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CORVALLIS - Administrators, staff, faculty and students from Oregon State University, along with other public officials, will participate in a national teleconference on Oct. 9 to explore sustainability issues in higher education.

The event is hosted by the Society for College and University Planning, and is titled "Got Sustainability? Plan For it! Making Sustainability a Foundation of Higher Education Learning and Practices." OSU participants include Facilities Services, the Center for Water and Environmental Sustainability, and the College of Business, as well as other academic leaders and officials from area public works departments.

"Our goal is to learn more about integrating sustainability into the curriculum, research, teaching and all the operations of the university," said Brandon Trelstad, a government relations specialist at OSU. "We'll see what we can learn from the teleconference and then discuss how it could be applied or implemented here at OSU."

Officials from hundreds of campuses around the nation are expected to participate in the interactive event, which will explore such topics as the importance of sustainability for a secure society, the critical role of higher education in this task, strategies for making sustainability a foundation of both education and practice, and changes needed.

OSU has made major commitments to construction of environmentally friendly, "green" buildings and conducts extensive research on sustainability in a wide range of natural resource, energy conservation and other fields.

The teleconference and follow-up discussions at OSU will be from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Participation is free but space is limited. Anyone interested in joining the discussion should contact Trelstad at (541) 737-3307 for details.