Colorado Mountain College
IN-48: Innovation B

The College hires two to three exceptional students to serve as STARS Researchers each academic year. The program has been operating for three years running, beginning in fall of 2021. Students are hired through a competitive application process, and they are given significant responsibility for working with STARS data gathered/generated by students taking SUS 4500, Sustainability Assessment and Reporting, each fall. Two to three sections of SUS 4500 are offered each fall, and the course is a requirement for the B.A. in Sustainability Studies academic program and for the Sustainable Leadership Certificate program.

Researchers are supervised by Sustainability Studies faculty members who also teach SUS 4500, but the work of the Researchers and their faculty mentors extends throughout the academic year. Researchers are trained in effective stakeholder engagement and professional communication. Over time and building on their growing experience, the Researchers assume increasingly prominent roles in working with SUS 4500 student-generated data to make corrections and fill in gaps in preparation for submitting this data for STARS reporting purposes. The Researchers also assume individual or team responsibility for gathering/generating data for particular STARS criteria. Researchers attend regular (sometimes weekly) meetings throughout the academic year with their faculty supervisors where issues, challenges, information gaps, and advice are discussed/shared and where targets are ste and progress is tracked. Researchers participate in tracking progress toward report completion using a Google sheet designed by SUS 4500 faculty/STARS Researcher supervisors for this purpose.

Two of the original Researchers continued this work for two full academic years. One graduated after the first year of the program and was replaced in spring 2023 with a new Researcher hired to help bring the institution's first STARS report submission to a conclusion.

We are aware that the University of Vermont initially involved students in classes in its STARS report generation processes, and we were inspired by their work. We are unaware, however, of any other institution that has involved students as trusted employees to the extent and at the level of depth to which the STARS Researchers at CMC are involved in and responsible for institutional reporting.

This program was originally pitched to and approved by the Chief Operations Officer/Chief of Staff, the Facilities Director, and the VP for Budget and Finance, who enthusiastically approved the proposal. The program continues to be funded by the College centrally, and these leaders who approved it have maintained a deep interest in the reporting process and have assisted with data gathering relevant to their spheres of knowledge and influence. This approach to STARS reporting has, therefore, generated significant good will and interest across CMC, both of which have been communicated broadly, encouraging the attendance and participation of CMC faculty, staff, and administrators at the annual sharing of SUS 4500 student work.

With our first group of STARS Researchers moving on through graduation, the SUS 4500 faculty are proud to say that their experience is contributing positively to their admission to graduate programs, and we believe their experience will also figure prominently in their other professional opportunities and successes in the field of sustainability going forward. We look forward to mentoring a new group of student STARS Researchers beginning with next academic year. Note that the faculty who participate in mentoring, training, and supervising STARS Researchers do so as institutional service and not for course credit or other compensation.

This documentation was written by Tina Evans, the lead SUS 4500 faculty member and lead proposer of this innovation to the College. Note that much SUS 4500 activity was documented in support of the Campus as a Living Laboratory credit (AC-8), but the student STARS Researcher program itself was not part of that credit.