March 7, 2022 • ISSUE 613

Ayako Huang Publishes

Chapter on Sustainability Education

Faculty member Ayako Huang contributed a chapter to a new textbook titled Revolutionizing Sustainability Education: Stories and Tools for Mindset Transformation published by Routledge Press. The book features 17 educators from across five continents who share their insights on how they cultivate a sustainability mindset.
 
There is a growing awareness among management scholars that understanding the environmental problems of the world is not enough, and a change in mindset is necessary to create a lasting impact on behavior. Sustainability mindset is a way of thinking and being that results from a broad understanding of the ecosystem’s manifestations, and an introspective focus on the personal values and the higher self.
Ayako Huang is an associate professor and director of the MBA in Sustainable Business Program at MIU. She has been participating in the Sustainable Mindset Group offered by the Principles of Responsible Management Education platform, a United Nations-supported initiative that aims to raise the profile of sustainability in schools around the world.
 
She has shared her experience of Consciousness-Based℠ education at MIU and was invited to write a chapter for the book after she completed the sustainability mindset certification the platform provided.

The cover of “Revolutionizing Sustainability Education”

In her chapter Professor Huang describes sustainability management education as a human-centered and multidimensional task with a systematic approach. She highlights the importance of cultivating the heart value in the classroom, in addition to intellectual understanding and hands-on experience, in order to achieve a more holistic educational outcome.
 
Through such a systematic and holistic curriculum design, students can understand their place in the global ecosystem and the impact of their behavior on climate change and other environmental factors.