Higher Education Sustainability Professionals as a Signaling Mechanism: A Social Network Analysis

• In Event: 75.031 - Environmental Education in a Sustainable World

Abstract

within the sustainability forefront. Following a series of international policy initiatives on the integration of sustainability into higher education came a wave of hiring sustainability professionals. But what exactly is the role of the contemporary higher education sustainability professional? In this study, we analyzed job postings (n = 84) for sustainability professionals to better understand what characterizes the work higher education professionals carry out. We found sustainability professional jobs on the market over the past two years focused on responsibilities that can be easily measured (such as energy reduction) and ways to disseminate such measures (data analysis and reporting).

Authors

• Jessica Ostrow Michel, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Erika Kessler, Teachers College, Columbia University