Hanley Sustainability Institute

By Mark Gokavi

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.

Cincinnati-based non-profit Design Impact collaborated with HSI to gather input from a diverse group of more than 250 people. The initiative reflects the perspectives of students, faculty and staff at the University of Dayton and local partners in the greater Dayton region.

The strategic planning process took place from 2019-2021 and was prolonged but also influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. This plan outlines four key strategic priorities to inspire and guide bold action. While HSI’s commitment to this work isn’t new (see HSI’s 2018-2020 impact report), this plan captures the renewed commitment and clarity for HSI’s future.

“This plan builds upon the work of generations of UD students before and after the founding of the Hanley Sustainability Institute,” said HSI Executive Director Ben McCall. “The exciting next step was to formulate a forward-looking plan, add directors to coordinate efforts and put the strategy into real action to meet these goals.”

The four priority areas identified during the planning process are: Developing leaders for a just future; Facilitating impactful research; Catalyzing institutional transformation; and engaging communities beyond campus.

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.

The four strategic areas are listed below:

Developing leaders for just future: Inspire, prepare and equip students to leave campus aware of their role and confident in the tools they have to be transformative leaders for a better, more just, and sustainable future; Strategic goals: 1 - Strengthen and Expand Sustainability Education to the Entire Student Body; 2 - foster Student Leadership and Advocacy; 3 - Integrate Sustainability into the UD Student Life Experience

Facilitating impactful research: Catalyze and support transdisciplinary and community-based research that addresses root causes and drives action on sustainability challenges, globally and locally; Strategic goals: 1 - Catalyze Meaningful Research Partnerships; 2 - Support and Promote Sustainability Research

Catalyzing institutional transformation: The University can model and create a more sustainable future by transforming its policies and practices with the engagement of leadership, staff, faculty, and students; Strategic goals: 1 - Co-Facilitate Campus Sustainability Planning and Coordination; 2 - Inspire and Enable Sustainability Efforts Across Campus

Engaging communities beyond campus: Advance sustainability, resilience and integral ecology beyond UD by creating deep and mutually beneficial relationships with community partners; Strategic goals: 1 - Support Sustainability Planning and Tracking Beyond UD; 2 - Become a Resource and Hub for Sustainability Education Beyond UD; 3 - Facilitate Campus-Community Climate Resilience Efforts

HSI, which was founded in 2014 with a major gift from George ’77 and Amanda Hanley, has strived to build on decades of student, faculty and staff efforts to become a leader in  sustainability.

"The HSI's strategic plan has been crafted through a highly inclusive, consultative process,” said University of Dayton Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs Paul Benson. “The resulting plan is well conceived and powerful. It will provide valuable focus for the next exciting phase of the Institute's high-impact work across the plan's four themes."

As part of the strategic plan and inspired by Pope Francis’s call to integral ecology in On Care for Our Common Home (Laudato Si’), HSI also developed the following vision and mission statements:

Vision statement: Cultivating a just transition to a sustainable future that protects and preserves humanity and the planet.

Mission statement: HSI's mission is to be a dynamic learning community that advances sustainability by educating and mentoring transformational leaders, facilitating impactful and transdisciplinary research, catalyzing sustainable practices within our institution, and building caring relationships with communities beyond campus.

For more sustainability news and information, visit HSI’s news blog, the Hanley Sustainability Institute website and the sustainability program website. To sign up for HSI’s Sustainability Spotlight newsletter, register here.