Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 46.39
Liaison Laura Draucker
Submission Date March 1, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Amherst College
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Laura Draucker
Director of Sustainability
Office of Environmental Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of employees (staff + faculty, headcount):
958

Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program (avoid double-counting):
958

Percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer educator program:
100

Name of the employee educators program:
Green Office Program

Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount):
958

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities:

The Green Office Program encourages sustainable practices in offices across the Amherst campus. The program launched as a pilot during the 2017-2018 academic year, with 5 offices participating. All offices and academic departments on campus are now invited to participate, and those that are already part of the program are contacted at the beginning of each academic year about what steps need to be taken to maintain their Green Office certification.

A representative from each new participating office must fill out a checklist of sustainable practices covering energy saving behaviors, printing, purchasing, and waste reduction, as well any practices used by the office that may not already be on the checklist developed by the Office of Environmental Sustainability. This checklist is translated into a point total for the office. Instead of creating award levels, each office receives recognition for their initial participation in the program, and must improve by a certain number of points each year in order to continue participating. This improvement is the responsibility of the office as a whole, and the representative from that office is responsible for working both with the Office of Environmental Sustainability and their peers to continue improving the sustainability score of the office.


A brief description of how the employee educators are selected:

Each participating office has one staff member primarily responsible for communicating with the Office of Environmental Sustainability, making sure that the checklist is completed, and implementing any necessary changes to maintain the offices participation in the Green Office program. These staff members either volunteer by reaching out directly to the OES, or by agreeing to be the primary contact for a Student Advocate. Student Advocates are students who are either majors in an academic department, or student employees in other campus departments who are interested in participating in the program. Employee educators are responsible for educating their peers about sustainable practices in the context of their day-to-day operations.


A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach:

Each employee educator is trained follow the Green Office Program checklist by meeting with the Sustainability Coordinator or a trained Student Advocate about behavior improvements over the course of the semester.


A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or paid faculty/staff coordination):

The Green Office program falls under the budget of the Office of Sustainability, which covers the training provided by the Sustainability Coordinator and funding for one Green Office Intern every year. The intern helps make improvements to the program and serves as a main point of contact for offices and Student Advocates.


Name of the employee educators program (2nd program):
---

Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount) (2nd program):
---

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (2nd program):
---

A brief description of how the employee educators are selected (2nd program):
---

A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (2nd program):
---

A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or paid faculty/staff coordination) (2nd program):
---

A brief description of all other employee peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs, including the number of employees served and how employee educators are selected, trained, and supported by the institution:
---

Total number of hours employee educators are engaged in peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education activities annually:
---

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

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.