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Dallas College Student Blog: Growing Sustainability Leaders Will Help Change The World

The Sustainability Outreach and Initiatives (SOI) Office is one of three offices under Dallas College's new Social Responsibility and In ...

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Press release from Dallas College Student Blog:

August 2, 2021

The Sustainability Outreach and Initiatives (SOI) Office is one of three offices under Dallas College’s new Social Responsibility and Inclusion umbrella. The other two offices that fall under Social Responsibility and Inclusion are: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Supplier Diversity.The primary purpose of the Dallas College SOI Office is to grow sustainability leaders who can creatively and effectively address the multitude of serious challenges facing our world today. We teach our students, employees and community members how to become sustainability advocates who actively work to support the three major components of sustainability: equity (people), environment (planet) and economy (prosperity).To do this, we draw on five major teaching and learning tools:

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  • United Nations 17 Sustainable Goals
  • Project Drawdown
  • American Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS)
  • Reframing the Curriculum: Design for Social Justice and Sustainability — Faculty Seminar Series based on the book by Susan Santone
  • ArcGIS Basic Tools for the Classroom

    • This year, our office and the DEI Office are rolling out another tool, Reflective Structured Dialogue (RSD). We are partnering with Essential Partners, the nonprofit that developed this trademarked dialogue process based on family therapy techniques. RSD is designed to help communities and organizations disrupt negative and nonproductive patterns to allow people to hold open, honest, constructive conversations about potentially divisive topics.

    The Sustainability Outreach and Initiatives Office has three main areas of focus:

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  • Operations — Are we practicing what we preach? This focus area measures and monitors our operations to ensure that we are reducing our carbon footprint, conserving resources, engaging in equitable and sustainable purchasing, using our campuses as living labs and reporting the results of our activities to our internal and external stakeholders.
  • Education — Dallas College is committed to teaching our students, employees and community members the importance and benefits of practicing sustainability. We do this through faculty training based on the book “Reframing the Curriculum: Design for Social Justice and Sustainability,” by Susan Santone, and the creation of resources that help faculty infuse sustainability throughout their classes. We also support faculty by making presentations directly to their classes on a variety of topics. We are currently working on a library of sustainability assignments for faculty to get ideas for their classes. We’re also offering numerous workshops that introduce sustainability topics through geographical information systems to “see the where” of environmental, economic and equity issues. We’re available to help faculty and students learn the basic GIS tools to visualize sustainability.
  • Outreach and Engagement — In addition to teaching our students and employees about sustainability, we are committed to providing sustainability education to our community members at no (or low) cost. This includes the weekly Sustainable U webinars, the annual Sustainability Summit and guest appearances on shows such as “GreenSource DFW on the Air.” This focus area also supports Dallas College student sustainability clubs and employee sustainability teams at each campus.

    • Please contact any of the following Sustainability staff members if you have questions or are interested in partnering with us in the future:

    Sonia Ford, assistant director (measurement, assessment, Texas Trees Foundation projects)  — sford@dcccd.edu; 972-238-6109

    Lorilyn Hester, executive assistant — lorilyn.hester@dcccd.edu; 972-273-3267

    Lori Delacruz Lewis, assistant director (seminars, workshops,  webinars, faculty and student resources)  — ldelacruz@dcccd.edu; 214-378-1826

    Brandon Morton, assistant director (AASHE STARS, SDG Action Manager, sustainable purchasing)  — bmorton@dcccd.edu; 214-378-1566

    Georgeann Moss, executive administrator — gemoss@dcccd.edu; 214-860-5753

    Note: We are currently in the process of hiring an assistant director for sustainability outreach and engagement (Sustainable U webinars, Sustainability Summit, special events, partnerships). 

    Upcoming Events

    We’re busy putting together the fall Sustainable U webinar series, which begins on Sept. 7. If you have a speaker or topic idea, email Georgeann Moss at gemoss@dcccd.edu. 

    e-Waste Recycling

    Dallas College will be hosting a series of free e-waste recycling events at our seven campuses in the upcoming months. You’ll be able to recycle computers, network and communications devices, CRTs and LCDs, point of sale equipment, wires and cables, other office equipment, consumer goods, batteries, appliances, and audio and video equipment. Most of the items can be recycled at no cost.

    These events are open to Dallas College students, employees and the public for their personal items only. Dallas College property must be recycled through the approved contract vendor.

    Watch upcoming newsletters for more information and mark your calendar for these upcoming e-waste recycling events:

    Sept. 16 — BrookhavenOct. 21 — Cedar Valley

    Jan. 20 — EastfieldFeb. 17 — West Dallas CenterMarch 24 — North LakeApril 21 — Mountain ViewMay 5 — Richland

    Featured SDG Video No. 17: Partnerships for the Goals

    How can we achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals? By working together, of course!  Georgeann Moss, Dallas College’s executive administrator of sustainability outreach and initiatives, discusses partnerships for the goals in this 3-minute video about SDG No. 17.

    This press release was produced by Dallas College Student Blog. The views expressed here are the author’s own.

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