The Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI) collaborates with campus and community partners to create a culture of sustainability on campus that prepares students to be sustainability leaders and collaborators during their university years and beyond.
We envision sustainability as fostering interconnected human and environmental well-being now and for future generations. Each individual and every field of study has something unique and important to offer to this effort.
Through interdisciplinary education and engagement initiatives, OSI creates multiple pathways for students, faculty, and staff to engage with sustainability to enrich learning, teaching, research, and daily life on campus and in the community.
OSI also leads the University’s comprehensive sustainability reporting, convenes the University’s Sustainability Council, and collaborates with units across campus to achieve university-wide goals for sustainability at St. Thomas.
Maria Dahmus
Director
Email: medahmus@stthomas.edu
Rachel Schauer
Program Manager
Email: rschauer@stthomas.edu
#17
Green Matters: Everyone Cares About Conservation, Princeton Review, 2025
80%
of academic departments offer courses that integrate sustainability
180
applied learning projects with government & campus partners since 2016
The Sustainable Communities Partnership (SCP) collaborates with government and campus partners to engage students in real-world, experiential learning and creative problem-solving by integrating partner-identified sustainability projects into St. Thomas courses across disciplines. SCP expands partner capacity to address long-standing and emerging sustainability challenges facing our communities and prepares students to be sustainability leaders and collaborators in their future career paths.
SCP projects explore economic, social, and ecological dimensions of interconnected human and environmental well-being in our communities. Founded in 2016, SCP has collaborated with partners on over 180 projects in courses across 27 disciplines.
The Student Sustainability Leadership Program (SSLP) is a student employment opportunity designed to prepare the next generation of environmental leaders by giving them hands-on experience with sustainability on campus and to increase student sustainability knowledge and action through peer-education.
SSLP
Student Sustainability Leaders work on year-long projects and partner with units across campus to help achieve campus sustainability goals. SSLP projects have included developing the Guide to Sustainable Living, campus sustainability scavenger hunts, waste reduction games, and implementing results of campus-based Sustainable Communities Partnership projects.
SSLP
Student Sustainability Leaders bring hands-on education to the campus community through educational activities and events throughout the year. Student Sustainability Leaders also help coordinate Campus Sustainability Month in October and Sustainability Week in April, engaging and collaborating with campus partners and student clubs across campus.
SSLP
Student Sustainability Leaders attend campus events to help event attendees to properly sort their waste. The “trash talkers” guide students, staff, and faculty by standing by the waste bins and educating them on how to sort their waste.
SSLP
Student Sustainability Leaders help run Tommies Closet, a secondhand clothing pop-up for St. Thomas students to shop for free. All items in the closet have been donated by campus community members and partners. Tommies Closet partners with Career Development Center to offer business attire to students to prepare for interviews and career fairs.
The Sustainability Arts Initiative invites the campus community to explore interconnections of human and environmental well-being on campus and in our community through arts-based experiential engagement. Students across majors collaborate with local artists, writers, and communities to bring to life community sustainability goals for people of all ages.
On Care for Our Common Home: Community Art Project
A campus-wide opportunity to encounter our natural environment with an openness to wonder, beauty, and an understanding of our interconnections with all life, presented in partnership with the Claritas Initiative.
Mississippi River Stories brings to life our diverse experiences of the Mississippi River through the translation of student research into art. The exhibit features a collection of pieces from sixteen artists, each piece inspired by river stories collected by University of St. Thomas students through a collaborative research project with the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization and the Natural Heritage Project. We hope this exhibit inspires you to reflect on what the Mississippi River means to you and our community.
Exploring Pollinator Pathways invites people of all ages to stop and observe pollinators closely, to learn about their relationships to flowers, and to ponder their value to society. This project, in collaboration with the St. Thomas Pollinator Path, seeks to inspire wonder, joy, and appreciation for the diversity and value of pollinators in the Twin Cities and beyond.
The Power of Storytelling for Environmental Justice in Our Communities is a collaboration with Saint Paul Almanac that seeks to uplift voices from communities across Minnesota who have been affected by climate change and environmental injustice and who envision an environmentally just future.
This 2019 Earth Day public art installation, in collaboration with MetroTransit, Leadership for Social Justice students, and the College of Arts and Sciences, communicates student research about the importance of transit in people’s lives through art. Students found that transformation was a common theme underlying transit riders' stories and envisioned the metaphor of the monarch butterfly's lifecycle to express their research. Illustrated by SCP Artist-in-Residence, Sarah Nelson.
This project shares the medicinal properties of plants at the St. Thomas Medicinal Garden through student research paired with illustrations. We hope this project helps you see plants in a new light.
The Office of Sustainability Initiatives invites the campus community to explore sustainability on campus and beyond through annual events and interactive experiences.
Campus Sustainability Month is held in October and celebrates higher education sustainability achievements. Events and activities are held throughout the month to raise awareness of sustainability initiatives. Each week features a sustainability theme such as reuse, food, and academics.
Sustainability Week is a series of events held in April during the week of Earth Day. Departments and organizations across campus host events and activities to explore and celebrate sustainable practices.
“The Sustainable Communities Partnership has been essential in showing how our education ties in with the St. Thomas mission. This project has allowed us to analyze real-world data, collaborate with classmates, and present solutions to problems that affect real communities. We are applying skills we have cultivated in the classroom to projects that advance the common good.”
—Anna, student
“Working as a Student Sustainability Leader gave me the opportunity to jumpstart my career working in the field of environmental sustainability while also getting to know the sustainability community on campus. This job is so impactful because you get to work with the sustainability team to create real, tangible change on campus by working with departments and communicating with your peers.”
—Ariana '23, SSLP alum
"This Sustainable Communities Partnership project has been an amazing experience. It has been an eye-opening experience because we were no longer dealing with hypothetical firms and businesses on exams that don’t exist. Instead, we find ourselves working with real-life people in real-life situations where decisions and findings make an impact.”
—Max, student
“The Sustainable Communities Partnership allows agencies and communities to propose a diverse range of projects, at various scales and scopes. We often have projects that require exploratory research, or we may have difficulty allocating staff resources to particular project areas. This partnership allows for flexibility and collaboration to really move projects and research forward. College students offer fresh insight into our growing understanding of and need for sustainable practices and planning for resilience.”
—Eric Wojchik, Senior Planner, Metropolitan Council & SCP Partner Lead (2017-present)
“The City of Elk River was excited to partner with the University of St. Thomas Sustainable Communities Partnership because classes have helped achieve initiatives that we wouldn’t be able to accomplish ourselves for years, if ever. We also get to aid the next generation of university students in gaining real-world expertise. It’s a win-win and we couldn’t be more honored for the opportunity.“
—Kristin Mroz, City of Elk River Environmental Technician & SCP City Partner Lead (2016-2017)
“Many of the Sustainable Communities Partnership projects result in a tangible plan or product that can be immediately used, which is great for the community and really satisfying for the students, who get to see their ideas come to life and make a real impact.”
—Michael Healy, City of Big Lake, City Planner & SCP Partner Lead (2017-2018)
Member of AASHE and earned a STARS Gold rating in 2024
Member of EPIC-N and recipient of the Outstanding Program of the Year Award in 2020
Member of the Laudato Si' Movement in response to Pope Francis' call to care for our common home