University of California, Davis
PRE-2: Points of Distinction

UC Davis is notable for the depth and breadth of student-led initiatives that advance and support sustainability on campus, before anyone really started using the word “sustainability.” From helping to form the Arboretum in the 1930’s to creating a certified organic Student Farm and the campus/city bus system (Unitrans) with student drivers and dispatchers, building eco-housing on campus (Domes, Tri-Coops), starting the largest student-run restaurant in the nation (the MU Coffeehouse), and today running the Campus Center for the Environment, Project Compost, and Aggie Reuse Store. Our Carbon Neutrality Fellows engage all of our campus community in better understanding the climate crisis and what we can all do to reduce our impact. The Green Initiative Fund majority-student committee awards grants for campus sustainability projects, most of which are student-led projects. Students have pushed our Board of Regents and University system to adopt a sustainable practices policy, advocated for our campus to become a Fair Trade campus, and keep a close eye on whether we are meeting our sustainability goals through active journalism in the student newspaper. Student engagement is critical to our success in improving our campus sustainability, and vital to our collective future. We would like to acknowledge our students as our first Point of Distinction.

We believe that it is critical to advance social sustainability through diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Our Strategic Plan has core goals addressing this need, and we have created a robust Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office to address social sustainability and engage everyone in creating solutions that are inclusive, equitable, and embrace the strength of diversity.

Shifting our systems towards greater sustainability and resilience cannot happen without collaboration. UC Davis excels at interdisciplinary and collaborative work. We actively seek out partnerships to advance collective goals.

OneClimate is an initiative dedicated to creating a sustainable, just and habitable world and the pathways to get there. At UC Davis, we believe that we can work harmoniously with differing viewpoints to solve the challenges of global climate change and reinvent the world in which we live – giving rise to a 21st century economy and new jobs across all sectors of society. We are optimistic about the power of collaboration and cooperation in finding innovative solutions to a rapidly changing climate and planet. We are prepared to make a positive impact on society and focus on solutions rather than miring ourselves in the problems.

And our Global Affairs office and Public Scholarship and Engagement office have forged over 150 partnerships and joined networks that enable our students, faculty, staff and alumni to focus on issues of public concern, and connect the local and the global to advance solutions to the world’s challenges while inspiring curiosity and understanding.