Big 10 & Friends Sustainability Network




The purpose of the Big Ten & Friends Sustainability Network is to create a community of practice for sustainability professionals and partners in institutions who share the common challenges, unique opportunities and particular interests of a large, complex, multi-site research university to further sustainability at member institutions and in higher education more broadly.

Big Ten and Friends is an Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Affiliate Group.



Member Institutions:

Illinois

University of Illinois – Chicago

University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

Northwestern University


Indiana

Indiana University

Notre Dame

Purdue University


Iowa

Iowa State University

University of Iowa

University of Northern Iowa


Maryland

University of Maryland

Michigan

Grand Valley State University

Michigan State University

University of Michigan

Wayne State University

Minnesota

University of Minnesota


Nebraska

University of Nebraska


New Jersey

Rutgers University


Ohio

The Ohio State University


Pennsylvania

Penn State University


Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin – Madison

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee



Current Co-Chairs

Please reach out to the co-chairs with questions on membership, next meeting date, or other needs

Lydia Vandenberg | Associate Director of Employee Engagement and Education, Sustainability Institute | Pennsylvania State University | lbv10@psu.edu

Makayla Bonney | Director, Sustain IU | Indiana University | mjbonney@iu.edu

Network Goals & Objectives

  • Share best practices and “next” practices

  • Collaborate on benchmarking aimed at improving and bringing rigor to our work

  • Grow our leadership and management competencies through trainings and hosted speakers

  • Engage in collaborative efforts such as in purchasing that achieve both business and environmental/social outcomes

  • Provide a unified voice of the critical, mission-relevant nature of sustainability in higher education through events, publications, and advocacy

Recent Committee Work and Meeting Topics

  • Implementing Reusable To-Go Containers

  • Sustainable Procurement

  • Sustainable Beverage Contracts

  • Diversity, Equity, & Justice in Campus Sustainability