'‘Walking the social sustainability walk''- Employee Sustainability Award goes to Jesse Alexander

MU’s Sustainability Committee is committed to the promotion and implementation of sustainable measures at MU, and hands out two annual awards for the best project ideas that could be implemented at the university. The Scholarship of Hope is awarded to the student or students with the best proposals, and the Employee Sustainability Award encourages also faculty and staff to think about sustainable measures thus promoting awareness at all levels of the university.

This year, the award went to Student Service Centre Officer Jesse Alexander for his proposal ‘’Walking the social sustainability walk: service learning and curricula at MU’’. Jesse’s close involvement in structuring the MU Cares community program led him to think of a way to ‘’up our commitment to social sustainability by integrating Service Learning into the curriculum.’’

The basic idea of Service Learning is an in- and out-of-classroom educational experience that benefits both provider and recipient in the community. By adding an elective enrichment course to the current curriculum, students could benefit from skills such as heightened intercultural competence, self-development, team building and social responsibility. This idea ties in with the MU principle that graduates will “serve as ambassadors of sustainable and responsible living”.

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Jesse Alexander, sharing his ideas with colleagues and students 

Stefan Gindl, lecturer and researcher in New Media Technology and head of the selection committee said of the chosen proposal "A university aiming to educate the scholars of the future needs an inspiring concept for the integration of sustainability into its curricula. Jesse Alexander's concept fulfills this requirement completely: it is not only inspiring by covering all three pillars of sustainability, but also outlines specific plans for their implementation at MU."

In line with the committee’s goal of reducing carbon footprints, Jesse won a yearly pass for Vienna’s transit network, the Wienerlinien. Pictured above are Graziano Ceddia, Sustainability Committee President and Associate Professor in Public Governance, left, handing the award to Jesse Alexander, right.

Congratulations Jesse!