Aquinas College
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Institution coordinates an ongoing peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program for students enrolled for credit. The institution:

• Selects or appoints students to serve as peer educators and formally designates the students as educators (paid and/or volunteer);
• Provides formal training to the student educators in how to conduct peer outreach; and
• Supports the program with financial resources (e.g. by providing an annual budget) and/or administrative coordination by faculty or staff.

This credit focuses on programs for degree-seeking students enrolled in a for-credit program. Continuing education students, non-credit students, and other students who are not recognized by the institution as seeking a degree, certificate, or other formal award are excluded.

This credit recognizes ongoing student educator programs that engage students as peers on a regular basis. For example, student educators may be responsible for serving (i.e. directly targeting) a particular subset of students, such as those living in residence halls or enrolled in certain academic subdivisions. Thus, a group of students may be served by a program even if not all of these students actively participate.

Sustainability outreach campaigns, sustainability events, and student clubs or groups are not eligible for this credit unless the criteria outlined above are met. These programs are covered by the Outreach Campaign and Student Life credits.

This credit applies to all institutions that have students enrolled for credit.

Institutions earn the maximum of 4 points available for this credit by having one or more peer-to-peer educator programs that serve (i.e. directly target) all students enrolled for credit. Incremental points are awarded based on the percentage of students served by the peer-to-peer educator program(s). For example, an institution with a program that serves 50 percent of all students would earn 2 points (half of the points available for this credit).

Points for this credit are calculated automatically in the STARS Reporting Tool as follows:

Timeframe

Report on current program status and offerings at the time of submission for ongoing programs. Use the most recent data available from within the three years prior to the anticipated date of submission to report the number of students served by each program and the total number of enrolled students.

Sampling and Data Standards

Include all students enrolled for credit (undergraduate and graduate); reporting on a sample or subset of students is not allowed.