Slippery Rock University
PA-2: Sustainability Planning

SRU's Long Range Strategic Plan 2025, specifically Trend 5, is solely dedicated to sustainability and has served as our road map for tracking progress in our sustainability initiatives. This plan can be downloaded from www.sru.edu/sustainability. Our plan to advance sustainability in the curriculum is intended to be a continuous improvement plan, with progress measured by continuous improvement in STARS Report Curriculum Scores (AC-1 through AC-8).

Specific goals and action steps listed in our long range strategic plan related to curriculum include the following:
A. EDUCATION & RESEARCH
SRU Goal - To increase the opportunities for students to learn about sustainability and get involved in sustainability efforts on campus and in the surrounding communities.
ACTION A.1: Increase the number of sustainability components within goal courses in the Liberal Studies Program
ACTION A.2: Develop Sustainable Living Learning communities within the residential halls.
ACTION A.3: Make sustainable education a part of the "Week of Welcome"

Included in SRU's Strategic Plan, Trend Five are specific sustainability goals, action steps and measurement metrics against baselines established as part of the plan. Progress updates to each action step and/or summaries of progress to date are updated for submission to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Specific measures and time frames were also established within our Climate Action Plan for campus engagement activities such as the behavioral change programs designed to encourage more sustainable lifestyles and conserve our resources.

Some of the measurable sustainability objectives that address Campus Engagement include:

Objective 1: Raise awareness of campus sustainability initiatives and projects;
Action Steps:
- Completion of the "Campus Sustainable Features Map", now available for use in Admissions Walking Tours, and available for viewing/downloading from the Sustainability website. A similar GIS mapping of all on-campus Audubon Sanctuaries, wetlands, and Biology Dept. Outdoor Classrooms has also been developed for use in our current Facilities Master Planning effort, and will be used to alert those proposing new land uses to avoid developments/activities that might have adverse impacts on sensitive environmental areas.

- Tracking the number of students who register for sustainable education activities such as Earth Week films, lectures and other activities, as well as sustainability-focused FYRST seminars and tours of our sustainability flagship demonstration site (The Robert A. Macoskey Center for Sustainable Systems Research and Education).

- Tracking the number of students, staff and faculty who electronically sign the Energy Action Pledge each year.

- Tracking the traffic on our sustainability website and social media sites.

- Tracking the number of new sustainable courses/components in the Liberal Studies program.

SRU complies with, and regularly exceeds, the energy objectives set forth in the Strategic Energy Plan developed for the institutes of higher education in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE).

Our efforts at advancing sustainability in energy are measured directly (via the PA State System of Higher Education "Utility Usage Report" for each fiscal year) as well as indirectly through our annual greenhouse gas inventory, which includes documentation of on-site green power generation as well as Renewable Energy Certificates purchased each year.

Mid-term and long-term action steps included in our Climate Action Plan (which can be downloaded at www.sru.edu/sustainability) provide specific, measurable objectives in energy savings due to various projects and strategies. Sample projects and strategies listed in the Climate Action Plan include:
- Implement 2011 Energy Conservation Policy
- Implement Energy Awareness Out-reach Program, smart metering, behavioral changes campaign
- Complete steam/condensate loop improvement projects
- Implement annual condensate trap maintenance program
- Insulate attics with little/no insulation
- Implement Phase I of Central Plant improvements
- Recommission/Energy Audit/LEED EBOM 5 percent of Existing Buildings each year

Many of these items have already been implemented and/or are included in the current Guaranteed Energy Savings Agreement signed in 2017.

The co-chairs of all of the President's Commissions (including the commission on race and ethnic diversity and the commission on wellbeing) meet with the President regularly to share information about their initiatives. The new Chief Diversity Officer is scheduled to begin attending these meetings to help ensure each commission looks through the lens of DEI when developing initiatives. See https://www.sru.edu/about/administration/office-of-the-president/presidents-commissions for descriptions of each commission.

While the new Chief Diversity Officer has not yet published a list of objectives, a search of the SRU website (www.sru.edu) on "DEI" will provide descriptions and published articles about the many DEI initiatives and goals for the university, including new DEI curriculum and training.

SRU's President's Commission on Sustainability has formally defined sustainability as "the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. For an action to be sustainable, it must be environmentally benign, economically justifiable, and socially just."

Slippery Rock University's School of Business is a signatory institution with the United Nations Global Compact's Principles for Responsible Management Education (“PRME”) program.

Launched at the 2007 UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, the PRME initiative is the first organized relationship between the UN and business schools around the globe. The mission of PRME is to inspire and champion responsible business management education, research and thought leadership on a global scale.

"The United States uses two times as much energy as any other civilized country," said Frances Amatucci, associate professor of business. "Through our involvement with PRME, we're hoping to not only increase the awareness about sustainable options in business practices, but in everyday living as well.

"We want to change the lifestyle of our students...change their mindset and focus them more on the world around them and the conditions that exist. Many believe we're in crisis right now. Even from the smallest of things, such as whether or not your bottle water container belongs in the trash or in the recycle bin. It all adds up. We need to increase awareness.

"It starts with individuals. If individuals buy in, when they enter the business world, they can help foster change."

According to PRME, the organizations six principles provide an engagement structure for academic institutions to advance social responsibility through incorporating universal values into curricula and research.

Those principles are:

• Purpose: Developing the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy.

• Values: Incorporating into academic activities and curricula the values of global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact.

• Method: Creating educational frameworks, materials, processes and environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership.

• Research: Engaging in conceptual and empirical research that advances the understanding about the role, dynamics and impact of corporations in the creation of sustainable social, environmental and economic value.

• Partnership: Interacting with managers of business corporations to extend knowledge of the challenges in meeting social and environmental responsibilities and to explore jointly effective approaches to meeting these challenges.

• Dialogue: Facilitating and supporting dialog and debate among educators, students, business, government, consumers, media and civil society organizations and other interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability.