Oregon State University
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Community Engagement & Leadership (CEL) inspires and nourishes relational leadership practices that enrich communities through collaborative learning, service, and action. CEL works to create more sustainable, caring, and equitable communities through engaging students in social issues they are passionate about. The CEL student staff and outreach team offer programs, workshops, presentations, and consultations designed to educate their peers on topics leadership topics related to justice, identity, social consciousness, civic engagement and public service, values driven leadership, strengths-based leadership, working in teams, and more.

Examples of outreach activities include planning and implementing educational events, such as dialogues on critical social issues, conversations with social change leaders, educational programs that educate students on food insecurity, sustainable sourcing, and climate justice, site leading service projects to local community organizations to learn about food and housing justice, staffing educational booths at campus events, and advertising sustainability and civic engagement programs to students at Oregon State University. Students also facilitate workshops on social change leadership and pathways for public service and civic engagement for their peers. Furthermore, the student leaders facilitate community projects for their peers to work towards creating more sustainable communities through projects like environmental conservation and restoration with Corvallis Parks & Recreation, community gardening, building homes with Habitat for Humanity, packing food at the local food share, serving meals at the local soup kitchen, socializing animals at the local humane society, creating cards and crafts for local seniors, and more. Program information available at https://cel.oregonstate.edu.

The Community Engagement & Leadership (CEL) student staff or peer educators team is a student-fee funded initiative that serves all Corvallis-based Oregon State University students with a particular focus on students looking to gain leadership skills and increase their capacity to create equitable, sustainable community change.

Eco-Representatives (Eco-Reps) are hired students responsible for advancing and institutionalizing a culture of sustainability in the residence halls in which they live. This includes:
-Planning and executing sustainability-focused events (at least one per term)
-Advertising and encouraging involvement in campus-wide sustainability events, including inter-hall recycling and energy competitions
-Educating residents about sustainable lifestyles and resources (common methods included staffing a booth, visiting rooms to talk to residents, hanging or creating posters/signage, Facebook posts, and organizing hall events)
-Coordinating their hall's composting program - recruiting participants, educating and engaging participants, and maintaining compost bins (weighing and tracking data, emptying, and cleaning)
-Coordinating their hall's recycle right program - educating and engaging participants, testing different outreach methods of influencing recycling behavior, and assessing the outreach methods’ impact on actual levels of contamination in residence hall recycling stations

Eco-Reps work 5-8 hours per week and are paid hourly. Eight halls had Eco-Reps during FY22.

All students that live in the residence halls in which Eco-Reps are working.

Waste Watchers is advised by Campus Recycling and funded by OSU’s Division of Student Affairs. Waste Watchers is guided by the following mission: To engage students and the community in waste reduction at OSU by providing educational programming, meaningful opportunities for action, and empowerment of future leaders. The club is led by a team of volunteer officers split into 4 committees: 2 administrative committee members, 2 marketing committee members, 2 event planning committee members, and 1 Repair Fair committee member.

Waste Watchers host Repair Fairs, events that serve the OSU community by providing a space where community volunteers help attendees fix broken items while teaching them the skills to make similar repairs in the future. Additionally, Waste Watchers plan and carry out demonstrations for guests to participate in and learn a new skill usually based in reuse and/or repair. Waste Watchers have also recently invited campus partners to table at the Repair Fairs to promote their sustainability projects and efforts. Outside of Repair Fairs, Waste Watchers host weekly meetings where they conduct sustainability discussions, plan community service projects, carry out professional development and team building activities, collaborate with campus partners and clubs, host trainings on recycling and other sustainability topics, and host guest speakers.

The primary target audience is the OSU student body, with some campaigns further targeting students living on campus specifically. Some outreach programs may also be relevant to university staff and community members.

Diversity Learning Assistants (DLAs) are employees of Diversity Initiatives and Programs (DIP) within the department of University Housing & Dining Services (UHDS). The mission of the DLA program is to help build inclusive, overlapping, and collaborative relationships among residents, UHDS staff, and the campus. This position develops, executes, evaluates, promotes social justice education through workshops, bulletin boards, events, and serves as a UHDS ambassador to campus partners who work to build a socially just campus through resources, services, and programs. The position requires a strong commitment to the principles of and action for social justice.

https://uhds.oregonstate.edu/hallstaff/diversity-learning-assistants