Hanley Sustainability Institute
Passion and Purpose
Through deepening existing partnerships and developing many new partnerships on and off campus, the Hanley Sustainability Institute is working with the University and Dayton community to make progress towards our goal of a more sustainable campus and community and becoming a leader in sustainability education. In 2019, the University added sustainability undergraduate degrees to go along with the existing sustainability minor and graduate certificate.
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
SCHOOL HONOR
UD, for three straight years, was in the top 10 percent of Sierra Club's Cool Schools for sustainability and was tops in the Midwest.
HSI releases 2018-2020 impact report, ‘A growing role at UD’
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.”
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 two UD researchers a grant to establish a link between rain-producing climate patterns and water supply in the Horn of Africa.
Read more
Bill Marvin, a University of Dayton principal lecturer of philosophy, was a project leader on the documentary "More Than Rocks and Water – The River Speaks," which recently won an Ohio Parks and Recreation Association Award.
Read more
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.
Read more
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).
Read full news story