MISSION: Integrate sustainability as a core principle throughout operations, research, and education at the University of Utah and to support initiatives that cultivate the campus as a living laboratory.

VISION: Create a culture of responsibility by integrating the values of sustainability in all facets of the University of Utah and to serve as a model for what is possible.

Equity

The University of Utah Sustainability Office is committed to promoting social equity and justice as part of a sustainable future for all. We recognize that social equity and justice are as integral to sustainability as ecological and economic concerns. We will: center equity as a primary element of our work; act against systemic discrimination that harms people and undermines community sustainability; listen and learn from Indigenous knowledges; and create inclusive and anti-racist spaces for education, research and programming.

• • Sustainability is committed to reporting its equity initiatives annually. Read the 2020-21 Sustainability Office Equity Review.

Core Values

• • Collecting data and best practices to track progress and implement change;
  • Connecting campus sustainability practices, programs, and people;
  • Creating a living, learning laboratory on campus;
  • Catalyzing and leading the campus community toward action;
  • Communicating campus sustainability initiatives and successes.

Aspirations

Based on a SOAR analysis summit conducted in January 2019, the Sustainability Office has set the following 5 aspirations:

• • That our campus (design, facilities, operations) is a leading-edge sustainable campus that inspires others to treat their campuses as living labs.
  • That both wellness and social/environmental justice are deeply embedded in all sustainability efforts.
  • That all students are global citizens of sustainability.
  • That the organizational resources allocated to sustainability efforts reflect the core value position and urgency of the issue to university leadership.
  • That the university is viewed as a national leader in sustainability research and education.