Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.36
Liaison Ian Johnson
Submission Date June 8, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Colorado College
IN-2: Innovation 2

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Mike Siddoway
Associate Dean of the Faculty
Office of the Dean
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Title or keywords related to the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
The Office of Sustainability model at Colorado College

A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:

The Office of Sustainability (OoS) at Colorado College is a unique and innovative office model. In order to fully address all aspects on campus related to sustainability, there are student interns working across campus and the leadership working directly amongst the administration. The office of the Sustainability Director, Ian Johnson, reports to the Dean of the College. The placement of this office is to further facilitate the development of curricular aspects of sustainability at the college. The OoS is equally as focused on the co-curricular sects on campus. Many of the OoS interns are funded to work directly with other offices across campus, building bridges into areas not often associated with sustainability while decentralizing and demystifying sustainability efforts across campus. For example: the Building and Grounds intern works in the OoS as well as in facilities; The Communications intern works in the communications department working on the OoS website, the blog, and the student newspaper, the Catalyst; the Residential Life intern is housed both in the OoS and the Residential Life and Housing department on campus; and the Local Food Intern works as a leader within the Collaborative for Community Engagement. In addition to this, the OoS has interns working solely for the office. These interns are working on the STARS report as well as the Greenhouse Gas Inventory for the colege. In addition, the zero-waste intern works at the Care and Share Food Bank to develop a zero-waste program to divert all waste from a landfill. The model of the Office of Sustainability is truly innovative and demonstrates the commitment that the office has to introducing sustainability to all parts of campus and the Colorado Springs community.


A brief description of any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation (if not reported above):

The rating given by the STARS report itself is one measurable outcome of the Office of Sustainability model. As the office works to infiltrate all aspects of the campus community, the far-reaching STARS criteria become fulfilled. Student interns and the Office of Sustainability has the ability to work on many different projects at once including curricular, co-curricular, and community-based projects directly reflected in the STARS rating.


A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise:
Which of the following STARS subcategories does the innovation most closely relate to? (Select all that apply up to a maximum of five):
Yes or No
Curriculum Yes
Research ---
Campus Engagement Yes
Public Engagement Yes
Air & Climate ---
Buildings ---
Dining Services ---
Energy ---
Grounds Yes
Purchasing ---
Transportation ---
Waste ---
Water ---
Coordination, Planning & Governance Yes
Diversity & Affordability ---
Health, Wellbeing & Work ---
Investment ---

Other topic(s) that the innovation relates to that are not listed above:
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The website URL where information about the innovation is available:
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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.