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USF Meets With Former UN Secretary-General to Promote Sustainability Within Higher Education

In late September, Dr. Raheleh Dayerizadeh, Professional Development Specialist in the Office of Undergraduate Studies鈥� Global Citizens Project (GCP), and Dr. Roger Brindley, System Vice President of USF World, traveled to New York for the launch of the University Global Compact, a platform for higher education institutions to partner with the United Nations (UN) in support of the .

Both Dr. Dayerizadeh and Dr. Brindley represented USF in a meeting with former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The three traveled to Rutgers University where they joined the University Global Compact to discuss the most effective ways to address the 17 SDGs within the academic and research scholarship of USF.

鈥淚t was exhilarating to work alongside other leading global universities around the common goals of addressing the grand challenges of the 21^st century,鈥� Dr. Brindley said. 鈥淭he forum gave us the opportunity to share how colleagues around the world are building critical global concepts and processes into the curriculum.鈥�

The SDGs effect on the university has already been fruitful. USF was recently ranked as the top university in 91社区, fifth best in the nation, and 73^rd among all universities worldwide in the . THE鈥檚 rankings are the only global assessment that measures universities against the UN鈥檚 SDGs. 

鈥淥ur GCP colleagues and General Education faculty are already grappling with the SDGs at USF,鈥� Dr. Brindley said. 鈥淭hese 17 goals will permeate all aspects of our lives more and more as this century continues. USF is part of this visionary effort to begin scaling-up global learning for all our students, both in academic programs, but as importantly through authentic co-curricular initiatives across campus life.鈥�

Developed in 2015 by the UN, the SDGs represent a call for action by all countries to promote prosperity while simultaneously protecting the environment. According to GCP, all 17 goals have direct applicability to a variety of professional fields and can be connected to a range of curricular and co-curricular experiences at USF. Among the 17 SDGs are no poverty, quality education, zero hunger, and gender equality.