resources (green guides, fact sheets)
• Stakeholder engagement through the convening of task forces, working groups, meetings, events, and conferences to study and take action on key campus sustainability topics
• Supporting the development and effective management of unit-specific Green Teams and other forms of sustainability leadership (eco-reps, champions, etc.)
• Create and manage effective communications between campus sustainability efforts at various levels, units and campuses, as well as communications about campus sustainability at Penn State to external audiences
• Collaborative research using life cycle analytics to support effective sustainable decision-making
• Provide presentations and training to groups about various campus sustainability topics (e.g. green purchasing, energy conservation) and stakeholder engagement (e.g. organizing, messaging, project planning and evaluation)
• Leading the implementation of campus-wide strategic sustainability initiatives