Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 70.76
Liaison Richard Johnson
Submission Date Oct. 13, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Rice University
EN-11: Inter-Campus Collaboration

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Richard Johnson
Director of Sustainability
Facilities Engineering and Planning
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Is the institution an active member of a national or international sustainability network?:
Yes

The name of the national or international sustainability network(s):

1. AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) -
Director of Sustainability, Richard Johnson, served on the AASHE advisory council from February 2008 until 2013. Rice has been an AASHE member institution since 2006.

2. U.S. Green Building Council - Rice University has been a member of the USGBC since 2005.


Is the institution an active member of a regional, state/provincial or local sustainability network?:
Yes

The name of the regional, state/provincial or local sustainability network(s):

Texas Regional Alliance for Campus Sustainability (TRACS)


Has the institution presented at a sustainability conference during the previous year? :
Yes

A list or brief description of the conference(s) and presentation(s):

TRACS 2016 conference: Presentation "Launching a Campus Sustainability Newsletter"

AASHE 2016 and AASHE 2015 conference: served as the host of the networking meet-up for the Texas Regional Alliance for Campus Sustainability.

AASHE 2015 conference: co-presented the poster "Rice University's Integrated Climate and Energy Master Plan (RICEMaP).

Above presentations by Richard Johnson (sustainability director).

Andrea Galindo of Rice's Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences (CENHS) presented "Consolidating the foundation of sustainable solutions: Rice University's Environmental Science program" at the AASHE 2016 conference.


Has the institution submitted a case study during the previous year to a sustainability awards program that is inclusive of multiple campuses? :
No

A list or brief description of the awards program(s) and submission(s):
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Has the institution had staff, students or faculty serving on a board or committee of a sustainability network or conference during the previous three years? :
Yes

A list or brief description of the board or committee appointment(s):

Richard Johnson, Rice's director of sustainability, serves as the Co-Chair of the Executive Committee for the Texas Regional Alliance for Campus Sustainability (TRACS). Details can be found at https://texascampussustainability.com/executive-committee/


Does the institution have an ongoing mentoring relationship with another institution through which it assists the institution with its sustainability reporting and/or the development of its sustainability program?:
Yes

A brief description of the mentoring relationship and activities:

During 2014-2016, Rice University regularly mentored the sustainability team at the University of Houston (UH). As reported in UH's STARS submittal from Nov 23, 2015, "Rice University has been a consistent resource for UH sustainability as the UH program relaunched under new leadership, and UH has participated in roundtables hosted in Houston for sustainability institutions to share best practices." Rice hosted one of those roundtables.


Has the institution had staff, faculty, or students serving as peer reviewers of another institution’s sustainability data (e.g. GHG emissions or course inventory) and/or STARS submission during the previous three years?:
No

A brief description of the peer review activities:
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Has the institution participated in other collaborative efforts around sustainability during the previous year, e.g. joint planning or resource sharing with other institutions? :
Yes

A brief description of other collaborative efforts around sustainability during the previous year:

Representatives from Rice University, including its sustainability director, participated in a collaborative effort (including a grant proposal) with leaders from the Texas Medical Center (which includes several higher education institutions) and Hermann Park to expand Houston's bicycle sharing program into our area of the city. The discussions included jointly identifying locations for bicycle sharing stations so as to form a cohesive regional network. The effort culminated in a shared grant proposal to the Texas Department of Transportation, which was approved.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Information about the Executive Committee for the Texas Regional Alliance for Campus Sustainability, which includes Richard Johnson of Rice University as its co-chair, can be found at https://texascampussustainability.com/executive-committee/


Information about the Executive Committee for the Texas Regional Alliance for Campus Sustainability, which includes Richard Johnson of Rice University as its co-chair, can be found at https://texascampussustainability.com/executive-committee/

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.