| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 68.64 |
| Liaison | Kimberly Post |
| Submission Date | Feb. 22, 2022 |
Saint Joseph's College - ME
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Kimberly
Post Program Director Leadership Sustainable Communities |
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement:
Saint Joseph’s College now hosts a Pollinator Garden on its nearly 500-acre campus, offers educational outreach programming, and complies with a number of guidelines. The Pollinator Garden Project team on campus regularly involves dozens of students, faculty members from several different departments as well as neighboring K-12 students and local seniors.
The campus also recently installed an observation hive with educational signage designed by students. It will be run by students and used for teaching and learning, both on campus and with the surrounding K-12 schools.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Public Engagement?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Public Engagement:
Saint Joseph's College now has the Center for Sustainable Communities, co-lead by four faculty and staff. Reaching across disciplines to help Saint Joseph’s College grow sustainably and steward our resources responsibly, we work collectively to:
1 Achieve carbon neutrality by 2036;
2 Promote a culture of sustainability among students, faculty, staff, administration, and surrounding communities;
3 Establish the campus as a living laboratory for sustainable solutions; and
4 Inform effective and inclusive sustainability- focused decision making on campus and in the community.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Air & Climate?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Air & Climate:
Students in Ecology and the Environmental Challenge have worked on the Scope 3 of the campus greenhouse gas inventory. They are learning about the institutional carbon emissions associated with faculty/staff as well as student commuting. Additionally, they are examining emissions associated with athletic team travel. Finally, they are determining the offsets associated with our forest management practices. This activity has given students a connection to the overall greenhouse gas inventory.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Buildings?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Buildings:
Students investigate electricity use, HVAC energy use, building fuel consumption. Analysis of patterns includes research into behaviors of various campus constituencies, and results in recommendations for improvements.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Energy?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Energy:
Each building on our campus is equipped with a meter that measures electricity use over time. Students in ES 100, Ecology and the Environmental Challenge, have been given access to this real data to better understand electricity use in specific buildings on campus. After analyzing data, students have developed energy reduction promotions for buildings. They have also promoted energy savings during a two week long energy conservation contest. The success of this contest has varied semester to semester, but has overall increase energy literacy in the students evaluating the data.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Food & Dining?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Food & Dining:
Students investigate energy use of food preparation and serving, food waste generated, consumption patterns and associated sustainability profile of food consumed, and participate in farm operations to connect to a portion of the College's food supply stream.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Grounds?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Grounds:
Students serve on a pollinator committee and a tree committee, as part of maintaining our Campus Bee Certification and in application to become a Tree-Certified Campus. Students work with Grounds to keep an Integrated Pest Management system and work to get more native plantings. They also regularly assess trees for carbon sequestration benefits.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Purchasing?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Purchasing:
Students in Business Ethics BA 306 annually research products used and available for purchase on campus, perform Lifecycle Assessments, and make purchasing recommendation based on their research.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Transportation?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Transportation:
Students have assessed both campus fleet and commuter patterns, as well as athletics transportation.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Waste?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Waste:
Student internships/research courses have investigated waste production, recycled vs. disposed waste, impediments to increased recycling, and recommendations for reducing disposed waste.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Water?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Water:
Saint Joseph's College students regularly participate in the Maine Student Water Challenge. Maine EPSCoR, in partnership with Maine Campus Compact, invites College teams from around the State of Maine to participate in developing an action plan to address a water-related problem.
We also host the Sebago Lake Symposium with the Portland Water District. This event offers an opportunity for students, Sebago Lake community members, and scientists to interactively and collaboratively share and grow their understanding of Sebago Lake, a freshwater lake that provides water for 15% of Maine’s population.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning:
Student interns work with facilities to maintain records needed for our greenhouse gas inventory. Student interns work with the Center for Sustainable Communities to update the GHG inventory annually. Students also serve on institutional committees, specifically the All College Campus Environment Committee.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability:
Students serve on the JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) working group, which researches and makes recommendations specifically for diversity and affordability.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance:
Students serve on the All College Finance Committee.
Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work?:
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work:
Students are intimately involved with our Campus Wellness Program. Students have developed and promoted different initiatives for the Wellness Program as part of their senior internships. Examples include meditation classes and fitness classes which are put on for the entire campus community by students. This gives students the opportunity to improve the Wellness program, as well as offering real work experience.
Website URL where information about the institution’s living laboratory program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.