| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 65.17 |
| Liaison | Lisa Mitten |
| Submission Date | March 2, 2023 |
State University of New York at New Paltz
PRE-2: Points of Distinction
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
N/A |
Lisa
Mitten Campus Sustainability Coordinator Office of Campus Sustainability |
Name of the institution’s featured sustainability program, initiative, or accomplishment:
A brief description of the institution’s featured program, initiative, or accomplishment:
Founded in the fall of 2016, the Sustainability Faculty Learning Community strives to foster a community of academic and professional faculty across ranks and disciplines committed to infusing sustainability into their teaching, research, and programs. Through a year-long professional development program, academic and professional faculty of SUNY New Paltz can become Sustainability Faculty Fellows. Throughout the year, these Fellows work to integrate sustainability into one existing course, develop one new sustainability-infused course, and/or integrate sustainability into an existing or new program.
Over 80 academic and professional faculty have participated in this program in the past six years. Positive outcomes to come out of each cohort of the Sustainability Faculty Learning Community program include revised or newly-developed courses and programs. All five academic schools now have revised courses with sustainability content.
Major program outcomes include:
- Increasing the number of academic, tenure-track faculty who conduct sustainability research from 24 academic faculty in 2015 (8% of academic faculty) to 53 academic faculty in 2023 (over 20% of tenure-track academic faculty). (Using the STARS framework, sustainability research is defined as research focusing on major sustainability challenges (but is not limited to) climate change, global poverty and inequality, natural resource depletion, environmental degradation, etc. Such research, for example, could advance a specific target embedded in the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.)
- INSERT SUSTAINABILITY COURSE DATA COMPARING 2015 submission data to the current submission
- INSERT SUSTAINABILITY SLO DATA COMPARING 2015 submission data to the current submission
Which of the following impact areas does the featured program, initiative, or accomplishment most closely relate to?:
Website URL where more information about the accomplishment may be found:
STARS credit in which the featured program, initiative, or accomplishment is reported (if applicable):
A photograph or document associated with the featured program, initiative, or accomplishment:
Name of a second highlighted sustainability program/initiative/accomplishment:
A brief description of the second program/initiative/accomplishment:
Since the fall of 2016, the Office of Campus Sustainability has supported teams of student Sustainability Ambassadors who are passionate about integrating social + economic + environmental sustainability across our campus community. We use a partnership approach to forward institutional change. During the 2022-23 academic year, we have formed the following teams:
* Beyond Plastics Team
* Sustainable & Inclusive Food Team
* Carbon Neutrality Team with a focus on sustainable and accessible transportation
* Biodiversity Team
* "Integrated" Sustainability-in-the-Curriculum Team with a focus on People + Planet
* Communications & Engagement Team
To learn more about the past achievements of each team, visit this website: https://www.newpaltz.edu/sustainability/for-students/sustainability-ambassadors/
Which impact areas does the second program/initiative/accomplishment most closely relate to?:
Website URL where more information about the second program/initiative/accomplishment may be found:
STARS credit in which the second program/initiative/accomplishment is reported (if applicable):
A photograph or document associated with the second program/initiative/accomplishment:
Name of a third highlighted program/initiative/accomplishment:
A brief description of the third program/initiative/accomplishment:
A message from President Christian and the President’s Cabinet sent on June 30, 2020
To the SUNY New Paltz Community,
We have received the recent letter from alumni, students, faculty and staff, and others cataloging incidents of racism and social injustice experienced over the years and all too recently at SUNY New Paltz. To undergo experiences of ongoing bias, embedded racism, and daily microaggressions not only undermines educational ideals. It insults, injures, and traumatizes those who absorb repeated assaults on mind, body, and spirit. It is painful to hear and thus we hurt for all who have been subjected to such experiences. We know that vicarious pain does not come close to the direct pain and humiliation of those targeted by racist behavior.
Hearing from you reaffirms our commitment with greater clarity and urgency to the work we still have to do to live up to our long-espoused values of equity, inclusion and social justice for students as we strive to become an actively anti-racist institution of higher education. We know people are tired, we know there is frustration and even distrust in dialogue without concrete tangible action. We recognize the sense of urgency felt by students who have just four years on our campus. We hear loud and clear the call for accountability and action to stop these experiences from continuing to harm current and future generations of our students.
We do not pretend that we will get to the right answers immediately and we know that we will not get to durable changes without remaining in dialogue with you and with all who seek reform. Thus, we commit to finding further ways we can make meaningful change that are within our respective and collective power to make.
Complex changes to eradicate embedded racism require a coalition of people at many levels to be engaged together at many levels. Coalition creates more, not less, accountability; it draws us to common ground faster and exposes the spaces where we must do harder and more honest work. Coalition allows a systemic approach to a systemic problem rather than fracturing the energy across competing ideals. Hence, we seek your partnership in making progress, and doing so at a faster pace than in the past.
Here are action items that are underway or that we commit to undertaking as we build on other work:
Establish a Bias Response and Support Network
Request Faculty Governance to Undertake Curriculum Reform
Diversity and Inclusion Council Re-Design and Climate Study
Support Black Lives Matter in School Initiative
University Police Department (UPD) Continuing Improvement
Continue Support for Black Studies Department
Continue to Diversify Faculty, Staff and Students
Expanding Mental Health Support
Continue Support for Scholars Mentorship Program (SMP)
Continue Town Hall-style Dialogues and Discourse
For more information, visit the original message from 6/30/2020:
https://sites.newpaltz.edu/news/2020/06/commitment-to-become-an-anti-racist-campus/
For the latest developments, learn about "from pledge to progress" at this website:
https://www.newpaltz.edu/diversity/anti-racism/
Which impact areas does the third program/initiative/accomplishment most closely relate to?:
Website URL where more information about the third program/initiative/accomplishment may be found:
STARS credit in which the third program/initiative/accomplishment is reported (if applicable):
A photograph or document associated with the third program/initiative/accomplishment:
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.