A visionary roadmap for the future of sustainability education

In brief

A Stanford working group has created a plan to expand sustainability education for all undergraduates in response to widespread demand.
The report proposes a flexible “Wayfinding Framework” to cater to diverse student interests and career aspirations in sustainability.
Collaboration among various Stanford schools is emphasized to equip students with the skills necessary to tackle future sustainability challenges.

A group tasked by university and school leaders with ensuring that every student has the opportunity to engage with sustainability-related learning has released a comprehensive plan for equipping undergraduates with the knowledge and skills needed to address pressing environmental and social challenges.

The report, based on extensive student, faculty, and academic staff feedback, highlights the overwhelming demand for existing programs at Stanford. For example, in 2025, the two-year-old Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Summer Internship Program received 10 times more applications than available positions, the report notes. It calls for a “big tent” approach to governance, encouraging collaboration between the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and the university’s six other schools to foster innovation and share resources.

“Our goal was never to expect every student to become a full-time sustainability expert, but to listen to their needs and create multiple, flexible pathways,” said Professor Kathryn Ann “Kam” Moler, chair of the Undergraduate Sustainability Education Working Group. “We aimed to provide a student-centered framework to sustain, celebrate, and improve these offerings.”

The group interpreted its charge, “ensuring that every undergraduate Stanford student, across all disciplines, has the opportunity to get a world-class education in sustainability,” to mean that all students must have opportunities to acquire sustainability-related knowledge and skills, to explore more deeply, and, perhaps, to become future leaders who may help address the world’s most challenging sustainability problems, according to the report. Recommendations focus on empowering, supporting, and actively involving faculty and students in the development and implementation of sustainability-related education.

The group was formed in January 2025 and spent winter and spring quarters researching, analyzing, and crafting a vision for embedding sustainability literacy across campus. Key findings from the student surveys show practical concerns often hinder engagement with sustainability, despite broad interest across campus. A faculty survey revealed high interest in enhancing and expanding introductory courses and experiential learning opportunities.

“This report provides a visionary and practical roadmap for the future of undergraduate education in sustainability,” said Arun Majumdar, dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. “It recognizes that addressing the world’s sustainability challenges and opportunities will require collaboration from every field – from engineering and policy to the arts and humanities. Stanford is committed to equipping all our students with the skills and knowledge necessary to be of service to humanity and our planet.”

The working group also assessed current offerings from departments, programs, and institutes. Nearly 2,200 undergraduates took a course offered by the Doerr School of Sustainability in 2024-25, and among spring 2025 seniors, approximately two-thirds had taken a course offered by the school during their time at Stanford, the report states. Campus partnerships, student groups, summer research programs, and other Stanford schools also offer opportunities for students interested in sustainability.

Among spring 2025 seniors, approximately two-thirds had taken a course offered by the Doerr School of Sustainability.

Meeting individual needs

The report’s central recommendation is the creation of a “Wayfinding Framework,” a flexible, multilevel approach designed to meet students’ individual interest levels and career aspirations. The framework used survey data to identify distinct student personas – fictional representations of clusters within the student population characterized by varying motivations and needs. The personas include the “Career-Conscious Environmentalist” (33% of survey respondents), who seeks a clear connection to future employment, and the “Pragmatic Planner” (13%), who will only engage if a course fits a restrictive schedule and graduation requirements.

The Wayfinding Framework proposes a three-part strategy:

Increase exposure: Introduce “educational nuggets” – short, targeted sustainability modules – into existing high-enrollment courses across campus. This allows students in any major to encounter key concepts without adding to their course load.
Build momentum: Expand and clearly curate pathways for students with a growing interest by, for example, strengthening minors, creating official transcript notations, and significantly increasing access to high-demand internships and research opportunities.
Support pathways to future impact: Provide advanced opportunities for deeper experiences, such as university-wide sustainability capstone projects and robust career placement services to connect students with employers in different sectors.

Leading with intention

The working group proposes that the university form a new team to implement the recommendations. This team would work with faculty and staff to pilot new initiatives, expand successful programs, and track progress toward the goal of universal access to sustainability education.

The working group offered dozens of possible actions for consideration in upcoming planning and budgeting processes, including improving pedagogy, increasing sustainability Ways offerings, expanding introductory courses, incorporating sustainability in study abroad programs, and discussing the possibility of a notation or capstone experience for students in any major.

“The undergrads were the MVPs – they had their fingers on the pulse of exactly what needed to be done,” said working group member Professor Kabir Peay, referring to the two student participants in the group. “It would be great to incorporate that very broadly, because the students know what’s going on.”

Cayden Luby, one of the student members, was excited to be part of what “felt like a group project, but with professors,” she said. “I want to emphasize that the students being treated as equals in this working group is important for the work.”

Any governance and implementation plan should consider ways for students to give feedback on their experiences, to share their passion and commitment, and to pilot and lead new ideas, the report states.

“This vision gives me confidence in stepping into a leadership role in education for the school,” said Peay, who assumed the role of senior associate dean for education on Sept. 1. “The first thing we need to do is harness faculty enthusiasm to get these next steps going.”

To learn more about the background, charge, and members of the working group, visit the Undergraduate Sustainability Education Working Group page on the intranet (accessible with SUNet ID).

Moler is a professor of applied physics and of physics in the School of Humanities and Sciences and of energy science and engineering in the Doerr School of Sustainability. Peay is a professor of biology in the School of Humanities and Sciences and of Earth system science in the Doerr School of Sustainability, and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

A summary of the 164-page report was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence to inform this article. The writer verified all material with the quoted sources before publication.

This story was originally published by Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.