Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 36.57
Liaison Rania Assariotaki
Submission Date Nov. 5, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

The American College of Greece
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Claudia Carydis
Vice President
Public Affairs
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have at least one sustainability committee, office, and/or officer that focuses on sustainability broadly and covers the entire institution?:
Yes

A brief description of the activities and substantive accomplishments of the committee(s), office(s), and/or officer(s) during the previous three years:

1. Green Campus Committee

Key Achievements

2014-2015

A. Major achievements

i. Policy: After the approval of the ACG Sustainability Policy , ACG undertook an effort to promote sustainability and social responsibility at the institutional level (coordinated by VP of Public Affairs).

ii. Technical: In early March 2015, we introduced Recycling Points (RPs) on each floor of the ACG's main building (14 in total), with the aim to enhance recycling and increase awareness. Each recycling point consists of a Blue Bin (for recyclables), a Yellow Bin (for paper) and a Green Bin (for non-recyclable waste). The RPs are regularly monitored.

iii. Education for Sustainability:

a. “Greening the Campus” course with a focus on green roofs and biodiversity on campus.

iv. Dissemination:

a. ACG sustainability website development in order to better promote sustainability events (including the Sustainability Week 2015) and the green roofs at ACG. CES provided information for the Sustainability Website and continues to provide new information in order to make a more attractive web page.

2. ACG's ALBA Center for Business Ethics, Social Responsibility and Sustainability (C.E.RE.S.).

Key Achievements

• 2013: Continuation of the Positive Leadership Series
• 2013: ALBA Educational CSR Partnership Series
• 2013: Launch of the Executive Family Project
• 2013: Initiation of the design of a Postgraduate Diploma in Corporate Sustainability (Dr. Pastra)
• Academic Research on CSR is ongoing.
• Applied research includes six (6) new and/or ongoing projects directly related to CSR issues and three (3) public events.
• Total amount of scholarships / financial aid we offered during September – December 2013: €395,401.56 and January – June 2014 period: €450,854.34
• In 2013 ALBA in collaboration with Equal Society for the program “Study on Scholarship” offered three (3) full scholarships to young candidates coming from vulnerable social and economic groups.
• Via a similar initiative in collaboration with kariera.gr, two more full Scholarships were granted for the MSc in SHRM.
• Merit based, named scholarships were also available for members of student organizations like AISEC, EESTEC etc.
• Three (3) new memberships and participations (as mentioned earlier in this report) leading to a total of eight memberships and participations with both international and national institutions.
• Initiation of discussions for our membership at the Academy of Business in Society (ABIS, former EABIS), a key non-for-profit organization on CSR, established by some of the biggest European Business Schools and Companies, hence a strategic membership and cooperation for ALBA.

Participation in 10 events, by national and international organisations, including:
• participation in 4 Global Sustain events
• participation & presentation in Boussias' conference on The Power of Purpose
• 2014 participation in the Sustainability Centres Community, Ivey Business School Workshop, co-organised with and hosted by Harvard Business School (Boston)
• 2014 participation in the Ashoka event at the American College of Greece

CERES Events:

• 2013 Launch of the ALBA Social Responsibility Series and organized the first event.
• 2013 Organized a CSR event for member-companies of Global Sustain (former Eurocharity): M2M meeting
• 2014 Organized and run an awareness / training session on sustainable development for journalists

Cultural Activities: The ALBA Unusual Series: launch and two (2) events

ALBA Events Engagement (numbers are approximate):
• ALBA Organized Events: 14 & Reflections on the State of the Greek Economy Series: 9
• Co-organized Events: 10
• Participation in Events: 45
• Events Under the Scientific Co-ordination of ALBA: 15


Does the institution have at least one sustainability committee?:
Yes

The charter or mission statement of the committee(s) or a brief description of each committee's purview and activities:

1. Green Campus Committee

General Purpose
The purpose of the Green Campus Committee is to:

• Support the College in the development and implementation of a sustainability policy statement, other sustainability policies, programs and procedures;

• Promote environmental sustainability and stewardship at The American College of Greece;

• Identify and address issues related to a sustainable future for The
American College of Greece in the areas of campus operations, education and institutional policy;

• Build awareness of environmental issues among the College’s administration, faculty, staff and students by involving them in its efforts.

Authorities and Responsibilities Delegated to the Committee

• To conduct research identifying policies and procedures that will make ACG more environmentally sustainable;

• To make specific recommendations and proposals for sustainability policies, programs and procedures in order to “green” the campus, and integrate sustainability issues in the curriculum;

• To raise College-wide awareness of environmental issues and to mobilize faculty, staff and students to actively participate in the College’s sustainability efforts by organizing events and activities involving all stakeholders.

Term of Service

• Director of the Center of Excellence for Sustainability
• Three appointed DEREE faculty members from different Schools
• PIERCE Principal or his/her designee
• VP of Human Resources and Campus Services
• Director of Technical Services
• Director of Operations
• One student representative from Deree Student Government, with a C.I of at least 3.0
• One student representative from the Environmental Studies Society, with a C.I. of at least 3.0

Faculty appointments are for a period of two academic years.

The term of office of each student representative is one academic year.

The Committee may consult resource persons in the ACG community.

2. ACG's ALBA Center for Business Ethics, Social Responsibility and Sustainability (C.E.RE.S.).

The vision of the ALBA C.E.RE.S. is to be a national and international actor, point of reference and think tank for issues relating to Business Ethics, Social Responsibility and Sustainability. Our mission is to engage in activities independently or in cooperation with key stakeholders aiming to enhance knowledge and awareness on relevant topics.

The enactment of the ALBA C.E.RE.S. scope of activities can be described through five (5) interrelated pillars. Each pillar represents the key operations of the School and points to our interaction with different groups of stakeholders, both nationally and internationally. The pillars are:

- Responsible Education: business ethics, social responsibility and sustainability values, topics and practices form an integral part of our educational programs.

- Responsible Research: both academic and applied research address areas relating to business ethics, social responsibility and sustainability issues.

- Responsible Culture: provisions through scholarships and open seminars and workshops are available to potential students and other stakeholders.

- Responsible Workplace: activities are undertaken for the protection of the environment and for catering for employee needs.

- Responsible Employees: ALBA employees are active in social responsibility activities (such as philanthropy), on a voluntary basis. Employee activities are organized by the Good Citizenship Committee that was initially formed in 2004.


Members of each committee, including affiliations and role (e.g. staff, student, or faculty):

1. Green Campus Committee

Composition and Term of Service

• Director of the Center of Excellence for Sustainability
• Three appointed ACG faculty members from different Schools
• Principal or his/her designee
• VP of Human Resources and Campus Services
• Director of Technical Services
• Director of Operations
• One student representative from ACG Student Government, with a C.I of at least 3.0

2. ALBA Center for Business Ethics, Social Responsibility and Sustainability (C.E.RE.S.).

The Centre is run by a six (6) member committee consisting of a (1) faculty member and five (5) directors coming from key administrative departments of ALBA.


The website URL where information about the sustainability committee(s) is available:
Does the institution have at least one sustainability office that includes more than 1 full-time equivalent (FTE) employee?:
Yes

A brief description of each sustainability office:

The Center aims to:

Scientifically support and coordinate sustainability initiatives on campus;
build bridges between educational activities on the one hand and sustainable operation initiatives on campus on the other, promoting experiential learning;
facilitate collaboration between disciplines and between faculty, staff and students;
promote environmental awareness on campus; promote sustainability research;
connect and collaborate with other social actors – universities, local community, Non-Governmental Organizations, etc. – in order to promote sustainable practices.


Full-time equivalent (FTE) of people employed in the sustainability office(s):
1

The website URL where information about the sustainability office(s) is available:
Does the institution have at least one sustainability officer?:
Yes

Name and title of each sustainability officer:
Christina Maroulis

A brief description of each sustainability officer position:

Position description
• Advises ACG in its effort to become a sustainability leader in higher education.
• Creatively works to promote innovations and maintain on-going program areas (like the Environmental Studies Program) that further the College’s goals of education for sustainability and of sustainable campus operations.
• Reports to the Chief Academic Officer

Primary duties/responsibilities
• Acts as the College's environmental/sustainability affairs consultant, collaborating with technical/operation departments and other relevant offices for the promotion of sustainability at the College
• Drafts policies for environmental and sustainability aspects of ACG operations in collaboration with the relevant ACG bodies.
• Raises awareness of sustainability issues on campus via diverse activities
• Works with faculty, staff and students, making bridges between operations and education at ACG, with the aim to promote sustainability in curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular educational activities
• Promotes research on sustainability and environmental issues.
• Seeks and promotes collaborations / partnerships with other bodies working on sustainability and environmental issues (e.g. universities, research centers, NGOs, businesses, local community, etc.)
• Supervises staff working at the Center and coordinates the work of the Center
• Seeks funding for sustainability activities at ACG in collaboration with the Office of Development
• Chairs the ACG Green Campus Committee
• Represents ACG on forums and relevant occasions on sustainability issues

Required Skills:
• Full Time faculty status in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Knowledge of and experience in sustainability and environmental management
• Ability to work with different ACG constituency groups
• Effective communicator
• Knowledge and experience in sustainability education
• Ability to build teams, inspire and supervise
• Organizational and managerial skills


The website URL where information about the sustainability officer(s) is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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