Dr. Elise Amel is the co-author of the recent book Fostering Sustainability in Higher Education: Leveraging Human Behavior in Organizations. The book was published by Springer as part of the Psychology and Our Planet series.
Amel is a professor in the Department of Psychology.
The book, which serves as a review and application of the literature in Dr. Amel’s field of industrial-organizational psychology, aims to help sustainably transform higher education institutions. Notably, Amel draws heavily on her experience leading sustainability efforts at St. Thomas.
For individuals intent on engaging their higher education institutions in sustainability, but who have little experience with organizational change or have encountered barriers to progress, the book is a welcome intervention. It synthesizes the empirical literature and describes through accessible prose the psychological principles to encourage structural, procedural, social, and behavioral changes in support of a socially just and environmentally sustainable future.