Portland State University
PAE-1: Sustainability Coordination

The Climate Action Plan Implementation Team (CAP-IT) was formed after the signing of PSU's climate action plan (CAP), and serves as an advisory board to the Campus Sustainability Office. CAP-IT is tasked with implementing strategies to meet the goals of our CAP. Strategies may include a range of activities that result in greenhouse gas reductions in building energy use, materials consumption, travel, and transportation. The CAP-IT sets priorities and interim goals, establishes tracking metrics to evaluate effectiveness, creates and manages financing strategies, lobbies for institutional buy-in, and informs annual progress reporting.

Jennifer Allen, Director of Institute for Sustainable Solutions; Alison Dennis, Director of Center for Global Leadership in Sustainability, Co-Chairs Jenny McNamara, Campus Sustainability Office, Controller. Noel Mingo, Facilities Utility Manager Sara Renkens, Transportation & Parking Services Manager Stacey Balenger, Business Affairs--Purchasing Contracts Officer Fletcher Beaudoin, Institute for Sustainable Solutions Kirsten Cowden, Planning, Sustainability & Real Estate department Molly Bressers, Campus Sustainability Office Laura Kutner, Student, Sustainability Leadership Center

The Campus Sustainability Office is housed within Finance and Administration and ensures that the campus moves toward sustainability-related goals. CSO fosters partnerships across departments and disciplines that nourish institutional stewardship of our environment and support a growing culture of sustainability within PSU. We aim to align operations, policies, and planning with university conservation and sustainability goals. Additionally, CSO values reciprocal communication, striving both to educate as well as respond to the campus community. To support this mission CSO: Leads planning efforts to ensure continuous improvement in resource conservation at PSU Benchmarks PSU's sustainability performance Facilitates collaboration and builds capacity to implement sustainability projects on campus Supports students, faculty & staff in becoming conservation leaders

Environmental planning - Works collaboratively with campus executives to develop and document sustainable operating strategic plans that address materials management, maintenance, energy conservation, transportation and commuting, eco-district, and watershed stewardship. Meets with executives regularly to track efforts and adapt or improve strategies to meet current operating conditions, budget, emerging policy, time sensitive opportunities, and to reflect current best practice. Reports progress quarterly to Associate Vice President of Finance and Administration (FADM). Promotes the concept of a “Living Laboratory” - The Sustainability Coordinator will bridge operations and academic research/coursework by facilitating collaborative relationships between FADM units and academic units. Outcomes may be operational changes based on formal research and student projects or learning opportunities created by highlighting operational sustainability innovations with academic units. Green Teams – Supports and encourages innovation and conservation at the department level campus-wide via Green Teams. Disseminates campus wide policy and best practice, and advisory comments from the CAP-IT to Green Teams. Shares information learned from Green Teams with decision makers. Benchmarking – Establishes green house gas reduction benchmarks. Collects and analyzes university sustainability performance data, compares to benchmarks, and reports out on progress of sustainability efforts. Finally, adjusts benchmarks as necessary to encourage innovation and progress towards meeting goals and objectives of the Climate Action Plan. Resource – Responds to inquiries from media, rating agencies, students, faculty, staff, the public, vendors, and others regarding campus sustainability efforts. Communications and recognition – The Coordinator catalogs campus wide sustainability efforts, sustainability policies, performance metrics, and performance data. On a regular basis, distributes communications to the campus community and external stakeholders regarding sustainability efforts, best practices, and institutional sustainability performance. In addition, plans and implements regular recognition events to recognize progress and volunteers. Liaison - Serves as Portland State University’s primary representative when coordinating green house gas mitigation efforts and related activities with public agencies and other Oregon University System institutions. He/she acts as a liaison to the Provost’s office, the Vice Presidents’ offices, faculty, staff, students and the Coordinator of Academic Sustainability Programs. The Sustainability Coordinator is the chief contact with the external community about issues and advances in sustainable practices on PSU’s campus, providing the connection between campus and regional efforts. Climate Action Plan Implementation Team – Voting member and serves as staff for planning, research and implementation of initiatives. Also serves as committee spokesperson to executive leadership. Ensures documents are updated and reports are generated as necessary.