Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 66.21
Liaison Stephen Ellis
Submission Date June 9, 2023

STARS v2.2

Boston University
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.22 / 4.00 Parren Fountain
Engagement Manager
BU Sustainability
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Number of students enrolled for credit:
33,678

Total number of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
3,667

Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
10.89

Name of the student educators program (1st program):
Resident Sustainability Leaders

A brief description of the student educators program (1st program):

In support of the University’s Climate Action Plan, BU Sustainability launched the Resident Sustainability Leaders (RSL) program in 2019. This position is a year-long commitment to promote sustainability in student housing and provide support to residents on sustainability subjects ranging from zero waste to energy, water, waste, and more. While they are principally a part of the BU Sustainability team, RSLs also have access to Residence Life staff and promote a positive and healthy environment where students can live, learn, and thrive. RSLs work in parallel with Resident Assistants (RAs) and Residence Hall Council (RHC) to uphold the values of BU Residence Life. RSLs are compensated with room and board.

Prior to the start of the academic year, the Resident Sustainability Leaders (RSLs) receive approximately 12 hours of training on various themes spanning from Climate and Environmental Justice, Zero Waste (Waste diversion Recycling/composting), Green Building, Dining and Sustainability to Behavior Change and Communication and Leadership. They also receive additional internal training throughout the academic year and external training at the annual Sustainability Student Leadership Symposium.

Regarding peer-education and outreach, the RSLs regularly with interact with 3,600 students through weekly office hours, marketing and communications efforts, sustainability workshops, events and programming. During office hours, for example, the RSLs provide information and resources to students about sustainable living, recycling/waste separation disposal, upcoming sustainability events and programs and campus-wide sustainability resources. To reach the broader residential population, the RSLs utilize digital and analog to provide tips on sustainable living and communicate facts and information about waste, energy, water-use, etc. as well as upcoming sustainability events, workshops and programs within their housing residences and across campus.

During the course of the academic year, RSLs are required to host and/or facilitate sustainability workshops, events and programs within their assigned housing residences several times per semester. Some events that they hosted during this academic year were sustainability game nights, clean-tech educational workshops, clothing swaps, farmers market tours, as well as recycling and tote-bag making events. The RSLs were also responsible for managing our seminal Green Room Certification program. This program enables them to work directly with their fellow residents on helping them assess their sustainable living behaviors regarding dormitory energy-use, waste disposal, recycling, etc. The RSLs also play an important role in promoting and supporting several university-wide sustainability programs, such as our annual cardboard recycling program during the move-in period, and the 'Goodwill Not Landfill' recycling program during the student move-out period.


A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (1st program):

Undergraduate students living at the Warren Towers and West Campus residence halls. In FY2021, 2,167.0 residents were served by this program.


Number of trained student educators (1st program):
6

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (1st program):
32.50

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (1st program):
20

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (1st program):
3,900

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (1st program):
Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
Sustainability Help Desk @ MED

A brief description of the student educators program (2nd program):

The Sustainability Help Desk @ MED is a tabling opportunity to promote programs and opportunities from BU Sustainability, listen to ideas and concerns from our BU community, and help educate on different topics ranging from BU's Climate Action and Zero Waste Plans to how to get involved or learn more about climate action broadly. The Help Desk @ MED is located at the entrance of the School of Medicine.


A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (2nd program):

The Help Desk @ MED is located at the entrance of the School of Medicine (MED). This is the atrium of the School of Medicine. The target audience is primarily the MED students, who are mostly graduate-degree-seeking individuals. However, the trained student educator referred to as the BUMC Sustainability Intern, also serves as a resource to the employees seeking information about broad sustainability topics. There are ~1,500 MED students who are targeted by this program.


Number of trained student educators (2nd program):
1

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (2nd program):
29

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (2nd program):
2.50

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (2nd program):
72.50

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (2nd program):
Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the student educators program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (3rd program):
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Number of trained student educators (3rd program):
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Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (3rd program):
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Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (3rd program):
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Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (3rd program):
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Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (3rd program):
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A brief description of all other student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:
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Number of trained student educators (all other programs):
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Number of weeks, on average, the student educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
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Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per student educator (all other programs) :
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Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (all other programs):
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Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators (all programs):
3,972.50

Hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators per student served by a peer-to-peer program:
1.08

Website URL where information about the student sustainability educators programs is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

This represents FY2021 and FY 2022 BU Metrics.


This represents FY2021 and FY 2022 BU Metrics.

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.