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“Sustainable development is not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are made consistent with future as well as present needs.” — Brundtland Commission, 1987. Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development.

“The only reason for thinking that sustainability is a problem is that you think that some people are likely to be short-changed, namely in the future.  Then I think you are really obligated to ask, “Well, is anybody being short-changed right now?” — Robert Solow, Nobel Laureate; Sustainability: An Economist’s Perspective. 1991.

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The Distinguished Professorship for Sustainable Development is supported by the SES Endowment for Sustainable Development (ESD), which provides funding for  research and merit awards to support and recognize outstanding research relating to global sustainability and sustainable development.

The ESD program supports scholarship on sustainability broadly, encompassing any dimension of inquiry relating to human well-being and equity in a global context. 

The ESD program will include grant opportunities for graduate students to support research projects supporting the ESD mission, as well as awards for outstanding graduate and undergraduate research articles, dissertation chapters, and term papers.  Students in programs across WSU will be eligible subject to ESD endowment conditions.  

Certain dimensions of sustainability will tend to receive more (though not exclusive) emphasis under this scholarship program, including:

• Economic concepts of sustainability and resilience
  
• Sustainability and the environment
• Adaptation to climate change
• Health and sustainable economic development

Coming soon