Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.39
Liaison Dianne Anderson
Submission Date Jan. 31, 2011
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.0

New York University
PAE-15: Employee Sustainability Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 5.00 / 5.00 Jeremy Friedman
Manager, Sustainability Initiatives
Operations
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of people employed by the institution:
12,130

Program name (1st program) :
Sustainability Advocate Program

Number of employees served by the program (1st program):
12,130

A brief description of how the employee educators are selected (1st program):

All NYU employees (faculty and staff) are invited to join the Advocate Program, via emails direct, posters, announcements from supervisors/academic leadership, and other media.

Faculty, administrative clerical and professional staff volunteers fill out an Advocate sign up form and then are evaluated for eligibility (and sometimes, supervisor approval is sought) before being admitted into the program.
The Advocate Program is promoted through bulk emails to NYU staff, posters, a website, and outreach through Human Resources, existing Advocates, an School administrators.

Potential advocates complete an application form which requests the following:
Why do you want to become a Sustainability Advocate?
What are some opportunities for ecological improvement in your area?
What is your past experience with environmental issues and action?

Most staff that apply are admitted to the program.


A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive (1st program):

The Sustainability Advocate Program engages the broader NYU community in the effort to create a more sustainable campus. The program harnesses the effort, energy, and enthusiasm of employees to "green" their own departments and work spaces, while educating others and increasing awareness throughout the university. Every month, Sustainability Advocates receive information about a particular environmental concern (water, transportation, waste, etc.), as well as a targeted project for implementation in their work area. Additionally, every month the Advocates will send feedback to the Program, enabling sustainability staff to gather key information about recycling rates, energy consumption, or employee attitudes toward sustainability.

New Advocates attend a two hour training session where they discuss sustainability in general, sustainability at NYU, and particular energy saving, waste reduction and sustainable purchasing practices. The training is ended with a walkthrough of an office area and new advocates are asked to identify ways they can improve office sustainability.


A brief description of the staff and/or other financial support the institution provides to the program (1st program):

Sustainability Advocates spend 2-3 hours of paid work time per month encouraging colleagues to make environmentally preferable choices and leading departmental efforts to conserve energy, purchase green office products, and improve recycling.

The Office of Sustainability commits financial resources for program print and web materials, events, resource guides, support for volunteers' greening efforts, communication, and more. A part-time Program Assistant spends 10-30 hours per week on the Sustainability Advocate Program, depending on the season.


The website URL where information about the program is available (1st program):
Program name (2nd program):
---

Number of employees served by the program (2nd program):
---

A brief description of how the employee educators are selected (2nd program):
---

A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive (2nd program):
---

A brief description of the financial or other support the institution provides to the program (2nd program):
---

The website URL where information about the program is available (2nd program):
---

Program name(s) (all other programs):
---

Number of employees served by the program(s) (all other programs):
---

A brief description of how the employee educators are selected (all other programs):
---

A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive (all other programs):
---

A brief description of the staff and/or other financial support the institution provides to the program(s) (all other programs):
---

The website URL where information about the program(s) is available (all other programs):
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Total employees figure includes all full- and part-time faculty and staff, excluding the School of Medicine, consistent with other categories (Climate, Water, etc.) and with the stated institutional boundaries for evaluation.

There is no way to accurately evaluate how many employees have had their work-lives directly influenced or affected by the Sustainability Advocate Program. It's far too narrow to assume that only trained employee Advocates themselves (190) should count toward this credit, and all employees (11,626) have been reached out to directly through multiple forms of media with information about the program, its accomplishments, and why and how to join. Somewhere in between is the number of employees affected in a substantive way.


Total employees figure includes all full- and part-time faculty and staff, excluding the School of Medicine, consistent with other categories (Climate, Water, etc.) and with the stated institutional boundaries for evaluation.

There is no way to accurately evaluate how many employees have had their work-lives directly influenced or affected by the Sustainability Advocate Program. It's far too narrow to assume that only trained employee Advocates themselves (190) should count toward this credit, and all employees (11,626) have been reached out to directly through multiple forms of media with information about the program, its accomplishments, and why and how to join. Somewhere in between is the number of employees affected in a substantive way.

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.