Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 36.94
Liaison David Greenwood
Submission Date Nov. 12, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Lakehead University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.40 / 4.00 Brett Sharman
Coordinator
Instructional Development Centre
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Is the institution utilizing the campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in the following areas?:
Yes or No
Air & Climate ---
Buildings ---
Dining Services/Food ---
Energy Yes
Grounds Yes
Purchasing ---
Transportation ---
Waste ---
Water Yes
Coordination, Planning & Governance Yes
Diversity & Affordability Yes
Health, Wellbeing & Work ---
Investment ---
Public Engagement ---
Other Yes

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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Air & Climate and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Buildings and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Dining Services/Food and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Energy and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
Interdisciplinary Studies students on the Orillia campus have conducted research on campus sustainability, including energy consumption and sustainability awareness.

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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Grounds and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
Students in geography lab courses have conducted many exercises outdoors on the university campus, including collecting data on the vegetation communities present, the water quality and the presence and abundance of macroinvertebrates in the McIntyre River, Lake Tamblyn, and other areas. These collections have now been repeated over multiple years which are used for long term monitoring. Outdoor recreation, parks and tourism students have been involved in anumber of campus projects including: identifying and mapping campus landscape values of importance to students, developing a proposed land stewardship plan for the thunder bay campus, developing numerous heritage interpretation media that communicates heritage values of the campus with the aim of sustaining those values through increased awareness and appreciation, and presenting detailed landscape analysis with regard to proposed locations for an outdoor learning classroom on the Thunder Bay campus.

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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Purchasing and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Transportation and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Waste and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Water and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
Geography/Environmental Studies 4411 - Water Sustainability and Water Resources Management: This course had a 30% community service learning component in which the class performed a water audit of the university’s Thunder Bay Campus. This project was done in collaboration with Lakehead University Student Union’s Sustainability Initiative to create an inventory of all publicaly available water access points on campus in an effort to explore the feasibility of developing a bottled water campaign. Students were provided the option to undertake an additional project (worth 30%) developed from the water audit in lieu of an independent research report.

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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Coordination, Planning & Governance and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
A team of undergraduate and graduate students and staff were appointed by the Centre for Place and Sustainability Studies to form a "STARS research team". The team members were paid for their work, which was funded through an internal grant from the Office of the Provost and Vice President Academic. The members were assigned various roles to help promote, coordinate and collect data for the university’s inaugural STARS report. Various members of the team also developed the university’s new sustainability website and related materials: http://www.lakeheadsustainability.ca/ Geography 4771 – Sustainable Community Design: This course had a 30% community service learning component in which the class collected data for the university’s STARS report. The class was broken up into groups of 3 and assigned a mix of operational credits (OP 3 - 9, 18 - 21 & 26 - 28). Unfortunately, with STARS 2.0 being released halfway through the course most groups collected data according to STARS 1.2. Thus the data was not applicable for the university’s report, which was completed using STARS 2.0. http://www.lakeheadsustainability.ca/stars-service-learning.html

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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Diversity & Affordability and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
Students in some education courses have volunteering opportunities for their cultural immersion hours with the university's Office of Aboriginal Initiatives office and Aboriginal Cultural Support Services, providing opportunities that are practical extensions of their course studies. Students must compile a portfolio of these experiences (each documented) for their applicability to classroom teaching or indigenizing their practices.

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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Health, Wellbeing & Work and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Investment and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory for Public Engagement and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
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A brief description of how the institution is using the campus as a living laboratory in Other areas and the positive outcomes associated with the work:
Campus Engagement: The Centre for Place and Sustainability Studies appointed Natalie Gerum, a Master of Education student, to help co-develop and coordinate a number of inaugural sustainability across the curriculum events for faculty, staff and students. This included introductory and advanced workshops held during the 2013 Teaching & Learning Week in November, 2013 and a two-day "Sustainability Across the Curriculum" workshop retreat held in April, 2014. These events helped provide new staff professional development and networking opportunities. http://idc.lakeheadu.ca/2013-teaching--learning-week/ http://communications.lakeheadu.ca/bulletin/?display=bulletin&bid=2891

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The website URL where information about the institution’s campus as a living laboratory program or projects 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.