San Jose State University
EN-3: Student Life

Spartans for Sustainability is a student lead campaign organization that wishes to contribute to sustainability efforts in the city of San Jose and at San Jose State.

The Resource Conservation Club promotes sustainability on the San José State University campus and in the local community through education, student action, and student leadership, especially through a focus on sustainable food choices, support of native biodiversity, and other activities related to promoting a sustainable, diverse, healthy natural environment.

The EcoReps' mission is to involve a diverse group of students in educating the campus and community on environmental sustainability. Through collaborative efforts on campus sustainability initiatives and community outreach events, they hope to encourage long-lasting social and environmental stewardship.

Lastly, the Transportation Development Club promotes sustainability on the San José State University campus and in the local community through education, student action, and student leadership, especially through a focus on reducing energy footprints, supporting non-motorized transit to campus, and other activities related to promoting sustainable energy and transportation choices.

https://www.sjsu.edu/getinvolved/recognized-student-orgs/

There are three campus gardens where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems.

The Sustainable Agriculture Garden is run by the Environmental Studies Department and is located on the main campus. It has drip irrigation, rain barrels and utilizes intercropping, mulching, and compost to teach students about sustainable gardening.

http://www.sjsu.edu/sustainability/docs/SJSU-Food-Garden-Module.pdf

The A.S. Community Garden, which is ran by the Cesar Chavez Community Action Center (CCCAC), is a ¼ acre organic garden that provides healthy food for students and a space for service learning. Furthermore, the CCCAC provides free food for students to take home through offering the produce to be placed in the SJSU Food Pantry.

https://www.sjsu.edu/as/departments/cccac/garden/index.html

The Native Botany Garden is run by the Biology Department and is dedicated to California native plants. The garden has served as a natural laboratory for a number of courses and is cared for by students, faculty, and staff.

http://www.biology.sjsu.edu/facilities/garden/

The Environmental Resource Center (ERC) is run by student directors and supervised by a faculty advisor. The center is funded through the Environmental Studies department and does outreach to students, faculty, and staff within campus with the help of on-campus and community partners. Some of the projects the ERC worked on were Ride to School Day, Take Back the Tap, The Green Office Workshop, and Earth Day.

http://www.sjsu.edu/envs/enviornmental_resource_center/index.html

Associated Students (student-governed) offers $2,300 to student organizations recognized by the Student Involvement office per school year through the approval of the finance committee. The money for student organizations has to either be allocated during one semester or split between two school semesters. All of our student sustainability clubs are eligible to receive this funding which students can then develop their fiscally responsible financial skills.

Associated Students also offers an Environmental Champion Award. The award is for $500 and is awarded to five students with a minimum of 2.75 GPA. The award is given to students who champion environmental sustainability initiatives, foster awareness and education for peers, and demonstrate a passion for an eco-friendly world for the coming generations.

Every year, SJSU hosts a large Earth Day on Tower lawn. For the first time ever in 2019, SJSU dedicated an entire week to Earth Day, April 15 - 19. Events included a Green Career Panel, a film screening, an Engineering Sustainability event, and the annual Earth Day Resource Fair on Tower Lawn. This year's Resource Fair activities included yoga on the lawn, a live musical performance, and the famous critter corner, and a petting zoo. The resource fair included dozens of nonprofits, businesses, big and small. All together over 75 faculty incorporated readings, discussions, and activities focusing on environmental protection, social justice, and economic prosperity into their classes, engaging with over 6,000 students.

In Fall 2019, there was a three part Leadership in Sustainability Workshop series open to all SJSU students that covered the topic areas of waste, water, and energy. In Spring 2019, these topics will expand to include environmental justice and other areas of sustainability.

Each semester, the Office of Sustainability hosts a Green Career Panel with panelists from different sectors of the economy to discuss sustainable career opportunities with students. The Career Center partners with the Office of Sustainability to host resume workshops directly after the panel.

The College of Engineering holds an ongoing Green Talk series every semester. Practicing engineers, scientists, and technical experts deliver up-to-date briefings on how engineers deal with environmental issues.

https://engineering.sjsu.edu/our-college/events/greentalks

Once a week during the academic school year, the Environmental Studies department hosts research presentation seminars for Masters Student candidates, SJSU professors, professionals, and other faculty members.

For the past 8 years in April, Associated Students has hosted the event "Trashion Fashion Show" where designers use material and items that are typically thrown away such trash bags, newspaper, and electrical wire to create fashionable clothing ensembles. The purpose of the event is to create awareness of post-consumer waste and clothing and to endorse being green on campus while serving as a platform for SJSU's student models and designers to showcase their art.

Two years ago, students, faculty, and off campus partners created an 8 foot tall Eiffel Tower made out of trash found in Coyote Creek to be displayed at Earth Day. The purpose of the tower was to raise awareness for the Paris Climate Agreement as well as the amount of trash in Coyote Creek.

Outdoor Adventures, run by Associated Students Campus Recreation (ASCR), provides day and overnight outdoor activities for San Jose State University students, faculty, and staff. Events are offered throughout the year for all levels of participants. Recent events include day hiking trips, volunteer days, kayaking, rafting, backpacking, and climbing. The events follow ecological principles to maintain ecological systems while enjoying the outdoors.

https://www.spartanrecreation.com/outdoor

The College of Engineering Technical Writing program has a Sustainability theme and impacts more than 1000 engineering students annually. The program’s focal point is a GreenTalk series that features guest speakers from a broad spectrum of fields that talk to engineers about the many intersections between engineering and the environment, including biodiversity and habitat loss, water recycling and toxicology, "green" energy and transportation systems, environmental justice, supply chain and manufacturing as well as recent innovations that impact the environment in the field of engineering, such as The Internet of Things.

https://engineering.sjsu.edu/academics/undergraduate/ge-courses/engr-100w

SJSU housing has Theme Communities on each floor of the dorms. One theme is a "Sustainable Spartans" community themed floor. Sustainable Spartans is geared towards students with a specific interest in environmental sustainability locally, nationwide, and globally.

https://www.housing.sjsu.edu/prospectiveresidents/firsttimefreshmen/

Each semester, there is a Leadership in Sustainability Workshop series open to all SJSU students that covers the topic areas of waste, water, and energy on and off campus. These topics are expanding to include environmental justice and other areas of sustainability.

The Office of Sustainability currently has 6 student sustainability internship positions that cover: Content Development and Marketing, Environmental Justice, Green Office, Zero Waste, Greek Life, and Academics.

Spartan Eats Dining Services has a student sustainability coordinator position available throughout the year. This position plans outreach programs and campaigns to increase awareness of SJSU's sustainable dining practices on campus, reduces waste at the Dining Commons by running environmental-based events, and represents Spartan Eats on the SJSU Sustainability Board.

The Center for Development of Recycling (CDR) is a university-based, non-profit, environmental research and service organization that was established in 1989. The Center for Development of Recycling has two student positions available for the project manager and admin manager positions. These positions are responsible for coordinating student volunteers, and providing information on types of recyclable materials and available recycling centers.

https://www.recyclestuff.org/html/about.html

Associated Students Transportation Solutions (TS) is dedicated to serve the commuting needs of students and employees at SJSU. Transportation Solutions offers three part-time student coordinator positions. Student coordinators handles transit receipt processing, trip-planning, outreach, marketing and more.