ANN ARBOR—More than 4,000 University of Michigan students and 1,500 faculty and staff members are being surveyed about sustainability issues this month as part of a groundbreaking, campuswide initiative called the Sustainability Cultural Indicators Project, a partnership led by U-M’s Graham Sustainability Institute and the Institute for Social Research.

The survey—which will be repeated annually—is an outcome of U-M’s 20-month Campus Sustainability Integrated Assessment, which concluded last year with a series of ambitious sustainability goals and commitments for the university, one of which is to invest in programs to educate the campus community about sustainability, to track behavior and to report progress over time. A diverse team of faculty, staff and students developed the survey with this objective in mind.”

One priority the provost has charged us with is to use the U-M campus as a living, learning laboratory for sustainability,” said Don Scavia, director of the Graham Sustainability Institute. “What we learn from the survey will be instrumental in helping to advance this important goal.

“The survey, which has an annual budget of $80,000, is being led by two principal investigators: John Callewaert, director of integrated assessment at the Graham Institute; and Robert Marans, research professor at the Institute for Social Research and professor emeritus at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. The majority of the funding is being provided by the U-M Office of the Provost, with additional funding from the Graham Sustainability Institute and the Institute for Social Research.

“The purpose of the survey is to better understand what U-M students, faculty, and staff members know and think about sustainability and what their actions are on a daily basis,” Marans said. “Because sustainability is such a multifaceted issue, the survey questions mirror that complexity and cover a wide range of topics, including transportation, energy conservation, waste prevention, food and environmental protection.

“Two comprehensive questionnaires have been developed: one for faculty and staff (with 67 questions) and one for students (64 questions). Questions cover three primary areas: knowledge/awareness, attitudes/dispositions and behavior/actions. They also focus on the key aspects of the Campus Sustainability Integrated Assessment: climate action, waste prevention and healthy communities. The questionnaires are being sent to a representative sample of the campus community.

Reports of survey findings will be provided to related units annually, so they may continuously monitor trends and developments in sustainability awareness and behavior on campus.

“While many other universities have conducted campus sustainability surveys, the SCIP questionnaire is likely the most comprehensive longitudinal survey developed on the topic,” Callewaert said. “We’re already receiving inquiries from other institutions about our process, which is a great testament to the hard work that so many have put into it.”

To learn more about the sustainability survey, contact Callewaert at the Graham Sustainability Institute at (734) 615-3752 or jcallew@umich.edu.

For more information about the university’s sustainability commitments, visit the U-M Planet Blue website at http://www.sustainability.umich.edu.

U-M Sustainability fosters a more sustainable world through collaborations across campus and beyond aimed at educating students, generating new knowledge, and minimizing our environmental footprint. Learn more at sustainability.umich.edu.