Emory University
EN-2: Student Orientation

Since 2007, the Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI) has partnered with the colleges and schools of Emory to incorporate sustainability into new student orientation for first-year and transfer students. Listed below are Emory’s current efforts to integrate sustainability in orientation. Every school is offered the opportunity to purchase sustainability-related merchandise to be given away during their school’s or program’s orientation. These include reusable water bottles, reusable bamboo utensil sets, or tote bags that are relevant to Emory's sustainability goals and encourage sustainable behaviors. OSI works with orientation planners to enable them to plan their events to be Zero-Waste. OSI has a table at orientation fairs and expos with most, if not all colleges and schools each August. These include Emory and Oxford Colleges, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory School of Medicine, Emory School of Law, and Laney Graduate School. OSI participates in a post-orientation student engagement expo hosted by the School of Theology and the School of Nursing. OSI shares information about student engagement opportunities, sustainability practices, and other useful information during these fairs. OSI has also been invited to present to incoming MBA students at the Goizueta Business School. OSI provides updated information each year to student tour guides who can provide a campus sustainability tour during orientation which is open to all incoming students and their parents. Starting in the spring of 2019, Emory began equipping each academic unit of the university at orientation events with standardized recycling and composting bins to prevent waste from going to landfills. Zero-waste ambassadors stand by the bins to educate students and their parents on how to properly recycle or compost waste. The Sustainability Showcase has been held for the past eighteen years in partnership between OSI, Residence Life, and Emory College Orientation. During this informational event, sustainability student groups, operational departments, and academic departments gather in McDonough Plaza to offer first-year students a chance to find sustainability engagement opportunities early in their Emory experience. Before arriving, new Emory undergraduate and graduate students receive information on sustainable shopping, move-in recycling, and sustainable commuting as well as a general introduction to sustainability at Emory through an electronic packet and via the Orientation Canvas site which is transitioning to the Emory Welcome app in 2024. There are marked locations for residential students to place their cardboard and Styrofoam to ensure that these materials can be recycled throughout the move-in process. OSI and the Educational Garden Project host information tables for incoming students at the Orientation Expo. Transportation and Parking Services, Emory Recycles, and others are also present, offering sustainable commute and waste management information. All Resident Advisors (RA), Sophomore Advisors (SA), and Orientation Leaders (OLs) receive sustainability training from OSI staff before first-year students arrive on campus. In addition to engaging at the college and school level, OSI provides program-level sustainability presentations to several programs Anesthesiology Assistants, Physicians Assistants, Master's in Development Practice, International BBA, and the Genetic Counseling programs, among others. OSI has operated the sustainability track during the IGNITE pre-orientation program since 2023. During this week-long experience, approximately 35 incoming freshmen spend two full days with OSI staff and others gaining in-depth exposure to Emory’s sustainability culture and practices.

All data reported in this section are from September 2022-August 2023.