Faculty Practice and the Enactment of Education for Sustainability in Higher Education

Education for Sustainability (EfS) has emerged as a key framework through which higher education engages ecological, social, and civic challenges. Although EfS is well represented in policy and conceptual scholarship, few empirical studies have examined how sustainability is enacted in everyday teaching practice. This exploratory qualitative collective case study investigates the pedagogical experiences of four faculty members at a U.S. land-grant university. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, supported by syllabi, observations, and student responses, and analyzed using cross-case thematic analysis. Four interconnected themes were identified: latent complexity, personal commitment, inclusive scholarship, and adaptability to student motivations and context. Taken together, the findings offer an initial mapping of how EfS is interpreted and enacted in faculty teaching, while also underscoring the context-bound nature of these cases. The study contributes an exploratory, practice-based account of sustainability teaching and provides a foundation for future comparative research across institutions, disciplines, and regions.