Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 69.69
Liaison Stephanie MacPhee
Submission Date April 6, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Dalhousie University
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.81 / 4.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Number of students enrolled for credit (headcount):
18,840

Total number of students enrolled for credit that are served (i.e. directly targeted) by a student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program (avoid double-counting to the extent feasible):
17,949

Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer educator program:
95.27

1st Program 

Name of the student educators program:
Sustainability Student Life Program In Residences

Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount):
2,516

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities:
Dalhousie Office of Sustainability works with Student Services to hire and provide student educators for all campuses to organize sustainability programming in residences. These educators engage other students to deliver educational events and training. Key program efforts include promotion of waste education information and DUMP and Run event and organizing and delivering a 2-week (Ecolympics) inter-building competition that challenges students to reduce their water and energy consumption. The residence building with the largest overall reduction is awarded the trophy and prize.

A brief description of how the student educators are selected:
The Office of Sustainability has student educators. The Office also provides an honorarium to Student Services to hire two student educators in residences. Part of the job of these students is to recruit other students (RAs, other student educators, student council reps) to help engage broader residence students with programming.

A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach:
The Office of Sustainability provides sustainability training to the group each year including an overview of sustainability focus areas and specific training on Ecolympics and relevant topics. Educator guides have been developed such as REthink program manual with over 11 educational activities. This is also promoted during Residence Assistants training in early August.

A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or faculty/staff coordination):
Funding of $6,150 is per annum is provided by the Office of Sustainability to provide compensation (in the form of an honorarium) to the sustainability student educators at the Halifax and Agricultural campuses. There is also logistical support from student educators at the Office of Sustainability. Additionally, Facilities Management and Food Services assist the program by providing donations of materials and supplies.

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

2nd Program

Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
Dalhousie Student Union Office of Sustainability (DSUSO)

Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (2nd program):
17,949

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (2nd program):
The Dalhousie Student Union Sustainability Office (DSUSO) aims to educate students on issues concerning the environment, as well as to foster a culture of sustainability on campus. The office is run by students and programs are directed to all students on campus. We have counted the Halifax campuses for direct delivery of programs though all programs are open to all the Halifax and Agriculture campus. There is less on the ground presence at the AC. Some annual programs include green grants, workshop series, the green gala, and community engagement activities.

A brief description of how the student educators are selected (2nd program):
DSUSO seeks students who are working/researching in issues pertaining to sustainability (at Dalhousie University) to be staff (although it is not a requirement to hold a work position at DSUSO). Jobs are posted online and the best candidate is selected based on their applications and interviews.

A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (2nd program):
DSUSO hires a few office staff to work on outreach to students. DSUSO holds informal conversations on the meaning of sustainability and educate each other on processes such as consensus-based decision-making that is used in meetings.

A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or faculty/staff coordination) (2nd program):
DSUSO funds themselves by receiving a $1 levy (per student, per semester) from the Dalhousie Student Union, and in the past have received small donations (i.e. $500 and under) from departments and community groups in order to host campus events.

If reporting students served by three or more peer-to-peer programs, provide:

3rd Program 

Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
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Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (3rd program):
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A brief description of how the student educators are selected (3rd program):
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A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (3rd program):
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A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or faculty/staff coordination) (3rd program):
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Additional Programs 

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

Total number of hours student educators are engaged in peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education activities annually (all programs):
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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.