Sustainability

Program Details

At CSUMB, we define sustainability as "the simultaneous pursuit of human health and happiness, environmental quality, and economic well-being for current and future generations" and is further described in the CSU Monterey Bay definition of sustainability.

This certificate program is primarily designed for staff and faculty, although interested students are welcome to participate.

Goals and Related Objectives

The Sustainability Certification program aims to provide a professional development opportunity that:

  • Educates participants on a variety of sustainability issues
  • Encourages and motivates actions to support sustainability on campus and in our community
  • Enables participants to feel positive and optimistic about the role they have in ensuring a viable future for our campus, our region, and our world
  • Build participants' self-efficacy toward leadership efforts in sustainability

Program Components

The Sustainability Certificate Program lasts an entire academic year, divided into two semesters - Fall 2021 and Spring 2022. There are 3 elements to the program and in order to achieve certification, all 3 elements must be completed. You are welcome to complete just the learning series, but certification will not be granted until all parts are completed.

  1. Sustainability Learning Series (SLS): Fall 2021 - Comprised of 8 core courses, the SLS will provide foundational knowledge of sustainability systems and elicit increased awareness of specific areas within the field of sustainability as well as intersectionality that organically exists between topics.
  2. Complete the Sustainability Literacy Assessment (SULITEST): Fall 2021 - The SULITEST is developed by the United National Higher Education Sustainability Initiative and the Kedge School of Business in Germany. It has been administered to students at CSUMB as part of a research project. Participants will not be graded or evaluated based on their SULITEST results, rather, the "assessment" is a learning tool to help deepen understanding of global and regional concepts as well as prepare participants to deepen their thinking and get in the "mindset" of sustainability.
  3. Develop an Independent Sustainability Project: Spring 2022 - Participants will research and develop their own project that could be implemented within their department or office. Participants may work in pairs. The project will be developed at the end of Fall semester, and implemented Spring semester.