Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 52.41
Liaison Susan Dorward
Submission Date April 14, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Raritan Valley Community College
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Susan Dorward
Sustainability and Energy Coordinator
Facilities and Grounds
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have at least one sustainability committee, office, and/or officer that focuses on sustainability broadly and covers the entire institution?:
Yes

A brief description of the activities and substantive accomplishments of the committee(s), office(s), and/or officer(s) during the previous three years:

Fall 2012: Developed transportation strategic plan

Fall 2013: Conducted a transportation survey and secured grant funding for Earth Week.

Spring 2014: Extensive Earth Week program, including a fair of environmental organizations, an energy efficient lighting sale, a series of student environmental talks, a Climate Reality presenter, a science seminar on hydrogen power, an electric car show, a talk on transit-oriented development, and petitions to legislators to encourage action on climate change

Fall 2014: Campus Sustainability Day events, including talks on green campus projects, climate change and weather, and energy efficiency at home; a lighting sale and environmental organization fair.


Does the institution have at least one sustainability committee?:
Yes

The charter or mission statement of the committee(s) or a brief description of each committee's purview and activities:

Comprised of faculty and staff, the Environmental Sustainability Committee serves RVCC in an advisory capacity regarding issues of environmental sustainability on the campus, including the operation and development of facilities and grounds, as well as modifications to the curriculum, community outreach and education.

Committee goals are:

to consider the environmental impact of campus activities and projects,
to raise awareness of local and global environmental issues,
to protect and develop the natural resources of the college,
and to coordinate and disseminate information on diverse green initiatives college wide.

In fall 2014, the Arboretum Committee is being revived as a subcommittee. It is responsible for identifying native trees to plant on campus and has a small budget to achieve this.


Members of each committee, including affiliations and role (e.g. staff, student, or faculty):

For academic year 2013-2014, the members of the committee were:
Susan Dorward (Facilities & Grounds), Chair (staff)
Jay Kelly (Biology and Environmental Studies) (faculty)
Emilie Stander (Biology and Environmental Studies) (faculty)
Angela Bodino (English) (faculty)
Viveka Sulich (Environmental Studies adjunct) (faculty)
Holly Smythe (Instructional Design) (staff)
Roberta Harmon (English, Humanities, Social Sciences, & Education) (staff)
student representatives from Environmental Club

Arboretum subcommittee:
Jay Kelly (Biology and Environmental Studies) (faculty)
Emilie Stander (Biology and Environmental Studies) (faculty)
Angela Bodino (English) (faculty)
Philip Weaver (Facilities Manager) (staff)


The website URL where information about the sustainability committee(s) is available:
Does the institution have at least one sustainability office that includes more than 1 full-time equivalent (FTE) employee?:
No

A brief description of each sustainability office:
---

Full-time equivalent (FTE) of people employed in the sustainability office(s):
0.40

The website URL where information about the sustainability office(s) is available:
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Does the institution have at least one sustainability officer?:
Yes

Name and title of each sustainability officer:
Susan Dorward

A brief description of each sustainability officer position:

The Sustainability Coordinator leads, implements, and consults on sustainability initiatives on campus, particularly focusing on energy use, water conservation, waste management, transportation, and building design. The coordinator proposes sustainability initiatives and researches proposed initiatives. The coordinator assesses their cost effectiveness, technical feasibility and means of achieving acceptance, and works with others (mainly in Facilities and Grounds, Environmental Studies, the REAL club, and the Sustainability Committee) to implement sustainability projects. The coordinator also networks with sustainability coordinators at other universities and helps publicize RVCC's initiatives.


The website URL where information about the sustainability officer(s) is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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