| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 49.37 |
| Liaison | Beth Klein |
| Submission Date | Feb. 5, 2025 |
State University of New York at Cortland
PA-2: Commitments and Planning
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
5.33 / 6.00 |
Matt
Brubaker Energy Manager Facilites Management |
2.1 Public sustainability commitment
Narrative detailing the institution’s guiding vision or goals for sustainability and the plan(s) in which they are published:
SUNY Cortland 2024-2030 Strategic Plan
Third Focus Area: Red Dragon Wellness
Item 3: Strengthen the organizational health of the university.
d. Sustain and improve the infrastructure including:
i. Stabilize reserves and operational funding via the Campus
Financial Plan.
ii. Achieve goals within the Environmental Sustainability Plan.
iii. Maintain and improve facilities to support operations and strategic objectives through the Facilities Master Plan.
Narrative and/or website URL outlining the institution’s external sustainability commitments that include a reporting requirement:
External Commitment highlights:
- STARS and Second Nature Climate Commitment tracking and periodic reporting
-
Maintained our Bee Campus USA designation allowing us to continue to engage the campus community about the importance of pollinators in our ecosystem.
-
Maintained our institutional membership in Tree Campus USA allow us to continue to engage the campus community about the importance of trees and their effect to ecosystems at multiple levels, such as selecting trees and shrubs that are host to multiple pollinator species
-
Completed a comprehensive Facilities Master Plan that included a Clean Energy Master Plan, which we are currently in the implementation phase for the start of the Clean Energy Master Plan
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
2.2 Measurable sustainability objectives
Narrative listing the institution’s measurable sustainability objectives that address teaching, learning, and research:
Teaching, Learning, and Research Goals from Campus Sustainability Plan
A. Assess student, faculty and staff sustainability literacy
1. Conduct follow-up Sustainability Literacy Assessment spring 2025
B. Expand faculty and staff development
1. Invite faculty and staff participation in annual SUNY Sustainability Conferences (Megan Swing serving on conference committee)
2. Design and Implement Sustainability Faculty Institute (Planned for Fall 2025)
3. Design and Implement Sustainability Fellows Program
C. Enhance/Expand Sustainability Curriculum Offerings
1. Conduct Inventory of Current Offerings (completed Fall 2024)
2. Seek funding to provide Incentive program to expand sustainability offerings
3. Implement Sustainability Course Attribute
4. Implement Sustainability Microcredential Program
5. Develop new Sustainability/Environmental Majors
D.
F. Expand support for and awareness of student, faculty and staff sustainability related research
1. Inventory current student, staff, and faculty sustainability research projects
2. Develop website with list of research projects
3. Develop mechanism to consistently request faculty and student sustainability scholarly works for highlighting in newsletter and placement on website
4. Develop additional incentive programs for sustainability related research
Has the institution adopted one or more measurable sustainability objectives that address stakeholder engagement?:
Narrative listing the institution’s measurable sustainability objectives that address stakeholder engagement:
Stakeholder engagement goals from Campus Sustainability Plan
En Enhance/Expand Campus Engagement on Climate Change Issues
1. Use #climate friendly Cortland to support climate change activities throughout campus
2. Work with Center for Civic Engagement on Deliberative Dialogue on Climate Change and follow-up Climate Change activities
3. Provide support for other campus entities conducting climate change events
E. Expand sustainability outreach to students, staff and faculty
1. Expand Green Ambassadors Program for Staff and Faculty
2. Expand student sustainability orientation through use of green reps
3. Revise new faculty/staff sustainability information guide
4. Develop materials for student involvement in sustainability initiatives and curricular opportunities
A. Develop College/Community Climate Change Resiliency Plan
1. Connect faculty and community members on climate change resilience.
2. Work with Sustainable Cortland Community group to establish community resilience workshops
Has the institution adopted one or more measurable sustainability objectives that address campus operations?:
Narrative listing the institution’s measurable sustainability objectives that address campus operations:
Facilities Management Annual Plan includes objectives for Energy and Sustainability team. Main objectives include:
- Meet New York State BuildSmart2025 goal of reducing energy consumption by 89,367 MMBtus by 2025 based on 2014-2015 Baseline year. In 2014-2015 we used: 265,894.5 MMBtus of energy. 89,000 MMBtus is a 33% reduction in energy. For 2023-24 FY SUNY Cortland used 216,313 MMBtus of energy. This is near 20% of the 33% target reduction goal. There are on-going capital renovation projects wrapping up in Cornish Van Hoesen Halls in preparation for low temperature hot water heating system as well as envelop improvements and upgraded LED lighting. These energy efficiency gains will continue beyond 2025 with the Corey Student Union renovation starting in late 2025.
- Facilities Planning Design and Construction is wrap up phasing plan for Clean Energy Master Plan and working to secure funding for initial construction phases.
- Energy Management is develop more real-time Key Performance Indicators for Green House Gas emissions and major Energy Performance metrics in coordination with our Strategic Energy Management program.
- Facilities Operations and Services is continuing the Energy Conservation Reinvestment Program with “low-hanging fruit” efficiency measures with funding from internal campus funding which will lower maintenance and lower operating costs. 2023-24 investments totaled approximately $150,000. Utility incentives and rebates are reinvested back into next year’s projects.
- Complete STARS report.
Has the institution adopted one or more measurable sustainability objectives that address racial equity and social justice?:
Narrative listing the institution’s measurable sustainability objectives that address racial equity and social justice:
SUNY Cortland 2024-2030 Strategic Plan
Focus 3: Red Dragon Wellness:
Objective 2. Increase the campus commitment to inclusive excellence by
uncovering inequities and engaging all members of our diverse university
and community.
a. Increase employee diversity in all roles on campus.
b. Expand understanding of the student experience with a focus on
historically underserved groups based on race, ethnicity, orientation,
and financial resources.
c. Increase sense of belonging for students.
d. Achieve the goals within the Campus Diversity Plan.
e. Establish metrics in above goals and objective whch will align with Okanagan Charter. Initial phase review.
Has the institution adopted one or more measurable sustainability objectives that address administration and finance?:
Narrative listing the institution’s measurable sustainability objectives that address administration and finance:
Within the Campus Strategic Plan - long term financial sustainability is essential for the institution's overall health and continued contribution to the economic prosperity within the Cortland community. From a finance and administrative perspective, SUNY Cortland addresses sustainability through the following five broad objectives:
- Evaluate employee engagement and moral and create an action plan based on evidence from employee engagement activities, surveys, interviews, listening sessions.
- Improve communication, transparency, and clarity of decision-making.
- Continue to assess and improve communication across divisions and levels of the institution for a more inclusive and integrated communication and accessible management approach.
- Continue to streamline and increase efficiencies of internal administrative processes from an end-user's perspective.
- Continue to manage and support our facilities infrastructure as a responsible steward of existing and new resources. This effort includes:
- Stabilizing campus financial reserves.
- Identify synergies between Environmental Sustainability Plan and Campus Financial Plan by further aligning common goals and objectives and taking action to lower Green House Gas emissions as common metric or performance indicator.
- Maintain and improve facilities to support operations and strategic objectives within Facilities Master Plan, which includes Clean Energy Master Plan
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
2.3 Climate resilience assessment and planning
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s climate resilience assessment:
Does the institution participate in an ongoing campus-community task force or committee that is focused on climate resilience?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the campus-community task force or committee focused on climate resilience:
Has the institution incorporated climate resilience strategies and/or goals into one or more of its published plans?:
Narrative listing the institution’s climate resilience strategies and goals and the plan(s) in which they are published:
In April 2016, SUNY Cortland signed the Second Nature Climate Commitment, codifying Resiliency into our planning and administrative processes for long term approach to climate adaptation and preparedness. Since signing, we have remained committed to addressing climate adaptation and institutional resiliency. Strategic planning at the University and within the County has continued, however developing an integrated partnerships that is solely focused on resiliency planning has not yet been established. We maintain that decentralized approaches to asymmetric challenges may prove to be beneficial over the time horizon of addressing climate change adaptation. Baseline assessments will be completed by 2027.
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
Optional documentation
Additional documentation for this credit:
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.