Editor's note: This is the first in a series of articles written by students who were enrolled in Jennifer Bloom's spring 2008 graduate course in the higher education and student affairs program at the University of South Carolina. As part of her course syllabus, Dr. Bloom required each student in her class to submit an article to The Mentor or other publications for consideration.

With growing fears of global warming, depletion of natural resources, and ever-increasing gas prices, there has been a push around the world to live more responsibly. Many college campuses across the nation have taken this to heart by improving recycling programs, constructing new buildings that meet United States Green Building Council standards, and even offering environmentally focused courses (Uhl & Anderson, 2001). As the fervor for anything “green” continues to grow, sustainability has moved from a word used by small groups of environmentalists to the mainstream description of a movement for responsible living. The most common definition of sustainability is often cited from the 1987 report Our Common Future, which describes it as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p. 43). Since this initial report, many other definitions of sustainability have been offered, but no consensus definition has ever been established.

In fact, one of the major criticisms of sustainability is that the definitions that do exist are too broad. It has also become a mere buzzword that lacks substance. This issue is addressed in Sustainability Indicators, which argues that lack of a tight consensus definition is a positive thing, giving the movement both longevity and a broader appeal. “People differ in the environmental, social and economic conditions within which they have to live, and having a single definition that one attempts to apply across this diversity could be both impractical and dangerous” (Bell & Morse, 1999, p. 10). Regardless of the definition used, the spirit of sustainability lies in living without exerting a negative impact on the way future generations can live.

So what does sustainability have to do with higher education? Regardless of one's belief in environmental concerns, sustainability has principles that are strong enough to be applied to many areas of life, including academic advising. By identifying and incorporating many of the values shared by sustainability and academic advising, we may be able to foster a type of learning that is student-centered, responsible, and enduring. In this article, I will explore six shared values of advising and sustainability that, when addressed, can create advising that instills principles and virtues that are intended to last.

Concern for the Future

At the core of both sustainability and advising is the focus on working toward a better tomorrow. Whether a scientist is attempting to slow the effects of global warming, or a student is attempting to secure the right job after graduation, each views the future as uncertain and requires direct action to achieve respective goals. The world's view of environmental problems is often seen as being “caught between competing visions of the future: one of fear and one of hope” (Sachs, 2004, para. 3). This is much like students entering their undergraduate experience—advisers must assuage constant uncertainty and help students move forward by guiding them toward specific academic goals. It is the adviser's job, when looking toward the future, to be sure that the vision of hope is dominant over the vision of fear. This may be done by helping students identify their career goals, encouraging campus involvement, helping them find mentors, or even just listening. The National Academic Advising Association's (NACADA) core values states, “Advisors help students develop a perception of themselves and their relationship to the future” (1994, p. 411). When advisers help to set goals and develop paths toward futures that meet students' needs and address the possible roads ahead, the vision of fear will be replaced by a vision of hope, optimism, and self-confidence.

Community

Another key value of both sustainability and academia is establishing a sense of community. If we can help students to feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves, their time at college can mean more than just studying and taking tests. The Ethics of Sustainability defines community as “caring and mutually enriching relationships among persons who share and celebrate ties of common interest and purpose, most often centered in a place” (Euston & Gibson, 1995, para. 16). If these ties of interest and purpose are nurtured, issues like student involvement, school pride, and even alumni relationships may improve. Students will build stronger support groups with other students and mentors in the same field, fostering communication and networking. “In community, shared interests in time, space, and culture compel individuals to engage one another creatively toward the achievement of specific goals and outcomes. This is the most powerful framework for the pursuit of learning” (Strange & Banning, 2001, pp. 178–179).

Collaboration

Collaboration is essential to effective sustainability and education. “Developing effective, innovative policies that promote sustainability depend on understanding the motivation for decision making by businesses, communities, government, and individuals” (Environmental Protection Agency, 2007, p. 44). Likewise in education, for student progress to be effective, everyone needs to have a part. Instead of combining the power of businesses, communities, and government, the university looks to faculty, student and academic affairs professionals, and administrators to play significant roles in the student's academic experience. Only when all these resources are pooled can we come closer to reaching the full potential of the higher education system. In her article on shared responsibility, Frost (1991) observes, “When representatives from these groups plan, train for, implement, and evaluate advising, they can create a network of cooperation that can be transferred to other aspects of the college. They also model collaborative behavior for students” (para. 9).

Collaboration does not have to end with faculty and staff. Student collaboration is also essential to social and academic development. “Students must be encouraged to take responsibility for establishing a collaborative, high-quality learning environment by supporting peers through formal activities, such as learning communities, tutoring, study groups, and mentoring and support networks” (Kinzie & Kuh, 2007, p. 35). This suggests that it is not only the job of faculty and staff to collaborate, but it is also the student's responsibility. When the student takes responsibility for the quality of his education, then it truly can be the most effective.

Leave No Footprint

One of the fundamental principles of sustainability is the concept of leaving no footprint (Schmidt, 2001). Definitions of sustainability often stress living in a way that will not adversely affect tomorrow, or leave an identifiable impact. “When we reshape a landscape, we radically alter a system of forms and relationships that are the current manifestation of some 4.6 billion years of evolution,” (Lyle, 1994, p. 19). In academic advising, we may not be dealing with 4.6 billion years, but oftentimes the eighteen years of growth through peer and parental influences can be enough. Regardless, the job of the academic adviser is not to reshape the landscape of students, but to help build on the foundation that has already been established. A NACADA (1994) core value asserts, “Advisers encourage students to be responsible for their own success and progress” (p. 411). Baxter Magolda (1999) offers, “The connected teacher emphasizes that learning and the development of knowledge take place in, and are the property of, the student” (p. 24). It is essential for the student to have the primary role in directing his or her future. By enabling self-authorship (Baxter Magolda) and not leaving their own imprint on the student's goals, advisers will be giving students the tools to continue to make successful decisions in the future.

Assessment for Continuous Improvement

Assessing and adapting based on the resulting data are cornerstones to both sustainability and advising. In sustainability, if there were no previous research on the effectiveness of solar panels, there would be no reason to try to make them better. If there were no reports on the impact of energy conservation, there would be no reason to curb consumption or continue to search out new ways to do it better. Without reflection and assessment, no changes will occur to foster improvement. According to Kinzie and Kuh (2007), “Institutions focused on improving student success use information to assess their performance, pinpoint where improvement is necessary, inform change strategies, and monitor their effectiveness” (p. 29). In advising, if we equip students with the necessary tools to think for themselves, make good decisions, and reassess those decisions for improvement, we can enable them to make positive progress in their pursuits both now and in the future.

Ethical Purpose

The ability to tell the difference between right and wrong, and then act accordingly, is vital to both sustainability and advising. According to Euston and Gibson, “The emerging Public Philosophy of Sustainability is a call to ethical responsibility. It focuses directly on the values that are a precondition to a just and sustainable world. We do not confuse these values with mere individual preferences” (1995, para. 3). It is important to identify what the right thing to do is regardless of what we would personally like to see happen. Advisers assist students with everything from course selection, to determining their own values, to taking responsibility for the decisions that they make. If we take time and show our students how to deal with ethical dilemmas and conflicts of value, we can “create a social environment that is consistent, fair, respectful, responsible, and accountable” (Frank, 2000, p. 56). As role models in students' ethical development, it is important that advisers advocate principled values.

Concluding Thoughts

As higher education continues to evolve, academic advisers will find that their responsibilities to students will also continue to change. It becomes ever more important to equip our students with the tools necessary to succeed, not only in college, but also throughout their lives. There are many perspectives on how to do this, just as there are many definitions of the word sustainability. Some are better than others, but many of the acknowledged ones share consistent themes, much like the successful philosophies of advising. Advisers may benefit by drawing from the best of these philosophies and incorporating them with the student's future in the forefront of their minds. Hargreaves and Fink (2006) state, “Learning that sustains is slow, and it sticks. It does not degenerate into a series of frantic performances designed to meet externally imposed short-term targets” (p. 266). The short-term goals are important to establish, but it is crucial that we have a vision of the future and a means to get there. As advisers, we need to instill in students the knowledge that there are different paths that they each can take, but it is everyone's responsibility to ensure that the path heads in a healthy direction.