Beloit College
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Each fall the Office of Sustainability puts on a 3-week long Recycling Competition. All residence hall floors and special interest houses compete to see who can produce the "cleanest" recycling and trash streams. Volunteer recycling judges receive training on what can and cannot be recycled. They then go and sift through recycling and trash bins. Each floor/house is docked points based on the number of trash items in the recycling bins and number of recycling items in the trash bins. The floor or house with the highest percentage after 3 weeks wins a dinner out at a local restaurant with the Sustainability Coordinator.

Better knowledge of what can and cannot be recycled. At least 20 people with in-depth knowledge about recycling rules at Beloit College who disseminate that information informally to their house/floor mates.

The steering committee for Pathways to Sustainability Leadership holds a call for proposals each year for faculty and staff who propose Sustainability Citizen Courses and Sustainability Leaders Teams. Proposals are sought for modifications to existing courses or new courses and for mentoring student teams during both summer and academic year terms. The aims of Pathways to Sustainability Leadership include: 1) embedding sustainability in the liberal learning of our students; 2) preparing our graduates to exercise environmental leadership in their careers through the development of expertise and individual capacity for action around sustainability; 3) linking learning opportunities—including those associated with campus operations, residential living, and the greater Beloit community—with the creation and implementation of solutions in pressing areas of sustainability; and 4) through this synergy, promoting an intentional long-term approach to sustainable living more broadly and deeply among our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the larger community.

During the 2014-15 academic year, the steering committee funded four Sustainability Citizen courses, which impacted over 80 students and 4 faculty. The Program provides faculty with a stipend and course funding to pursue deeper research of a topic and how it intersects with their current course offerings. Traditionally, the course modifications tend to remain in the course curriculum, so that once a course has been taught with sustainability facets, it remains that way for several years. During the 2014-15 academic year, the steering committee also funded five Sustainability Leader Teams, each ranging from 1-3 staff and/or faculty members mentoring 3-4 students on a team. Topics ranged from poster-reduction initiatives to multiple years of Earth Week planning to developing grant opportunities for future collaborative work grounded in sustainability. Each of the team's outcomes has had lasting impacts past their team's tenure.