Meetings

National Conference

Quick link: Meeting details

University of Washington        ▪️        September 9 - 12, 2024

Fourth National Sustainability Society Planning Meeting (April 2024)

In April 2024, the National Sustainability Society Planning Committee met in New York City, hosted by Jay Golden and Syracuse University at the Lubin House. The outcomes of the meeting were passed NSS by-laws, election of interim officers for the Board of Directors, elections to standing committees, and advancement of planning for the inaugural meeting. In attendance were: Casandra Rauser, Christopher Boone, Elena Irwin, Joshua Abbott, Jay Golden, Mark Hartman, Garrick Louis, Marilu Hastings, Anu Ramaswami, Maya Tolstoy, Krista Hiser, Nicole Ardoin, Ryan Johnson, Wendy Jepson, Arun Agrawal, Diane Pataki, Cristy Watkins, Ben Sovacool, and Dan Brown.

Third National Sustainability Society Planning Meeting (October 2023)

The NSS Planning Committee met on the University of Michigan Campus to discuss next steps in the creation and implementation of the organization. A major outcome was the decision to hold a large public convening of sustainability researchers, educators, and practitioners in Seattle in September 2024.  Details on that meeting can be found here. 

Inaugural Public Event: Collaborative strategies for  education, workforce  development, innovation,  and implementation

October 6, 2023, 8:45 am – 7:00 pm

Matthaei Botanical Garden, Ann Arbor, Michigan

This free event marked the inaugural open event of the National Sustainability Society.  The event includes a workshop on innovations in sustainability curriculum development, plenaries on education and workforce development, and co-designing sustainability solutions. The event enhanced conversations that bloomed through the summer webinar series hosted by the NSS, and informed the implementation of NSS goals.

Program below:

NSS Program.pdf

Second National Sustainability Society Planning Meeting (February 2023)

Following on a successful first meeting (see below) and with enthusiastic support to create the National Sustainability Society, the planning committee met in Tempe, Arizona to develop strategies and next steps for launching the society. The meeting began with a panel discussion with three sustainability experts representing the private sector (Bruno Sarda, Principal of Climate Change & Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young), non-profit sector (Marilu Hastings, Executive Vice President of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation), and public sector (Mark Hartmann, Chief Sustainability Officer, City of Phoenix). The expanded planning committee reiterated its support for the National Society Sustainability, agreed to serve on standings committees, and accepted appointments as interim board members. There was unanimous  support for officially launching the National Sustainability Society alongside a conference and workshop at the University of Michigan in fall 2023. 

Photo caption: NSS planning committee participants working on strategies and next steps for the organization in the Walton Center for Planetary Health at Arizona State University. The participants for the second meeting included:  Jessica Hellman, Professor and Exec. Dir., U of Minnesota Institute on the Environment; Chris Boone, Professor and former dean, School of Sustainability & College of Global Futures, Arizona State University; Elena Irwin, Professor and Director, Sustainability Institute, Ohio State University; Dan Brown, Professor and Director, Environmental & Forest Sciences, University of Washington; Lisa Graumlich, Professor and Dean Emerita, College of the Environment, University of Washington; Diane Pataki, Professor and Director, School of Sustainability, Arizona State University; Garrick Louis, Professor, Engineering Systems & Environment, University of Virginia; Maya Tolstoy, Professor and Dean, College of the Environment, University of Washington; Nicole Ardoin, Professor and Director, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford University; Arun Agrawal, Professor, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; Wendy Jepson, Professor and Associate Director of Texas Water Resources Institute, Texas A&M University; Marilu Hastings, Executive Vice President of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation; Jonathan Overpeck, Professor and Dean, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; Mark Hartmann, Chief Sustainability Officer, City of Phoenix; Bruno Sarda, Principal of Climate Change & Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young; Krista Hiser, Senior Lead and Advisor for Sustainability Education, Global Council for Science and the Environment, Professor, Kapiʻolani Community College; Marco Ugarte, Director of Sustainability at Walmart; Cynthia Koenig, CEO at Wello and Principal Product Manager at Amazon; Cassie Rauser, Executive Director of UCLA’s Sustainable LA Grand Challenge; Jim Hanna, Director of Datacenter Community Development at Microsoft; Ryan Johnson, Executive Director, Executive and Professional Education, School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures. Amy Luers, Global Director for Sustainability Science at Microsoft, joined remotely for a session on filling the sustainability skills gap. 

First National Sustainability Society Planning Meeting (August 2022)

Twelve thoughts leaders gathered in Union, Washington to explore the possibility of creating a new organization to serve the rapidly growing field of sustainability. Among the key takeaways from this meeting was that such an organization would add value and coherence to the field of sustainability in scholarship and practice. A second key agreement was that this organization needed to engage practitioners and constituents beyond academia because sustainability is an interventionist science, meaning that knowledge to action, and vice versa, is a central tenet of sustainability. Although many existing societies have sustainability working groups or sections, we and others we consulted agreed it was time for sustainability to have a society of its own.  

The first meeting was inspired by the considerations described below. 

The field of sustainability is undergoing a massive expansion. Unprecedented societal and environmental challenges, growing aspirations of young professionals to make a difference, and a rapidly growing labor market demand more effective sustainability training. There is a concomitant need for the consolidation of intellectual foundations for the field as it develops to serve the goal of sustainability transformations.


The response of higher education institutions and schools of environment and sustainability has, however, been partial at best. Colleges and universities have put in place sustainability courses, certificates, minors, degree programs, institutes, and schools. But much of this development is guided by limited and patchy exchanges across higher education institutions and a historical understanding of sustainability rooted in distinct disciplinary traditions.


A critical challenge for our field is to maintain rigor and build consensus on the key principles, competencies, capacities, frameworks, and substance of sustainability as a scholarly realm and as a rapidly expanding field of practice across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. It is critically important to advance the knowledge necessary to address the challenges of transformation, integration, and justice; effectively match graduates with labor market opportunities; and develop a pipeline that rapidly expands the sustainability workforce. 


To meet the need, a federation of US colleges and universities working with private, public, and non-profit sector organizations, launched a National Sustainability Society (NSS) as a forum to: 

Photo caption: Participants present at the first planning meeting for the National Sustainability Society in Union, Washington. From Left to Right: Jessica Hellman, Professor and Exec. Dir., U of Minnesota Institute on the Environment; Chris Boone, Professor and former dean, School of Sustainability & College of Global Futures, Arizona State University; Elena Irwin, Professor and Director, Sustainability Institute, Ohio State University; Dan Brown, Professor and Director, Environmental & Forest Sciences, University of Washington; Lisa Graumlich, Professor and Dean Emerita, College of the Environment, University of Washington; Diane Pataki, Professor and Director, School of Sustainability, Arizona State University; Toddi Steelman, Professor and Dean, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University; Garrick Louis, Professor, Engineering Systems & Environment, University of Virginia; Maya Tolstoy, Professor and Dean, College of the Environment, University of Washington; Nicole Ardoin, Professor and Director, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford University; Arun Agrawal, Professor, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; Anu Ramaswami, Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Princeton University.