Duke University seeks to make sustainability a part of the educational experience for every student through courses in diverse fields addressing the core concepts of sustainability, research opportunities, and interactions with the campus as a sustainability living laboratory.
Sustainability courses at Duke prepare students across all disciplines to analyze the connections between social, economic, and environmental phenomena and address global concerns about the future. In the fall of 2016, over 175 courses were identified to have a sustainability focus, meaning students have a wide variety of options to include social, economic, or environmental sustainability in their academic life. Also, during the 2015-2016 academic year, 37% of undergraduate and graduate students graduated with a degree with a sustainability outcome.
Duke University acts as a living laboratory to provide a diversity of real-world experiences in sustainability. This can happen through a variety of methods including a field trip to San Francisco to learn about energy systems, energy data from buildings on campus, a campus-based client project, etc.
Some great resources for students and faculty to include Duke's campus resources inside or outside the classroom are below: