Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 81.34
Liaison Robert Stroufe
Submission Date Nov. 26, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Chatham University
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.88 / 3.00 Mary Whitney
University Sustainability Coordinator
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of employees (staff + faculty, headcount):
573

Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program (avoid double-counting):
551

Percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer educator program:
96.16

1st Program 

Name of the employee educators program:
Green Lunch and Learn (also known as 10X)

Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount):
551

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities:
Each month, the Office of Sustainability and the President's Office co-sponsor a Lunch and Learn in which employees attend a 30 minute explanation of sustainability issues around recycling, electricity use, purchasing, product guidelines, etc. Each department, whether academic or support, is requested to identify a person to serve as the departmental locus for this information and will be required to report back to the entire department through peer education. Peer educators will be available for all staff and faculty for any questions regarding the university's sustainability policies, initiatives, and programs.

A brief description of how the employee educators are selected:
The President's Office has asked each department to designate one faculty or staff member as the departmental peer educator. The program held its first formal meeting on September 10, 2015 at 10:00am.

A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach:
We provide attendees with handouts, data sheets or other appropriate materials to take back to their offices. In addition, employee educators may also ask for help from Sustainability Office staff to design a project, provide more data, or get more help from our Eco-reps and graduate assistant staffers. Topics are chosen each semester (we shoot for one a month, but sometimes need to cut back to only 2) that relate directly to our carbon-reductions goals, water-saving, food - whatever is needed, and taking advantage of synergies with other activities on campus.

A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or paid faculty/staff coordination):
Peer educators will receive release time for their involvement in the Green Lunch and Learn (10X) program. The sustainability Office provides staff coordinating time, materials and resource support.

If reporting employees served by additional peer-to-peer programs, provide: 

2nd Program

Name of the employee educators program (2nd program):
Climate Committee

Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount) (2nd program):
551

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (2nd program):
Climate Committee has been operating at Chatham since 2006/2007. Originally formed to develop the university climate action plan, the committee now provides updates, research and reporting to all university departments.

A brief description of how the employee educators are selected (2nd program):
Any employee who is interested in sustainability and reducing the university’s carbon footprint may sign up for Climate Committee. There is also a representative appointed from each department that is crucial for the advancement of sustainability at Chatham University.

A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (2nd program):
Climate Committee representatives are a resource to their area of responsibility or department and answer any questions that their departmental members may have.The employee educators involved in Climate Committee can attend the training series offered by the School of Sustainability and the Sustainability Office. The representatives also learn about current issue through the bi-weekly meetings and then report the information back to their departments or their area of responsibility.

A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or paid faculty/staff coordination) (2nd program):
Chatham University provides the program with a budget out of the Office of Sustainability that is determined annually so that the program can work on reducing the carbon footprint of the university.

Additional Programs 

A brief description of all other employee peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs, including the number of employees served and how employee educators are selected, trained, and supported by the institution:
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Optional Fields 

Total number of hours employee educators are engaged in peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education activities annually:
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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:
Chatham's employee educator programs are purposefully designed to reach ALL faculty and staff, whether full or part-time, and on any campus.

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.