The past two decades have shown significant changes in the understanding of the role of sustainability in the higher education culture of many countries. While many American universities and colleges have embraced this concept as the major driver of environmental, social, economic, and technological progress, only a few programs in the United States offer today undergraduate or graduate degrees in sustainability studies or sustainable development. Interdisciplinary scholarship on the role of sustainability in the higher education has been boosted recently by research and public debate on global climate change, globalization, and free-trade. Yet, not many US universities consider sustainability as a serious priority in scholarship and curriculum, often focusing primarily on campus operations and facilities. We argue that this approach is simplistic and represent only the first step of building a truly sustainable community on campus. At Grand Valley State University we believe that sustainable campus facilities and routine campus operations can be also effectively used as very powerful resources for interdisciplinary research and hands-on, problem solving education. GVSU began a sustainability initiative in 2004 which sought to bring together student, faculty, facility and community groups in order to create awareness and gain momentum in campus and community sustainability. Our paper will present the activities across these groups to create awareness, provide education, and make strides toward a more sustainable campus community. Student activities include: a student sustainability guide, given to all first years, living centre energy conservation competitions, student internships with business interested in sustainability, campus sustainability week and a host of student organization activities. Facility activities include a wind energy study, energy efficiencies, recycling practices, food service sustainability and LEED buildings. Faculty activities include research, service and teaching sustainability in the classroom and programs such as environmental studies, sustainability certificate and a sustainability consortium of faculty have become our major curriculum goals. Community partnerships have been nurtured with the University serving as a catalyst. In all cases, we are seeking to show the wide range of value within a framework of sustainability