| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 65.89 |
| Liaison | Julie Newman |
| Submission Date | Oct. 23, 2018 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
EN-7: Employee Educators Program
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.00 / 3.00 |
MIT
Office of Sustainability Director Office of Sustainability |
Total number of employees (staff + faculty, headcount):
Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program (avoid double-counting):
Percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer educator program:
Name of the employee educators program:
Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount):
A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities:
The mission of the Green Committee, Staff for Sustainability, is to develop and deliver programs that educate administrative and support staff at MIT about recycling, reducing and reusing goods, and sustainability. Efforts include identifying/addressing gaps in staff understanding about recycling as well as gaps in recycling resources, and creating ways to increase recycling at MIT. The Working Green Committee supports the Green ambassadors in many departments across campus. The ambassadors take responsibility for greening efforts and education in their offices/labs.
A brief description of how the employee educators are selected:
Volunteer
A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach:
The Working Green Committee holds recycling and purchasing training workshops once a year to update ambassadors on new policies and programs.
A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or paid faculty/staff coordination):
Funded through the Working Group for Support Staff Issues through an annual budget allocation.
Name of the employee educators program (2nd program):
Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount) (2nd program):
A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (2nd program):
The Parking Coordinator program exists so that each department has a designated staff member to communicate the landscape of MIT commuting benefits, options, and procedures. When first instated, the Parking Coordinator role focused more narrowly on parking and permitting procedures. However, the focus of the group has evolved and expanded alongside MIT commuter benefits, and now includes the communication and promotion of sustainable commuting modes.
For example, the Parking Coordinators group was integral to the success and dissemination of the Access MIT commuting overhaul. Access MIT encouraged all commuters to rethink their commutes, by changing from an annual permitting process to pay-per-day parking. Access MIT also provided free access cards to MBTA subway and local bus, and other benefits to staff, faculty, and post docs. It was the Parking Coordinators duty to communicate the new program to MIT community members and to encourage all members to obtain their free transit cards from the Parking & Transportation Office. Parking Coordinators were responsible for communicating the details of the new program, and also for educating MIT members about the program's intent - to reduce single occupancy parking demand and encourage more sustainable modes of commuting.
All Parking Coordinators attend an annual training to learn about new commuting processes and programs. They then communicate this information to their departments. Most parking coordinators will remain in the role for many years making them experts in MIT's commuting program: Access MIT.
A brief description of how the employee educators are selected (2nd program):
Each department appoints a designated staff person.
A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (2nd program):
The Parking Coordinators attend a 2 hour long annual meeting to learn about updates to commuting programs and about way to communicate to employees
A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or paid faculty/staff coordination) (2nd program):
The Parking Coordinator is an unpaid position within each department, and the program is supported through the Parking and Transportation Office.
A brief description of all other employee peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs, including the number of employees served and how employee educators are selected, trained, and supported by the institution:
1. Green Labs Program: The MIT Green Labs program began with a contest approach. Labs who participated obtained green lab certification and one lab won an award for most resources saved and one lab won for most innovative idea. The green labs contest was advertised by using our EHS-MS structure. It was mentioned in meetings where EHS and lab personnel were present. Labs from the first year program helped us to find labs for the second year program. Presentations were made at EHS Rep meetings and during IAP. Started by two employees who had familiarity with lab operation, a passion for sustainability, and also knew the other employee groups that would help.
They received coaching from mygreenlabs.org on how to get labs interested and participating. Frequent contact with strong positive reinforcement. The first year had a $20,000 budget. The second year (current year) has an as needed budget that will be about $10,000. Salaries of the two co-leads and other employees not included.
2. Sustainability Lunch and Learn: The Office of Sustainability hosts 8 Lunch and Learns a year during the academic year. These are on specific topics that are relevant to ongoing work and also relevant to the audience which is mostly facilities staff and MITOS partners. Approximately 60 staff members attend each lunch and learn. The presenters are experts in their field and vary from staff members to researchers to students. The goal is to educate the audience on current happenings in campus sustainability.
Total number of hours employee educators are engaged in peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education activities annually:
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Working Green Committee http://web.mit.edu/workinggreen/index.html.
The 4071 reported for the Working Green Committee represents the number of Admin and Support Staff at the Institute.
Access MIT http://web.mit.edu/facilities/transportation/accessmit/index.html
Parking Coordinators: http://web.mit.edu/facilities/transportation/parking/employee/employee_coordinators.html
Green Labs https://greenlab.mit.edu/
Working Green Committee http://web.mit.edu/workinggreen/index.html.
The 4071 reported for the Working Green Committee represents the number of Admin and Support Staff at the Institute.
Access MIT http://web.mit.edu/facilities/transportation/accessmit/index.html
Parking Coordinators: http://web.mit.edu/facilities/transportation/parking/employee/employee_coordinators.html
Green Labs https://greenlab.mit.edu/
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.