Hanley Sustainability Institute
Passion and Purpose
STARS GOLD
UD ranks in the top 3 percent of all AASHE STARS-rated schools; first in Ohio and second among all U.S. Catholic colleges and universities
A 'SIERRA' COOL SCHOOL
UD for three straight years has been in the top 10 percent of Sierra Club's Cool Schools for sustainability and again is tops in the Midwest.
The Hanley Sustainability Institute will hire four part-time University of Dayton directors to oversee four strategic areas and help implement 10 goals named in HSI’s strategic planning initiative to confront today’s urgent global challenges. The four directors, to be selected from current faculty and staff, will devote their HSI work time to planning and implementing their respective strategic areas. The institute also is announcing a call for expressions of interest from interested parties.
Read moreHSI releases 2018-2020 impact report, ‘A growing role at UD’
By Mark Gokavi
The Hanley Sustainability Institute at the University of Dayton has released an impact report covering the calendar years of 2018 through 2020, which included a major expansion of HSI, which was founded in 2014.
“A growing role at UD” summarizes key events during the span which includes hiring of its executive director, adding faculty and staff, introducing a fast-growing sustainability major and graduate certificate, student leadership and experiential learning, national recognition as a sustainability leader and being part of an award-winning paper on the path to carbon neutrality at UD.
HSI Executive Director Ben McCall said the report provides a look back at successes with partners such as Facilities Management while HSI completes its first strategic planning process that will look ahead to HSI’s next phases.
“We’ve organized this report around the themes emerging from that process: Developing Leaders for a Just Future, Evolving the Institution, Building Relationships with the Community and Leaning into Research,” McCall writes. “The work of HSI and its sustainability partners at UD has been consistently gaining visibility, both in terms of media attention and campus sustainability recognitions. It seems clear HSI and UD are poised for continued success in the years to come.”
Sustainability Program and HSI working through the pandemic
The work of the Sustainability Program and the Hanley Sustainability Institute is continuing despite challenges posed by COVID-19. Click the link to see a message from HSI Executive Director Ben McCall and for instructions on how to contact us.
Sustainability Program and HSI working through the pandemic
The work of the Sustainability Program and the Hanley Sustainability Institute is continuing despite challenges posed by COVID-19. Click the link to see a message from HSI Executive Director Ben McCall and for instructions on how to contact us.
Our role is not just to help implement projects. I like to think of us as providing strategic leadership in how sustainability can be approached on campus.
Climate Commitment
In 2019, University of Dayton President Eric Spina updated the University's sustainability goals to include taking meaningful action through our planning processes to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and to collaborate with other Miami Valley organizations in planning for climate resilience. The 15-member UD Climate, Action, Resilience, and Environmental Sustainability (CARES) Council will meet periodically.
Student Involvement
Sustainability Club
The student-driven club is not part of the Hanley Sustainability Institute, but there is crossover among HSI leaders and representatives.
Sust. Club Instagram
Rivers Institute
The Rivers Institute's goal is to work alongside the Greater Dayton community to promote, preserve and protect our watershed.
Rivers Institute website
MEEC
The Marianist Environmental Education Center slogan is Restoring Communities of Land and People and hopes people live in communion with the land.
MEEC websiteSTUDENT INVOLVEMENT
ETHOS
The ETHOS Center provides service-learning experiences through technical immersions, student activities, research and hands-on projects.
ETHOS website
Human Rights Center
The HRC recognizes the link between a sustainable climate and human rights. The two centers work together in many ways.
HRC website
Campus Projects
Student-involved initiatives include the solar prairie at Curran Place, the green roof at Kennedy Union plus the Lincoln Hill and River Campus gardens.
Sust. Reps/LeadersGrowing Together in Sustainability
Along with campus partners, many any off-campus groups have and are working with the University of Dayton to achieve sustainability-related initiatives. Our thanks go to organizations which have been instrumental in the Solar Prairie, the Kennedy Union green roof, both the Lincoln Hill and River Campus gardens and other projects.
Community Partners
Growing Together in Sustainability
Along with campus partners, many any off-campus groups have and are working with the University of Dayton to achieve sustainability-related initiatives. Our thanks go to organizations which have been instrumental in the Solar Prairie, the Kennedy Union green roof, both the Lincoln Hill and River Campus gardens and other projects.
The National Science Foundation awarded University of Dayton isotope geochemist Zelalem Bedaso a three-year, $156,776 grant to study seasonal rainfall variability over the last 200,000 years in East Africa to understand the impact of extreme weather on early humans and the ecosystems on which they depended.
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University of Dayton geologist Umesh Haritashya was recognized in August with a 2020-21 SOCHE Faculty Excellence Award for his contributions to understanding the relationship between climate change and natural disasters in alpine environments.
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Hanley Sustainability Institute graduate assistants Lauren Wolford and Meg Maloney are leading the University of Dayton’s resilience assessment as part of UD’s Second Nature climate commitment to plan for climate resilience. They talked to 50-60 community stakeholders about resilience planning in and around Dayton. “Because of what we’re all currently living in, it was really easy to have these conversations specifically around the pandemic,” Wolford said. “It was inspiring to hear from different organizations.”
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Sustainability Events Calendar
Join our project teams, campus partners, invited speakers and more for engaging events that inform and inspire.
Upcoming sustainability events
UD Achieves STARS Gold
The University of Dayton earned its first gold rating for its sustainability achievements in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS).
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