Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 72.66
Liaison Megan Litke
Submission Date March 5, 2021

STARS v2.2

American University
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00 Courtney Stoner
Sustainability Analyst
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
The entire campus community (students and employees) directly or by representative sample

Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
Without a follow-up assessment of the same cohort or representative samples of the same population

A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:
The sustainability culture survey was developed in tandem with the literacy assessment to obtain an understanding of how people engage in sustainable behavior, what programming and initiatives people are aware of, and what kind of improvements or initiatives faculty, staff, and students want to see on campus.

A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:
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A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA) provided a representative sample of the campus population of faculty, students, and staff. OIRA checks the samples against the population on all of the characteristics included to ensure they are exceedingly close in terms of representativeness.

The assessment was administered by the Office of Sustainability using Qualtrics. An email was sent to the representative sample, and a follow up reminder email was sent several days later to those who hadn't yet completed the survey.

A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment:
-Staff responded to the survey at over twice the rates as students (21.8% of Staff responded, compared to 8.2% of students). Additionally, staff were most aware of sustainability initiatives activities, and programs on campus (except for green teaching). Staff are an engaged group with some untapped potential.
-Students engage in sustainable behaviors overall the most, followed by faculty. However, in some areas the percentages had interesting variance. For example, faculty and staff were more likely to say they recycle than students.
-Most people obtain sustainability knowledge from internet resources, talking with friends/colleagues, and radio/podcasts/TV.
-In terms of what survey participants want to see as a priority, the top choices were sustainable and responsible investing, waste, and green buildings.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the assessment of sustainability culture is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
*Follow up survey was not done in spring 2020 due to COVID-19 impacts.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.