Dickinson College
IN-47: Innovation A

More than 420 sustainability professionals, educators, behavioral scientists, alumni and undergraduate and graduate students came to Dickinson College, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019 for BE.Hive: On Campus, an interactive summit that explored how colleges and universities can best promote sustainable behaviors and equip students with the tools they need to effectively inspire behavioral change. Hosted by Dickinson and the global nonprofit Rare, the event highlighted the many factors that go into individual decision-making—emotions, confirmation bias and social behavior, in addition to facts—and how to effectively address them, while also providing a platform for educators and administrators from across the country to learn about best practices in sustainability education.

Emceed by actor/comedian Ravi Patel (Meet the Patels, Master of None), the event included sessions led by Tim Ma, chef and pioneer in food waste reduction; Chris Graves, Ogilvy Center for Behavioral Science; Meghan Fay Zahniser, Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education; and a panel on model sustainability programs and strategies at Dickinson, Harvard University, Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Also on tap: the final round of the Behavior-Centered Design Challenge, a competition showcasing the ideas of student groups from colleges across the country.

The seeds for BE.Hive were planted when Brett Jenks, Rare president and CEO, received the 2017 Sam Rose ’58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Global Environmental Activism and served a residency on campus that included an interactive workshop with students. He emerged so inspired that he applied the Rose-Walters prize money to the Center for Behavior & the Environment, one of the driving forces behind the BE.Hive. Rare held its first BE.Hive summit with National Geographic in Washington, D.C., in March 2019 to connect with representatives from NASA, the World Wildlife Fund and others.

As part of innovative, one-time higher education summit, BE.Hive on Campus: Climate Change Needs Behavior Change summit, hosted by Dickinson College and the global nonprofit Rare, teams of students from a range of colleges were asked to design a solution for getting more people to select plant-rich meals on their campuses. During the BE.Hive summit, which is available by video archive online, world leaders in behavior change for climate change shared stories, skits, research, games and trending new thoughts on stage to more than 420 campus sustainability leaders, behavioral scientists and student advocates from 46 colleges and universities from across the United States.