University of San Diego
EN-3: Student Life

The Sustainability Club is a student-run organization committed to sustainability education and to lowering the university's carbon footprint through marketing campaigns, community service and outreach, and eco-events. This group has recently been successful in coordinating student advocacy, bringing local sustainability leaders to campus for guest speaking events, hosting do-it-yourself workshops to educate about upcycling, etc. https://www.sandiego.edu/sustainability/clubs-orgs.php

The University of San Diego Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge (SIC) promotes, guides, and supports student-driven ideas to launch or contribute to social enterprises. Social enterprises can be for-profit, nonprofit, or blended ventures, working locally and internationally. The SIC is a bottom-up initiative in which the university’s Center for Peace and Commerce (CPC) acts as catalyst and mentor. It seeks to harness students’ imagination for a better world and offer concrete tools and opportunities to help them turn their ideas into reality. With CPC support, students are responsible for developing or refining proposals for social enterprises that achieve positive results for the four P's: People, Profit, Planet, and Peace, in order to: - invest in students with the potential to make positive, sustainable social impact - promote problem-solving through the development of sustainable ventures - support enterprise development for the quadruple bottom-line (people, planet, profit, and peace) https://www.fowlergsic.org/

Sustainability-related events are organized by various on-campus organizations such as the Changemaker Hub, Energy Policy Initiatives Center, Center for Peace and Commerce, the Career Development Center, the Cultivate Living Learning Community, and the Office of Sustainability. Examples include: - Climate and Energy Law Symposium (https://www.sandiego.edu/epic/symposium/) - The USD Social Innovation Challenge and associated Idea-Lab sessions with social entrepreneurship (https://www.fowlergsic.org/) - Social Impact Career Fair (https://www.sandiego.edu/events/detail.php?_focus=87697) - Torero Trek: Energy & Sustainability (https://www.sandiego.edu/events/detail.php?_focus=83638) - Lighting the Way Forward: The Purpose of Catholic higher Education in a Changing World (https://www.sandiego.edu/lighting-the-way/) (Care for Our Common Home is one of the thematic foundations of this conference)

The Environmental Integration Lab (EIL) hosted a documentary screening regarding regenerative agriculture and a live podcast recording of students' climate anxiety to action stories. Additionally, the EIL hosted an Environmental Innovators in Residence: Speaker Series and a Worldwide Teach-In for Climate and Justice. All events took place on campus and were open events to the entire campus.

"Sustainability is a key part of the USD outdoors program which follows ‘leave no trace’ principles. Outdoor Adventures (OA) serves USD community members with opportunities to experience outdoor activities that promote personal growth, leadership development, relationship building and environmental responsibility. With a focus on outdoor recreation, environmental education, leadership development and team-building, OA offers a variety of outings locally, regionally and internationally. Pre-Orientation Adventure, overnight trips, outdoor recreation classes and day trips around San Diego are a few examples. OA also operates a resource center and rental shop that provides outdoor recreation equipment and trip planning resources for individuals and groups that choose to venture on their own excursions. Outdoor Adventures is a hub for people interested in living an active, outdoor lifestyle that strives to create a balance between humanity and the natural world. Outdoor Adentures offers about 75 trips annually serving approximately 1,000 participants. https://www.sandiego.edu/outdoor-adventures/about/sustainability.php"

USD was designated an ASHOKA Changemaker campus due to its commitments to sustainability & ethics and to develop young people into changemakers. The Changemaker Hub annual themes are inspired by its vision of creating a more just and sustainable world. The 2023-2025 Changemaker Challenge theme is "addressing sustainability and climate change issues at USD." The Office of Sustainability is a community partner in this Challenge. The Changemaker Challenge provides an opportunity for engaging in idea-generation, thus increasing awareness and knowledge about current social and environmental problems and mobilizing people towards problem-solving. https://www.changemakerchallenge.me/

The Office of Sustainability's Eco-Resident Program is a peer-to-peer program that consists of a trained student assistant meeting with campus residents to discuss their sustainability practices and offer suggestions as to how they can increase their sustainability behaviors. https://www.sandiego.edu/sustainability/get-involved/eco-resident-cert-program.php

Multiple student assistant positions are available each semester through the Office of Sustainability. These are offered to encourage student driven leadership initiatives. Undergraduate assistantships, as well as graduate assistantships, have been offered to students who show keen interests in sustainability and help their peers gain awareness of the various programs on campus. 

The Office of Sustainability partners with various on-campus student groups to help promote sustainability across various dimensions of academics. Two of the groups that the Office is working with include: 1. Disabled American Veterans Partnership - The Office supports the Sustainability Club and Diabled American Veterans Nonprofit by partnering on a Pop-Up Thrift series. The Office of Sustainabilty collects clothing donations across campus, then make these items available at a low cost for students at Pop-Up Thrift events. All proceeds from these event are donated to the local Disabled American Veterans nonprofit. 2. Associated Student Government Sustainability Chair - The Sustainability Office regularly meets and advises the Sustainability Chair on how to effectively engage and empower students and sustainability-focused action on campus.