Furman University

In the classroom, you’ll find our students and faculty pursuing research and implementing innovative ideas that will lead our society toward a more sustainable future. Outside our lecture halls, we are reducing our environmental footprint and helping our neighbors do the same. Bottom line, sustainability is in our DNA. Furman is frequently recognized as a leader in sustainability on college campuses, and with good reason. We think about sustainability in everything we do, from the energy we consume to our recycling efforts on campus. Our students leave Furman with the knowledge and tools to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Learn about the sustainable actions taking place on campus.

Furman University offers a competitive academic program in sustainability. Added in 2011, Sustainability Science is the only degree program of its kind in the nation that is offered at a private liberal arts university. Students in this program are trained to recognize and analyze the complex relationships among human, social and environmental systems and how changes in one system affect the others. Students can also declare an interdisciplinary minor in Environmental Studies or Poverty Studies. Moreover, Furman is home to the Shi Center for Sustainability, which has evolved into a powerful think-tank.​ We provide a hub where educators, students and community leaders can work together, exploring the most complex issues of sustainability. Through these efforts, we have the ability to partner on community projects and generate solutions that can be modeled across the globe. For us, it’s about more than building a better sustainability program on a college campus. It’s about leaving a better planet for future generations.​​