Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 73.90
Liaison Connie Norton
Submission Date Oct. 5, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Simon Fraser University
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Kim Thee
Manager, Student Learning and Leadership
Sustainability Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Number of students enrolled for credit (headcount):
35,519

Total number of students enrolled for credit that are served (i.e. directly targeted) by a student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program (avoid double-counting to the extent feasible):
35,519

Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer educator program:
100

Name of the student educators program:
Sustainability Peer Educators Program

Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount):
35,519

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities:

The Sustainability Peer Education program advances personal and professional development while providing opportunities to students to work with SFU's Sustainability Office and Embark, an independent, student-led not-for-profit based out of SFU on a variety of sustainability initiatives.

Through Sustainability Peer Education, students are empowered to make SFU a more sustainable community. Sustainability Peer Educators are trained to be highly informed about sustainability at SFU and how to lead and participate in planning initiatives and events. Duties and responsibilities include: co-creating high-impact projects that contribute to the university's sustainability vision, working closely with project coordinators and volunteer teams to execute projects, attending monthly professional development workshops in areas pertaining to communications, project management, sustainability, teamwork and much more.

Example Sustainability Peer Educator projects include:

"SFU in 2021 - A Student Sustainability Vision", the result of a student summit organized by Sustainability Peers and Embark to develop the University's first ever student vision for sustainability. This ambitious document directly contributed to the institution-wide 20-Year Sustainability Vision and Goals. The development of "5 easy tips to reduce your food waste!" guide for the SFU community of students, staff, faculty and beyond.The organization and promotion of a month long food drive to collect food for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.


A brief description of how the student educators are selected:

Perspective Sustainability Peer Educators submit an application through SFU's Student Services Get Involved page. Applications are reviewed by staff from SFU's Sustainability Office and Embark. Perspective educators are then interviewed and if selected, sign on to a full school-year commitment as Sustainability Peer Educators.


A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach:

Sustainability Peer Educators are required to participate in 6 hours of online preparation for Core Training (content for Peer Educators in all program areas), 3 hours of Core Peer Program Training (also a requirement for all program areas), multiple sustainability-specific training sessions, workshops on specific skills and topics (e.g. communications, project management, sustainability, teamwork), 6 hours of additional training at Peer Education Professional Development day. Furthermore, Sustainability Peer Educators are required to attend weekly meetings throughout the term and three 30-minute meetings with a Peer Coach per term. Each peer dedicates approximately 60 - 72 hours to this program per term.


A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or faculty/staff coordination):

The Sustainability Peer Education program is supported by SFU's Student Services, Sustainability Office and Embark.

SFU's Student Services provides program coordination to the various Peer Education Programs offered at SFU including the Sustainability Peer Education program. Perspective and existing peers can contact SFU's Student Services with any questions regarding the program and how they can access their Co-Curricular Record (CCR), an official University document that tracks students’ co-curricular involvement at SFU once they have competed their Sustainability Peer Education Program.

Embark's Sustainability Peer Program Coordinator (SPPC) plays a key role in engaging students around sustainability on campus by working closely with the Sustainability Peer Educators. The SPPC supports the Peers' personal and professional development, empowering them to become sustainability leaders on campus. The SPPC supports the Peers in identifying and reaching their goals and coaches them through interpersonal dynamics. The SPPC also assists the Peer teams in planning and executing program that inform and engage the campus community about sustainability opportunities. This is a paid position averaging 12 hours per week for a total of 480 hours over 10 months.

Sustainability Office's Manager, Student Learning and Leadership provides strategic services and ongoing support to the Student Sustainability Peers Program and supports student leaders in pursuing sustainability at SFU and beyond. This position works directly with students as a mentor and provides training, presentations, occasional funding and other types of support and enables students to reach their identified goals.


Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
Student Sustainability Educators

Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (2nd program):
35,519

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (2nd program):

SFU's Student Sustainability Educators are the face of the Zero Waste Initiative at SFU. Their main responsibility is to promote and monitor the progress of SFU's Zero Waste Initiative at the start of the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters. This includes educating the SFU community on the four waste streams, their signage and symbols and conducting audits of the waste station.

Outreach activities led by the Student Sustainability Educator's include: engaging the SFU community through the "waste wheel" game, participating in student orientation, President's annual BBQ and other institution wide events to promote SFU's award winning Zero Waste Initiative and to engage the community on proper waste disposal and diversion to help SFU reach its goal of diverting 70% of its waste from landfill and to reduce overall waste production.


A brief description of how the student educators are selected (2nd program):

Perspective Student Sustainability Educators submit an application directly to the Sustainability Office as per the instructions on the job description. Applications are reviewed and perspective Student Sustainability Educators are interviewed and selected by the Manager, Student Learning and Leadership at the Sustainability Office.


A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (2nd program):

Mandatory two hour in-person training is offered to the Student Sustainability Educators at the start of each semester by the Sustainability Office. At this training session, Student Sustainability Educators are provided with an overview of the history and progress of the Zero Waste Initiative, a training guide booklet and other resources including a zero waste t-shirt.


A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or faculty/staff coordination) (2nd program):

The Sustainability Office's Manager, Student Learning and Leadership portfolio provides administrative and financial support to the Student Sustainability Educators Program. Examples include: training session, $150 honorarium for successfully completing 12 hours of direct community engagement (excluding training session), branded SFU Zero Waste t-shirt and support materials, letter of recommendation from the SFU Sustainability Office upon request.


Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
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Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (3rd program):
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A brief description of how the student educators are selected (3rd program):
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A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (3rd program):
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A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or faculty/staff coordination) (3rd program):
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A brief description of all other student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs, including the number of students served and how student educators are selected, trained, and supported by the institution:
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Total number of hours student educators are engaged in peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education activities annually (all programs):
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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:

For more information on the Sustainability Peer Program visit:
http://www.embarksustainability.org/peer_program

For more information on the Student Sustainability Educators program visit:
https://www.sfu.ca/sustainability.html


For more information on the Sustainability Peer Program visit:
http://www.embarksustainability.org/peer_program

For more information on the Student Sustainability Educators program visit:
https://www.sfu.ca/sustainability.html

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.