Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 75.15
Liaison Laura Young
Submission Date March 3, 2022

STARS v2.2

Michigan State University
EN-2: Student Orientation

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Carla Iansiti
Sustainability Officer
Culinary Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Are the following students provided an opportunity to participate in orientation activities and programming that prominently include sustainability?:
Yes or No
First-year students Yes
Transfer students Yes
Entering graduate students Yes

Percentage of all entering students that are provided an opportunity to participate in orientation activities and programming that prominently include sustainability:
100

A brief description of how sustainability is included prominently in new student orientation :

MSU's New Student Orientation is a program designed to connect incoming students and their families/caregiver(s) with resources and opportunities and begin to assist students in their transitions to the university. Every new Spartan, including transfer students, participate in NSO prior to their first semester as a student. By paying the Advanced Enrollment Deposit (AED) students are automatically registered to participate in NSO.

MSU's New Student Orientation (NSO) transitioned to a remote format starting in 2020. A module was developed highlighting sustainability at MSU. A campus video was published to show case a high level view of MSU sustainability for students to see what we do and how they can become involved: https://mediaspace.msu.edu/media/MSU+Sustainability+-+Spartans+in+Action+Pledge./1_9lxxsfr8. The module ends with a call to action encouraging students to take the MSU Sustainability Pledge, which provides a set of simple sustainable actions that students can embrace. New students, including transfer students, participate in NSO. Prior to this transition to a virtual format, sustainability was embedded throughout orientation. There were 10 key messages related to sustainability that were delivered to students as they participated, highlighting topics such as recycling, food waste, and paper waste reduction.

All incoming students also receive information packets when they arrive at MSU that highlight sustainability. For example, the Move In Guide promotes MSU's long running Pack Up Pitch In program to divert waste from the landfill. The RHS Welcome Handout also promotes the MSU Sustainability Pledge to students. These materials can be viewed under credit EN 4 - Outreach Materials.

We have a decentralized orientation for graduate students, where orientation occurs at the department level (i.e., there is no campus-wide orientation for graduate students). However, all graduate students are invited to participate in a resource fair to introduce them to programs and services available at the university. Sustainability services have participated in the resource fair including the SLE/RHS Sustainability, MSU Student Organic Farm, Gender & Sexuality Campus Center, MSU Bikes Service Center, and the University Well-Being Coalition.


Website URL where information about sustainability in student orientation is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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.