Over the past 10 years, the Center for Sustainable Enterprise has worked to integrate sustainability into the culture at the Kenan-Flagler Business School so that students are equipped to incorporate triple bottom line principles into their post-MBA careers. One in four master of business administration students obtains a concentration in sustainable enterprise. Five students graduated with the concentration in 2002: 56 graduated with the concentration in 2009.

Links:
Center for Sustainable Enterprise  - http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/cse/index.cfm
Kenan-Flagler Business School  - http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/

The city and regional planning department offers both a master of city and regional planning degree and an undergraduate minor in urban studies and planning. Partnering with UNC’s Highway Safety Research Center, the department offers one of the nation’s only graduate-level planning courses in bike and pedestrian transportation. The course outlines how pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure must be integrated into transportation planning in order to create sustainable communities.

Links:
Department of City and Regional Planning - http://www.planning.unc.edu
Highway Safety Research Center - http://www.hsrc.unc.edu

The undergraduate majors in environmental science and environmental studies are now administered by the curriculum for the environment and ecology in the College of Arts and Sciences. The sustainability minor, introduced in 2008, is also administered by the curriculum.

UNC students graduating through the Curriculum are required to complete a capstone project. The projects, administered by the Institute for the Environment, are client-based and involve interdisciplinary group work among peers. Recent capstone projects have included calculating the greenhouse gas emissions associated with University-funded air travel and dining, an inventory of sustainability-related courses offered at UNC, a plastic film recovery pilot project, a project to gauge the public perception of climate change among residents of the Outer Banks, and an assessment of the potential for building a wind energy farm off the North Carolina coast.

Links:
Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology - http://cee.unc.edu/
UNC Institute for the Environment - http://www.ie.unc.edu

The Institute for the Environment was created in 2007 to strengthen the research and engagement function of the Carolina Environmental Program. The institute provides experiential education by administering a network of field sites around the state and the world. North Carolina programs offer extended ecological study in Manteo, Morehead City, and Highlands. Programs in the United Kingdom and Thailand focus on energy policy issues. In 2008, the institute introduced a new, local sustainable Triangle field site. Here, students take classes on campus and participate in the ever-growing sustainability network in the Triangle.

The institute also partners with campus architects, engineers, the Sustainability Office, and the greenhouse gas emissions specialist to offer enrichment courses on high performance buildings, sustainability, and climate change.

 The North Carolina Climate Literacy: Integrating Modeling & Technology Experiences (CLIMATE) Fellows Program is an interdisciplinary professional development opportunity administrated by the Institute for the Environment that serves 24 teachers annually.  The year-long program exposes participants to global, regional, and NC-specific data on climate change science and impacts.

Links:
UNC Institute for the Environment - http://www.ie.unc.edu

Faculty and students at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health bring an interdisciplinary perspective to studying health disparities across North Carolina and around the world. The school offers programs in epidemiology, health behavior and health education, health policy and management, maternal and child health, nutrition, and public health leadership. For the past decade, the school’s environmental sciences and engineering department has been ranked among the top 10 environmental/environmental health engineering programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

Links:
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health - http://www.sph.unc.edu

Undergraduate students in the physics and astronomy department are offered courses on energy systems, resources, and trends related to sustainability issues. These include: Energy: Physical Principles and the Quest for Alternatives to Dwindling Oil and Gas; Our Energy and Climate Crises: Challenges and Opportunities; and Power Down: Preparing Your Community for the Transition from Cheap Oil.

Links:
Physics and Astronomy - http://www.physics.unc.edu

As a training ground for current and future public administrators, the School of Government is figuring out what it takes to “go green” and is then relaying its findings to government officials across the state. An internal SOGreen campaign was initiated by graduate students in the Public Management and Leadership course in spring 2008. The group launched a public relations campaign, encouraged new behaviors, and measured progress. All green features in the building, including recycling bins, water-efficient fixtures, and energy-efficient lighting and hand dryers were labeled and identified in online floor plans.

SOGreen also focused on the procurement of food and inks, and catalyzed faculty efforts to write a green procurement policy for the School. Catered events now feature local and organic food. The Knapp-Sanders Building serves as a distribution site for a local farmer’s Community Supported Agriculture program with 15 staff and faculty participants.

Links:
School of Government - http://www.sog.unc.edu
SOGreen - http://www.sog.unc.edu/sogreen/

Students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication actively document and promote sustainability programs on campus. In spring 2009, students developed an environmentally-focused media relations plan for UNC News Services.

Students also report on sustainable practices and issues outside UNC. Environmental Heroes, a 22-minute program produced by students in the science documentary television course, profiled people working to protect and improve North Carolina’s environment. The documentary aired locally as part of the North Carolina Visions film festival on North Carolina Public Television. In summer 2009, ten Carolina journalism fellows developed an experimental news website exploring energy use and its impacts on communities across the country. Powering a Nation is Carolina’s contribution to News for the 21st Century: Incubators of New Ideas which brought together students from multiple universities to revitalize journalism schools and promote innovation in the news industry.

Links:
School of Journalism and Mass Communication - http://www.jomc.unc.edu
Powering a Nation - http://news21.jomc.unc.edu

A new environmental law faculty member, hired in 2009, specializes in carbon offsets and the impact of offsets on a carbon market. Students in his Carbon Trading Practice course examine the mechanisms and impacts of greenhouse gas trading systems. Picture courtesy of UNC School of Law.  The Center for Law, Environment, Adaptation, and Resources (CLEAR), established in 2008, addresses emerging environmental law issues.  CLEAR recently collaborated on a report in 2011 assessing disaster recovery planning in North Carolina.

Links:
School of Law - http://www.law.unc.edu

The social and economic justice minor in the sociology department fosters knowledge about human rights, economic justice, democratic participation, sustainable development, diversity, and racial, ethnic, and gender equality. Through courses and the service-learning requirement, students in the minor gain the skills to work in nonprofit organizations, local communities, or governmental organizations.

Links:
Sociology - http://sociology.unc.edu