Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.55
Liaison Daryl Pierson
Submission Date Feb. 11, 2011
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.0

Portland State University
PAE-15: Employee Sustainability Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.42 / 5.00 Molly Bressers
Program & Outreach Coordinator
Campus Sustainability Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of people employed by the institution:
3,575

Program name (1st program) :
PSU Green Teams

Number of employees served by the program (1st program):
1,000

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

Green team leaders volunteer to help their department implement best practices. When they contact the Campus Sustainability Office about forming a green team, green team leaders' email addressed are added to the contacts sheet and email list for green teams.

Recently, the Campus Sustainability Office is taking a more strategic approach to starting green teams on a building-by-building basis. This builds cohesion among departments around energy/materials waste prevention issues and will one day enable building energy competitions. For now, we are working with green team reps from each department to install motion-sensor surge protectors, enhance recycling and waste prevention awareness, and shift purchasing practices.


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

Green team leaders and their teams attend quarterly themed meetings. During these meetings, these employees receive information, resources, and support for implementing best practices within their departments. The themes are: Fall-energy conservation, winter-materials and waste reduction, spring-food and commuting, and summer-purchasing. In addition to the quarterly meetings, the Green Team Coordinator sends out sporadic email information, referrals and opportunities to the employees, and also posts relevant resources and files on a shared internet portal.


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

At this time, one .49 FTE Graduate research assistant serves as the Green Team Program Coordinator, and is funded half by student fees and half by Finance & Administration ($21,000). The coordinator facilitates education and outreach to campus staff and green team leaders about sustainability and best practices for the workplace. The Campus Sustainability Office is working to formalize participation in the green team program so that employee work time can be officially used for green team and sustainability efforts within departments. At this time, it is at the discretion of the supervisor of each staff member whether they can use work time for these efforts.


The website URL where information about the program is available (1st program):
Program name (2nd program):
Sustainable Systems at Work discussion course

Number of employees served by the program (2nd program):
14

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

Motivated employees wanted to put together a discussion course to build community and educate themselves.
The Campus Sustainability Office purchased 15 books to host Northwest Earth Institute's Discussion course: Sustainable Systems at Work. In Summer 2010, 14 staff members participated and in winter 2011 a second group will begin the course.

As a result of the course, employees drew up a set of recommendations for PSU Sustainability and have shared them with leadership at the University. These employees have motivated the sustainability personnel to expedite a strategic planning process.


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

The group meets at lunchtime for six weeks and discusses readings on the topics listed at the following link:
http://nwei.org/discussion_courses/course-offerings/sustainable-systems-at-work-2

Promotional flier: http://nwei.org/course_resources/ssw-materials/SSW%20Business%20Intro%20Packet.pdf


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

15 books x $35ea = $525


The website URL where information about the program is available (2nd program):
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Program name(s) (all other programs):
Climate Champions Certification Program

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

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

Employees in any department are welcome to participate in this program.

The Portland State University Campus Sustainability Office (CSO) has developed the PSU Climate Champions program to promote and recognize resource conservation and stewardship within PSU departments. Modeled after Portland Best Business Center’s Climate Champions, the program includes an assessment checklist that departments use to track their progress on sustainable best practices for the workplace. The following checklist outlines best practices in areas such as:

Energy conservation
Transportation
Water conservation
Purchasing & waste reduction
Recycling & composting.
Please use this checklist as a way to track progress and set goals for greening your department. The CSO would like to recognize departments that have taken verifiable steps toward a reduction in PSU’s carbon footprint and increased stewardship of our natural resources by completing the Climate Champions checklist.


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

The Green Team Coordinator meets with interested staff, reviews the guiding documents with the applicants and provides technical assistance in completing the necessary steps to become a Climate Champion department. To date, only one department has received this certification.


A brief description of the staff and/or other financial support the institution provides to the program(s) (all other programs):
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The website URL where information about the program(s) is available (all other programs):
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

University employees in Fall 2010: 3575
(Source: Office of Institutional Research and Planning, http://www.oirp.pdx.edu/source/fact09f/4_09.htm)


University employees in Fall 2010: 3575
(Source: Office of Institutional Research and Planning, http://www.oirp.pdx.edu/source/fact09f/4_09.htm)

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.