Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 69.61
Liaison Tina Woolston
Submission Date Nov. 2, 2022

STARS v2.2

Tufts University
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.06 / 3.00 Tina Woolston
Director
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of employees:
4,894

Total number of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
1,822

Percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
37.23

Name of the employee educators program (1st program):
Eco-Ambassadors

A brief description of the employee educators program (1st program):

Through an education- and action-focused curriculum, the Eco-Ambassador program provides participants with the resources, skills, and knowledge necessary to effect change, serve as leaders, and promote sustainable behaviors both in their offices and in the larger Tufts community. Using the tools, information, and competencies developed during sessions facilitated by the Tufts Office of Sustainability, Eco-Ambassadors lead departmental efforts to implement, and educate colleagues about, environmentally sustainable practices and receive ongoing resources and support from the Office of Sustainability. The Eco-Ambassador program is open to both staff and faculty.

Eco-Ambassadors often go on to get their office Green Office Certified. They also will do green projects in their office such as starting a compost bin, a TerraCycle bin, get the office to make more sustainable purchases and host zero-waste events, and other projects that may contribute to the sustainability of the office's operations. They receive 3 specialty newsletters a year, in addition to other timely messages from the Office of Sustainability and the regular monthly newsletter and they are able to pass on new information to their colleagues (e.g. a change in recycling rules).

Once a year, Eco-Ambassadors are invited to a reception to recognize new Eco-Ambassadors and Green Office Certifications with the Tufts President. They also are invite to around two field trips to sustainability sites each year (e.g. recycling MRF or LEED building). More recently we took field trips to Deer Island Wastewater Treatment plant, an anaerobic digester, and the Central Energy Plant on campus, all during 2019 (pre-COVID). We have 3-4 lunch roundtables every year.


A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (1st program):

The program is open to all faculty and staff across all four Tufts campuses.


Number of trained employee educators (1st program):
135

Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (1st program):
52

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (1st program):
0.50

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (1st program):
3,510

Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (1st program) :
Name of the employee educators program (2nd program):
Green Team

A brief description of the employee educators program (2nd program):

Green Teams are groups of staff and/or faculty members who collaborate on sustainability initiatives and projects in their office, department, building, or campus. While individual offices can get Green Office certified, Green Teams are a great way to encourage collaboration across various groups. This can allow sustainability initiatives to have a broader reach.

The SMFA campus recently started a Sustainability Task Force on their campus, which is comparable to a Green Team. One project they successfully implemented is Carte Util, a program through which students can recycle their old art supplies, and other students can get used art supplies for free.


A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (2nd program):

The target audience are members of a school, department, or office that want to take active steps towards a more sustainable workplace.


Number of trained employee educators (2nd program):
12

Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (2nd program):
51

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (2nd program):
0.50

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (2nd program):
306

Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (2nd program):
A brief description of all other employee peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:

We have a successful Green Office Certification program with 55 offices having been certified: https://sustainability.tufts.edu/sustainability-at-tufts/programs/green-office-certification/.


Number of trained employee educators (all other programs):
300

Number of weeks, on average, the employee educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
3

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (all other programs):
1

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all other programs):
900

Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all programs):
4,716

Hours worked annually by trained employee sustainability educators per employee served by a peer-to-peer program:
0.96

Website URL where information about the employee sustainability educators programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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