Dickinson College is committed to educating for and promoting sustainable development. Consistent with our mission to provide a useful education in the liberal arts, and a strong history of civic engagement, environmental education and environmental stewardship, we are weaving sustainability into our curriculum, global education programs, research, co-curricular activities, student life, campus operations, and community service. Over the past decade, sustainability goals have been incorporated in our Strategic Plan and Campus Master Plan. We signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and the Talloires Declaration. We have invested in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, and grown a student garden into a 50-acre organic farm. Most recently, we launched a sustainability education initiative in 2008 to make sustainability a defining characteristic of our education. These and other efforts have been publicly reported through the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Reporting System (STARS) of the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), earning Dickinson a Gold Star.

For the 2012-2015 period, we commit to actions now and in the future to build on our efforts in each of the areas outlined in the Rio+20 Declaration of Higher Education Institutions as summarized below. Our commitments include time-bound goals for greenhouse gas emission reductions and climate neutrality under our Climate Action Plan. We publicly report progress to the ACUPCC and to AASHE. Partners and resources dedicated to carrying out our commitments include the divisions of Academic Affairs, Campus Operations, Student Development, and Advancement, the President?s Commission on Environmental Sustainability (composed of senior officers of the college, faculty, staff and students), the Center for Sustainability Education (CSE), the Dickinson College Organic Farm, the Alliance for Aquatic Resources Monitoring (ALLARM), engaged faculty from all academic divisions, the Sustainability Education Fund, student organizations, more than 40 student intern positions to work on sustainability projects, an Eco-Reps program, and recent grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Luce Foundation, and NASA's Global Climate Change Education program.

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