Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 42.65
Liaison Winnie Kwofie
Submission Date April 19, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

California State University, East Bay
IN-26: Innovation C

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Jillian Buckholz
Director of Sustainability
Academic Affairs
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name or title of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
Pioneer Merit Digital Badge Program

A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome that outlines how credit criteria are met and any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation:

Cal State East Bay is enhancing how we serve students by creating "Pioneer Merit," a digital badge acknowledgement program. Digital badges validate students’ skills, achievement, and competency in diverse contexts through online recognition via a digital emblem. Earned digital badges can be shared through various social media outlets, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, BaySync, and other networking sites. Showcasing "Pioneer Merit" illustrates students’ scholastic achievements, to potential employers and advanced degree programs, above and beyond academic major requirements and information on official transcripts.

Students that successfully complete a particular course or reach a specific milestone towards graduation will earn an official Cal State East Bay Pioneer Merit digital badge. The titles and descriptions of Badges that may be earned are outlined below.

Imagine you are a Nursing Major at Cal State East Bay. You are diligently working on your major coursework, but you are also very interested in green hospitals. As a result, you’ve been focusing your general education courses on sustainability. How would a future employer know that you have a skill set in sustainability as well as nursing? By earning a Pioneer Merit digital badge for “Sustainability Scholar” or “Sustainability Scholar Advanced” (details below), you can illustrate your knowledge and academic achievement in this area on your social media outlets, such as LinkedIn, for professional contacts to see first-hand.

"Pioneer Merit" Digital Badge Criteria:
Successful completion of General Education Subarea, A1
Successful completion of General Education Subarea, A2
Successful completion of General Education Subarea, A3
Successful completion of General Education Subarea, B4
Successful completion of the University Writing Skills Requirement
Successfully earning enough units to advance from a first-year to a second-year student
Successfully earning enough units to advance from a second-year to a third-year student
Successfully earning enough units to advance from a third-year to a fourth-year student
Successful completion of the Cal State East Bay Graduation Check
Successful completion of a lower-division General Education Sustainability Overlay course
Successful completion of an upper-division General Education Sustainability Overlay course
Successful completion of a lower-division General Education Diversity Overlay course
Successful completion of an upper-division General Education Diversity Overlay course
Successful completion of a lower-division General Education Social Justice Overlay course
Successful completion of an upper-division General Education Social Justice Overlay course
Successful completion of Internship 498 or 698


Which of the following impact areas does the innovation most closely relate to? (select up to three):
Curriculum
Campus Engagement

A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise or a press release or publication featuring the innovation :
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.