United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG World Cafe

• Announcement, “How Does WPI Contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
• WPI’s Self-Study report, and a feedback form if you would like to share any insights
• WPI’s Impact Ranking profile from Times Higher Education
• The 2023- 2024 Global School Forum events
• The Office of Sustainability’s Sustainability Spotlight November newsletter

Please let us know your thoughts on the SDG World Cafe through this event feedback form or email the team at gr-sdgteam@wpi.edu !

On March 13th, 2024, we hosted our first Student-focused World Cafe session in the Flip Space of Gordon Library. Students were asked to employ the Liberating Structure called Appreciative Interview to converse with other students about their experiences with sustainability. The general format is outlined in the slide show attached below. In addition to some general knowledge questions, students were asked to answer one or all of the following questions:

• Where are you interacting with sustainability? Where do conversations about sustainability happen for you at WPI?
  • Particular classes, clubs, on campus, off campus groups?
• What is the role of the WPI community (students, faculty, staff, and university leadership) in sustainability?
• How is your student experience at WPI preparing you for a globally interconnected future addressing sustainability?

If you're a student and would like to share your answers to these questions, feel free to use the links below:

• General Knowledge Questions on PollEverywhere
• In-depth Interview Questions on Poll Everywhere

We intend to bring these same questions to other locations on campus to reach a wider audience of students in the future!

Staff & Faculty SDG World Cafe, 12/5/23

In December of 2023, we held our first "SDG World Cafe" to foster discussion around WPI's contribution to the UN SDGs and our pilot internal report (see "WPI's Self Study Report" for more information on the report). The World Cafe Method uses small group conversations and Wiser Together Guiding Principles to create opportunities for deep discussion on complex issues. At this first event, we engaged with faculty and staff to better understand their perceptions of the UN SDGs and sustainable development issues within the WPI Community. We used the following questions to prompt discussions:

Question 1: Where do you think WPI is making, or has the opportunity to make, the greatest contribution to the SDGs?

Question 2: How would you like WPI’s SDG work to be represented and shared across campus and externally?

Question 3: In a perfect world, how might we help WPI further its contributions to the SDGs?

• Through curriculum?
• Through student activities?
• In facilities?
• Etc.?

After an hour of discussion, we concluded the event with a "harvest" where individuals could share patterns that emerged through these building discussions. Some of these patterns were captured by our visual notetaker for the event, Sol Giesso, seen below.