Our Guiding Values and Timeline
Our Mission and Vision
Our vision: All students at Portland State University advocate for a sustainable future that is livable and just.
Our mission: The Student Sustainability Center engages students in becoming intersectional sustainability leaders by providing experiential learning opportunities.
Our Values
Values are guiding principles and themes that describe why we join together as a team toward the departmental vision and mission.
Accessibility: We value accessibility as an expectation for inclusivity in our programs. Our work is influenced by our commitment to make our programs more accessible and available to all at PSU.
Reciprocal Relationships + Partnerships: We orient our work around supporting the greater campus community’s sustainability needs from an intersectional lens. We recognize our role in strengthening mutually beneficial partnerships with centers outside of our own and work to grow our network of exchange and impact over time.
Intersectionality and Inclusivity: We work to center equity, cultural sustainability, intersectionality, and anti-racist practices in our work. We commit to reflexively examining our own programming and the work of the greater sustainability movement in dismantling harmful systems of oppression.
Responsibility: We hold ourselves accountable to the values that guide our purpose, actively seeking to assess and address issues within our program, and take measurable steps to improve them.
Student Advocacy: We take direction from students' passions, interests, and the changes they desire to make on campus. Our avenues for student engagement in campus sustainability include connecting students to platforms for change through encouraging student advocacy.
Sustainability is an important part of PSU’s mission, and SSC makes sustainability accessible to students by their physical location, student focus and programs. Social justice and sustainability go hand-in-hand toward creating a valuable experience for our students and addressing global challenges. Cynthia Gomez, Executive Director of Cultural Resources Centers
SSC Timeline
All SSC programs and activities have been developed with support and feedback by student participants and the PSU community.
- 2008 Students from across campus, including the Student Sustainability Leadership Council, advocated for a student-focused sustainability engagement program when PSU received the Miller Foundation Challenge Grant.
- 2009 The Student Sustainability Center launched with financial support through the Institute for Sustainable Solutions.
- 2010 EcoReps and Sustainability Volunteer Program launch.
- 2011 Created learning outcomes and assessment plan to measure impact and learning of our programs and activities.
- 2012 First quarterly field trip is hosted.
- 2014 SSC completed an extensive strategic planning process that charted future growth through 2019.
- 2015 The SSC became a new fee funded area with support from the Student Fee Committee.
- 2016 Began reporting to Student Activities and Leadership Programs and moved to centrally-located office in Smith Student Union.
- 2019 The SSC celebrated its 10 year anniversary.
- 2019 The SSC and SCEC launched our Hub office space in Smith Student Union.