Office of Sustainability

With a diverse selection of courses from colleges across the university, the interdisciplinary Minor in Sustainability Studies, offered by the College of Liberal Arts, gives students the opportunity to gain wide-ranging expertise and hands-on experience working on the most crucial issues in contemporary society. Sustainability Studies seeks to improve environmental health, social justice, economic development, and individual well-being through the integration of disciplinary perspectives from across the university. Sustainability students care about the world around them, on both a global and a local scale. Courses in the minor help them to identify, evaluate, and implement ways they can make a positive difference for themselves, their communities, and the world.

The Office of Sustainability exists to create an ethic, culture, & practice of sustainability at Auburn in service to improving lives, communities, and natural systems in Alabama and beyond. To do this, the Office establishes partnerships across campus with stakeholders in academics, operations, campus life, administration, and the broader community. The Office’s partnerships aim to develop ways to embed sustainability into the university’s operations, instruction, research, and outreach functions. With a systems perspective, the Office weaves networks of collaboration that build capacity, enabling Auburn to accomplish so much more working together than could possibly be achieved alone.

A collaborative effort among the E.W. Shell Fisheries, the College of Agriculture’s Department of Horticulture, and the Food Systems Institute gives students a hands-on educational experience while providing Campus Dining with locally grown food to serve fresh meals. The project uses nitrate-rich fish waste from tilapia ponds to grow vegetables hydroponically for consumption in on-campus dining halls. The food is hyper-local, so it does not have to travel far and maintains its rich nutrient profile. This partnership maximizes efficiency, reduces waste, and offers an innovative way to combine student well-being with campus sustainability.