Luther College
PA-2: Sustainability Planning

In our Center for Sustainable Communities Strategic Plan one of our five major objectives is Applied and Integrated Learning: Work with faculty and staff to create place-based, experiential, and community-based learning opportunities that utilize high-impact pedagogical practices.

Luther College will make sustainability a part of every student’s learning experience while creating place-based, experiential, and community-based learning opportunities

1. Work with faculty to integrate sustainability into the curriculum
1.1 Utilize faculty development workshops and learning communities to create place-based, experiential, and community-based learning opportunities
1.2 Advocate for inclusion of sustainability (including social justice) in revisions to the general education curriculum
1.3 Increase the number of academic credit-earning internships and community-based learning opportunities by fostering and strengthening relationships with businesses and organizations
1.4Support student-faculty research on sustainability

2. Expand sustainability opportunities via co-curricular activities and organizations
2.1. Collaborate with other centers on campus and foster stronger connections with community groups
2.2. Create transformative learning opportunities like Endeavor Together and explore expanding the latter for all incoming students
2.3. Increase the number of non-academic credit-earning internships and community-based learning opportunities by fostering and strengthening relationships with businesses and organizations
2.4. Nurture the creation and persistence of sustainability-oriented student groups such as the former Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO)
2.5. Work with the Center for Global Learning to incorporate appropriate aspects of sustainability into each Study Away experience, calculate the related carbon footprints, and find ways for students to mitigate them

3. Strengthen sustainability education for pre K-12 students and attract more sustainability-focused students to attend Luther
3.1. Refine the Sustainability Scholars Program and secure funding to expand the program
3.2. Continue outreach and environmental education programming for various audiences including area teachers
3.3. Develop programming for middle school youth and high school students interested in sustainability and utilize our network of teachers, counselors, and alums to recruit more youth to enroll at Luther

4. Leverage campus operations as an opportunity for learning/research/innovation
4.1 Work with faculty and the new Center for Teaching and Learning to help faculty make curricular connections to the campus physical plant
4.2 Utilize data from campus operations for teaching and research

One of the five major sections of the Center for Sustainable Communities' new strategic plan is Campus Culture: The “feel” of the place, especially the student culture, and the many ways that sustainability and inclusion are evident and embraced by all campus stakeholders. From residence halls to the cafeteria, labs to playing fields, we want a sustainable campus culture.

Luther College will create a more sustainable culture where students, faculty, and staff live, learn, eat, and play.

A full list of the measurable sustainability objectives in this section of the strategic plan can be found in the document above, "Sustainability Strategic Plan 2019-2022."

One of the five major sections of the Center for Sustainable Communities' new strategic plan is Operational Sustainability, which includes energy goals.

Luther College will implement initiatives to be a regional leader in operational sustainability.

1. Achieve the 70% greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goal in Luther’s Climate Action Plan and develop strategies to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
1.1. Research and implement projects to increase the efficiency of campus operations
1.2. Commission and implement a campus energy master plan that is consistent with our goal of carbon neutrality by 2030
1.3. Develop innovative financial partnerships to install more solar PV plus storage on campus
1.4. Implement a web-based building dashboard tool to educate the community about real time energy consumption and renewable energy production
1.5. Utilize campus networks to increase energy conservation through behavior change
1.6. Research the feasibility of carbon sequestration offsets developed in partnership with state and regional land conservation groups
1.7. Update Luther’s Climate Action Plan per the terms required by Second Nature
1.8. Enhance sustainability in transportation for students and employees as well as with college sponsored travel

Goal 3: Include and Infuse
Luther College will be a community that champions inclusive excellence
as a core value.

Objective 3.1: Build inclusive excellence into the operations of all academic and
administrative units.
Activities:
1. Expand competencies and expertise in working across cultural differences.
2. Ensure that all academic and administrative units have resources that support ethnic, racial,gender, and sexual minorities.
3. Foster interreligious understanding to explore the meaning of faith and values in a globalized,pluralistic society.
4. Position Luther College as a regional resource and site of expertise in inclusive excellence.

Objective 3.2: Recreate institutional structures that support an inclusive campus
community.
Activities:
1. Restructure the Diversity Council to provide expertise on inclusive excellence, campus climate, and structural diversity.
2. Create an additional institutional resource on student persistence and retention by restructuring the Diversity Center.
3. Improve the accessibility of campus facilities.

Objective 3.3: Recruit, support, and retain a diverse faculty, staff, and student body.
Activities:
1. Design a cohesive, structural marketing and outreach model to diversify the faculty and staff.
2. Develop formal mentoring initiatives for underrepresented faculty, staff, and students.
3. Implement a comprehensive first-year experience for all students that uses the framework of inclusive excellence to support student engagement and success.
4. Advance campus-community relationships to ensure a mutually welcoming experience on campus and in the larger Decorah community.

The last paragraph of Luther College's mission statement includes the following passage that directly references our commitment to sustainability:

As a residential college, Luther is a place of intersection. Founded where river, woodland, and prairie meet, we practice joyful stewardship of the resources that surround us, and we strive to be a community where students, faculty, and staff are enlivened and transformed by encounters with one another, by the exchange of ideas, and by the life of faith and learning.

From the Center for Sustainable Communities' website:
"We recognize that sustainability goes hand in hand with a just, equitable, and prosperous society, and we work hard not only to green our campus practices but also to teach students through academic courses and campus life that creating a sustainable society is a responsibility that falls to each of us."

As a charter signatory of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, in 2017 President Carlson signed a joint statement released by the "We Are Still In" campaign coordinated by Second Nature. It asserts that:
1. In the absence of Federal support, states, cities, colleges and universities and businesses will pursue ambitious climate goals, to ensure that the U.S. remains a global leader in reducing emissions.
2. In the U.S., the actors that will provide the leadership necessary to meet our Paris commitment are found in city halls, state capitals, colleges and universities and businesses.
3. We will remain actively engaged with the international community as part of the global effort to hold warming to under 2°C and to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy that will benefit our security, prosperity, and health.

https://www.luther.edu/sustainability/assets/CSC_Strategic_Plan_web_2_2.pdf

The Center for Sustainable Communities has spent the last year developing a new Strategic Plan to carry us forward through the next three years. This plan has not yet been published but it was approved at the January 2019 Regents meeting by the Facilities and Sustainability Committee. A copy of this unpublished plan can be furnished upon request.