Sustainability is the foundation of Seneca’s academic offerings and research. Grounded in diverse perspectives and experiences, and informed by Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, Seneca offers meaningful and immersive experiences for students and faculty to build a sustainable future.
Education & Research
Our Goals
- add sustainability as one of Seneca’s core literacies
- integrate sustainability into the academic curriculum across programs
- develop multidisciplinary applied research opportunities among students and faculty
- grow immersive teaching and learning experiences on sustainability
- build living learning lab opportunities
Our Stories
Canadian Colleges for a Resilient Recovery
Seneca is one of the founding members of the Canadian Colleges for a Resilient Recovery (C2R2) coalition. This collection of colleges and polytechnics has a goal to train at least 50,000 Canadians with specialized skills as part of its mandate to support a sustainable economic recovery.
As part of C2R2, Seneca’s Faculty of Communication, Art & Design hosted the Hollywood North 2.0 webinar on how digital transformation has Canada poised to take centre stage in the entertainment industry.
Sustainable Business Initiatives
As part of a global movement to transform business and management education, Seneca Business joined more than 800 leading business schools across 85 countries as a signatory of the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Management Education.
It also established an annual Sustainability Speaker Series, featuring guest speakers David Suzuki, Erin Brockovich, David Millar and Takara Small.
Sustainable Fashion Initiatives
Seneca’s School of Fashion has been working to reduce textile waste through a number of initiatives, including a Dumpster Dive exhibition, a vintage fashion sale at The Boutique and a textile waste applied research project funded by Seneca Innovation to change consumer behaviour to fashion consumption and disposal.
The school also signed a memorandum of understanding with Chio Lecca School of Fashion — Peru’s most prominent fashion institute — where Seneca students participate in a faculty-led program to learn about Peruvian textiles and techniques to naturally dye fabrics.
Urban Farming
A major Seneca-led applied research project to help urban farmers develop strong and sustainable businesses received $360,000 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
Seneca student research assistants are working with community partners Greenest City and Toronto Urban Growers.
Environmental Innovation
Seneca teamed up with Kingbridge Centre to create an innovation hub in support of environmental innovation in York Region. The hub will help entrepreneurs build and scale businesses in the agriculture, food production and processing, energy and environmental sectors.
Forestry at King Campus
Seneca is renewing about 52 acres of forested area at King Campus. The project is part of a 20-year forestry plan with multiple goals: environmental protection, biological diversity, recreation, nature appreciation, education and preserving wildlife habitat.
Through selective harvesting in the forest, new tree growth is made possible to create gaps in the canopy and promote regeneration of native species.
Indigenous Teachings
First Peoples@Seneca honours Indigenous culture and tradition with sustainable practice. It involves following the Indigenous wisdom of looking ahead seven generations and understanding how the past links with the present while not compromising future generations.
For example, when planting the medicine garden at Newnham Campus, considerations were made to support the wellness of Seneca’s bee colony, which pollinates for the well-being of the surrounding environment.
Beekeeping Workshops
Seneca offers introductory beekeeping workshops through the Faculty of Continuing Education. The workshops are intended for beginners and hobbyists to learn the essentials of how to get started, including maintaining a hive, queening, re-queening, creating splits and disease and pest control.
International Training
Seneca International provides training in developing countries on relevant technical and vocational skills and entrepreneurship.
Topics include curriculum-building, project management, team-building, gender equality, facilitating workshops for faculty and other objectives that are fundamental to facilitating change for sustainable development.
Sustainability-Related Programs
Seneca offers several academic programs related to sustainability, including:
Sustainability-Related Bursaries
There are a number of Seneca awards, scholarships and bursaries related to sustainability, including:
- DIALOG Environmental Sustainability Award
- Seneca Alumni Association/Oacett Engineering Technology Endowed Bursary
- Dean S. Ramdath Core Sales Inc./Seneca Student Federation Award
- Scotiabank Non-Profit Leadership Management Scholarship
- Neil Hetherington Non-Profit & Social Sector Award