Center for Sustainability & the Environment

The purpose of the CSUDH Center for Sustainability and the Environment is to:

Cultivate interest, promote, and support efforts to institutionalize environmental sustainability within CSUDH's academic units and curricular/research activities;
Ensure the university's ongoing prominence as a sustainability and environmental justice leader in higher education locally, regionally, and nationally, and serve as a pillar of the community in this role; and
Serve as a campus resource center for building interdisciplinary and regional/national sustainability connections in support of instructional and research collaborations, and to provide a collaborative platform for pursuing associated extramural funding opportunities in this area.

CSUDH faculty and community partners are encouraged to approach the Center for collaborations, extramural/grant opportunities, and support services to further these efforts.

Link to the fully executed Charter is here [PDF].

Upcoming Events

Engage with Center staff at these upcoming faculty events:

Spring 2025 Programming (TBA)
Save the Date: Worldwide Climate Teach-In (April 7-13)

Don't forget to visit the Brackish Water Exhibit this fall semester. Consider bringing your class to engage them on sustainability topics while this unique exhibit is here!

Brackish Water Exhibit: Open at the University Art Gallery August 12-December 14, 2024

Ongoing Programs

Sustainability Research Recognition

The Center seeks to recognize and promote the research endeavors of the university as well as foster interdisciplinary networking amongst CSUDH faculty on sustainability topics.

Award Sponsorship- CSUDH Student Research Conference
- To recognize and encourage student research in sustainability, the Center annually sponsors four award categories at CSUDH Student Research Conference: Sustainability Engagement, Environmental Sustainability, Environmental Justice, and Campus as a Living Lab (CALL)

Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs)

The Center sponsors a faculty learning community (FLC) every spring semester designed to support CSUDH faculty in integrating sustainability across the curriculum.

Applications to the spring 2025 FLC ("Sustainability and Environmental Justice for All") are now being accepted until Thursday, December 5th! (Successful applicants will be notified by Tuesday, December 10th). Full information and application are available here.

Past Faculty Learning Community Work

Each FLC is recruited to ensure representation from a diversity of academic disciplines with the intention of supporting and inspiring colleagues from each participant's home department.

Spring 2024 FLC Summaries:

Each participant was asked to prepare a video summary explaining the revisions they made to their class syllabus as a result of their participation in the FLC. View the Youtube playlist here. Word and PDF copies of the revised syllabi are available in this Dropbox folder for reference (CSUDH log-in required).

Sustainability in the Curriculum Events

Fall Workshop (September 2024) on Applying Sustainability to the Curriculum via the UN SDGs:
- Link to workshop recording here (Youtube)
- Downloadable powerpoint slides here [PDF]
- Referenced supporting attachment with UN SDGs' Educational Guide linked here [PDF]

Faculty who have incorporated sustainability themes, activities, and content that might not be readily obvious from the course catalog description are encouraged to e-mail Director Ellie Perry at eperry@csudh.edu with your revised syllabus/description of changes. You will receive:

A commendation letter documenting your efforts and continuous learning for your personnel files.
Recognition for your course in the upcoming 2024-2025 AY public inventory of sustainability-related courses for the institution: Latest version from 2021-2022 AY available on the Academic page.

The UN SDGs are a useful framework for thinking about sustainability themes in teaching. Another helpful resource is York University's free online toolkit on how to integrate the SDGs into curriculum including free lesson plans, activities, and more here.

Campus as a Living Laboratory

CSUDH has an extensive history of integrating campus as a living laboratory projects in the classroom, and has several resources to support ongoing engagement with campus facilities and infrastructure.

Visit the Academic page to see resources around physical campus spaces, utility data, requesting guest presentations, current inventories of sustainability research and courses, and more!

Center for Sustainability