About HEASC
HEASC seeks to help higher education exert strong leadership in making education, research, and practice for a sustainable society a reality.
HEASC supports its members' work in advancing sustainability by:
- Promoting and enhancing each others' sustainability efforts;
- Providing a forum for sharing and exchanging information, knowledge, and experiences;
- Building the capacity of HEA's to make sustainability a goal of their programming and practices;
- Enhancing professional development, including training in sustainability for HEA staff and their constituents;
- Reorienting professional development programs to address sustainability;
- Connecting HEAs to the best expertise, resources and information in sustainability for higher education;
- Producing a bi-monthly newsletter on trends in sustainability in higher education, including HEA efforts; and
- Engaging in joint projects, and in projects with other associations and organizations that advance sustainability.
Current Members
- American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)
- American Association of State Colleges & Universities (AASCU)
- Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
- Association of Collegiate Conference & Events Directors International (ACCED-I)
- American Council on Education (ACE)
- ACPA-College Student Educators International (ACPA)
- Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers (APPA)
- Association of College & University Housing Officers International (ACUHO-I)
- Association of Governing Boards of Universities & Colleges (AGB)
- Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU)
- National Association for Campus Activities (NACA)
- National Association of College & University Business Officers (NACUBO)
- National Association of Educational Procurement (NAEP)
- National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities (NAICU)
- National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA)
- Society for College & University Planning (SCUP)
History
HEASC was formed in December 2005 by leaders of several HEAs to support and enhance the capacity of higher education to fulfill its critical role in producing an educated and engaged citizenry and the knowledge needed for a thriving and civil society. These organizations recognize that fulfilling their mission in the 21st century requires a broader, systemic, collaborative approach to their own work and that of the constituents they serve. The societal challenges to create vibrant, secure communities and strong economies while preserving the life support system on which we all depend are daunting and will only increase as the world's population and our need to increase economic output grows.
HEASC's purpose is to learn from each other, work together on joint projects, get access to the best expertise and information on sustainability, and to keep a collective, ongoing focus on advancing education for a sustainable future over time.
We hope that this exciting development will help move sustainability to the center stage in higher education and enhance the considerable work that has been and is being done by students, faculty, operational staff and administrators in hundreds of colleges and universities to make a healthy, just and sustainable future a goal of all learning and practice.
Coordinating Agency/Staff
The coordinating function is handled by Second Nature (SN). SN was founded in 1993 to work with college and university campuses across the country as they make sustainability an integral goal of learning and practice. SN works with administrators, faculty, staff and students at colleges and universities and with higher education organizations across the country to make the principles of sustainability the foundation of all learning, practice and collaboration with local communities. Second Nature (SN) has led the way in helping over 500 colleges and universities throughout the country begin to move towards sustainability and has been an important player in supporting the development or expansion of state and regional academic consortia focused on making sustainability a foundation of learning and practice. It played a key role in creating the new North American Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
The primary contacts are SN President Anthony Cortese, U.S. Partnership for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, Higher Education co-chair, Debra Rowe and SN Program Manager Stephen Muzzy.
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