Oregon State University
IN-2: Innovation 2

OSU Student Sustainability Initiative The Student Sustainability Initiative (SSI) at Oregon State University exceeds similar organizations in breadth and depth of student engagement, cultural shift, and campus impact around sustainability. SSI operates with 10 paid student staff, and supports involvement in a wide variety of sustainability aspects. Six project coordinators (energy, food, landscape, political engagement, transportation, and waste reduction) focus on facilitating projects and events, as well as working with students to support their ideas, teach them valuable skill sets, and develop them as capable student leaders. In addition to the project coordinators, there are two support coordinators (visibility and partnerships) that provide assistance to SSI and other student organizations campus wide at OSU. Two positions (program facilitator and administrative assistant) strive to maintain SSI’s long-term effectiveness and development. In addition to the effectiveness of the staff structure, the program is entirely student run and operated which contributes strongly to student empowerment and experiential learning. This school year alone, the SSI will fund over $18,000 in grant projects that are entirely student led. The projects selected were chosen due to their impact on sustainability at OSU, how they benefit students at large, the educational and experiential learning components and increased awareness they bring. The site of the program, the Student Sustainability Center, also offers a wide variety of services and educational opportunities. The house the SSI operates in serves as an example to students of sustainable living and has been retrofitted with features that not only help the environment, but help save money. There is an extensive demonstration garden on site that is entirely organic and is influenced by permaculture design. The OSU Permaculture Alliance built an herb spiral in the summer of 2009 and uses the site to teach classes and put theory into practice. The Landscape Coordinator works with student volunteers to maintain the site, and food produced from the garden is used at SSI events (such as a salsa making party fall term) as well as donated to the OSU Emergency Food Pantry. The SSI is also in the process of hooking up the Solar Trailer to their house to supplement energy consumption with renewable energy. When not on site, the Trailer can be seen at events on campus to not only provide clean energy, but educate students about solar energy. Outside of the projects and events facilitated by SSI, the organization manages a renewable energy student fee used to create renewable energy infrastructure and efficiency programs on campus. This fee raises about $500,000 per year. This increases education and awareness about sustainability and helps reduce OSU’s consumption of energy from non-renewable sources.