Agnes Scott College
PRE-4: Reporting Methodologies

The Executive Director of the Center for Sustainability hired a part-time intern for Spring 2024 to produce a comparative analysis of the changes of STARS 2.2 and 3.0. This intern was hired as the new Sustainability Fellow June 2024 and has led the STARS data collection, analysis and accuracy process with an internal team, including the Executive Director, two Sustainability Fellows, one full-time summer intern, and one part-time summer intern. Files were organized via shared folders and credits were assigned to one of our internal team members. Then campus partners were identified and contacted via email, phone and in-person meetings by each team member. Utilizing the technical manuals for each credit, team members communicated the data needs and compiled the information into the organized files. As we collected data, we established an internal process for review, which included the Executive Director reviewing each credit, revising or requesting revisions. As part of our commitment to data accuracy, we hired an external reviewer who reviewed each credit for clarity and accuracy. Throughout the data collection process, the Sustainability Fellow met weekly with one of the summer interns and the Executive Director met weekly with the other summer intern. For the final six weeks, a weekly meeting was held for all reporting personnel and the external reviewer to ensure consistent communication. 

• Hanna Sloth, Sustainability Fellow

• Grace Payne, Sustainability Fellow

• Aamylah Nadeem, Sustainability Data Summer Assistant

• Belle Ewing, Greenhouse Gas Inventory Summer Assistant

• Kimberly Reeves, Executive Director Center for Sustainability

• Corey Dunn, Senior Director of Institutional Research & Effectiveness

• Robert Gaskins, Senior Financial Analyst

• Blayne McDonald, Assistant Director for Service Learning & Civic Engagement

• Anastasia Owen, Assistant Director of the Center for Digital & Visual Literacy and the Creative Innovation Studio & Workroom (CISAW)

• Belinda Rees, Director of People & Culture

• LeAnna Rensi Casey, Director of the Gué Pardue Hudson Center for Leadership, Engagement and Service

• Juan Tamayo, Director of Dining

• David Waggoner, Energy Manager, DWC, LLC

• Miya Walker, Director of Admissions

• Marjanae Watson, Belonging, Inclusion & Wellbeing Fellow

• Demetrice Williams, Senior Director, Special Events and Community Relations 

• Grace Payne, Sustainability Fellow, Center for Sustainability

• Leah Owenby, Events & Communications Coordinator, Division of Academic Affairs

• Liz Santamaria, Director of Leadership Giving, Office of Development

• Miti Meht, Assistant Director of Graduate Financial Aid,  Enrollment Division

The Center for Sustainability hired two summer interns to support data collection and reporting for STARS 3.0 submission. A full-time intern spent 40 hours a week over 8 weeks with mentorship from our Sustainability Fellow and Executive Director. They  focused on individual credits, including revising the college’s zero waste tracking spreadsheet for more consistent diversion rate reporting. A part-time intern spent 20 hours a week over 8 weeks with mentorship from our Executive Director and Emeriti Professor of Astronomy. They conducted the college’s FY24 Greenhouse Gas Inventory, including revising our transportation survey to better collect commuter data and making recommendations to expand our scope 3 data collection and reporting.

To ensure data accuracy, weekly meetings were established with both interns. One of our Sustainability Fellows created a tracking spreadsheet that we use to review each individual credit. Each credit has its own shared Google Doc with a link to the technical manual. Qualitative and quantitative data is added to the shared Google Doc. Once the credit is ready for review, the Executive Director reviews each credit before the full report is reviewed by our external reviewer for accuracy. 

The third-party reviewer, Elizabeth Rowe, founder and principal of E Rowe Consulting, completed a first review of the entire STARS report and coordinated directly with the Executive Director, Kimberly Reeves, to review all data inconsistencies identified during the review. Once all of the corrected STARS information was uploaded into the Reporting Tool, Rowe reviewed the report in its entirety a second time. Any remaining data errors were addressed directly with Reeves and Rowe did a final review to make sure those errors were addressed. Rowe has worked with Agnes Scott College, Emory University, and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs to either complete their STARS report or perform an external audit.