Babson College
ER-1: Student Sustainability Educators Program

Students interested in an Eco Rep position are asked to send cover letters and resumes to the program coordinator of the Sustainability Office. These students are then asked in for 20 minute interviews. 12 Eco Reps and 2 Eco Reps Coordinators are chosen from the pool of applicants and are e-mailed their acceptance letters. Selection criteria?

The students selected for the Eco-Reps program at Babson are trained through an Environmental Action workshop designed by GreenerU®. In this workshop students examine current sustainability concerns on campus and across the world through the lens of psychology, social marketing and critical thinking. The students gain knowledge on environmental issues and behavioral science tools. This newly acquired knowledge and set of tools will enable students to examine their personal behaviors and those of their peers and assess how to foster pro-environmental behavior change. The workshop is conducted in three different sessions. Each session will focus on three aspects – Environmental Knowledge/Literacy, Skills required to move towards action and Action planning. Upon completion of these sessions, during the academic year, students will continue to gather bi-weekly for 75 minute peer review meetings. The bi-weekly meetings will help students engage in activities that include critical thinking exercises, personal behavior challenges, and campus social marketing group campaigns. These activities will help students build critical skills in communication, implementing social marketing campaigns and planning green events. By the end of the year, students will be empowered to become leaders of environmental action and should have a new perspective of themselves, the society in which they live, and the environment.

The Program Manager is responsible for coordinating all of the sustainability efforts on campus. The hiring and training of Eco-Reps are also managed by this staff member. At Babson, Eco-Reps is a paid position. Each Eco-Rep is expected to work four hours per week and each Eco-Rep Coordinator is expected to work 5 hours per week. All together the Eco-Reps team works 58 hours per week on projects that aim to promote sustainability on campus. Eco-Reps are funded through the facilities department at Babson.