As central social and political institutions, U.S. universities have an important public service calling that extends beyond their teaching and research mandate. Over the past two decades, increasing numbers of U.S. universities have reoriented their institutional priorities towards becoming more sustainable across the board, which includes "greening" their physical campuses as much as their curricula. This dissertation investigates the role of U.S. universities in the global sustainability movement, as well as the impact of the movement itself on the internal organization of universities. The findings suggest that the proliferation of sustainability-affirming practices and metrics between 2005-2020 has contributed to the emergence of a new and distinct imperative in U.S. higher education, which manifests itself through a variety of organizational pathways and is also impacted by the interplay between campuses and their neighboring communities (known as "town-gown" relations). The sustainability imperative has the potential to reaffirm the prominent role of higher education in American society and is likely to reshuffle higher education rankings as the next generation of students will increasingly seek out sustainability-conscious universities over those lagging in that respect. While this increases the risk of greenwashing on some campuses in the short term, the public valorization of sustainability is a positive development for higher education overall, and a win for environmentalism in the long term. In particular, as elite colleges and universities in the U.S. strive to remain competitive, they can no longer afford to be seen as "ivory towers" and instead must strive to become "green beacons" within their communities, setting examples of sustainability innovation and performance for other institutions, both within and beyond the higher education sector. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]