Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 71.76
Liaison Mike Versteege
Submission Date Oct. 10, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

University of Alberta
PAE-20: Inter-Campus Collaboration on Sustainability

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Lisa Dockman
Program Lead (Outreach & Engagement)
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution collaborate with other colleges and universities to support and help build the campus sustainability community?:
Yes

A brief summary of papers, guides, presentations, and other resources the institution has developed to share their sustainability experience with other institutions:

ONE SIMPLE ACT ON CAMPUS
http://sustainability.ualberta.ca/osa

The One Simple Act on Campus (OSAoC) program invites the U of A community to make a personal commitment to adopt more sustainable behaviours into their lives. Developed using the theory of community-based social marketing, OSAoC encourages behavioural change and provides prompts, incentives and removal of barriers to that change. Various tools and resources are openly available on our website to encourage other campuses to implement this program, including a campus toolkit as well as the promotional materials used to collect commitments (i.e. door hangers and commitment cards).

For more information see: http://sustainability.ualberta.ca/osa

In addition, we also have a comprehensive Green Guide on the Office of Sustainability’s website that is openly available, well sourced, and organized into topic areas.

For more information see: http://sustainability.ualberta.ca/greenguide

Staff from the Office of Sustainability have also delivered a variety of presentations to local, provincial, federal and international audiences. Two recent examples include:

- The North American Sustainability Sciences Road Map Project, presented by Naomi Krogman at the 2014 Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference.

- Fostering Change through Sustainability Champions, presented by Emily Dietrich at the 2013 Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference.

-Building Sustainability Culture Through Employee Engagement, presented by Trina Innes at the Spring 2014 meeting of Alberta Infrastructure's Greening Government Team.

Presentations on outreach, STARS and facilities were also provided at the April 2013 meeting of CUSP Alberta part of the Canadian Alliance of College and University Sustainability Professionals.


The names of local, state, regional, national, and other campus sustainability organizations or consortia in which the institution participates and/or is a member:

The University of Alberta works with and/or is a member of these organizations that have a sustainability focus:

- Alberta Capital Airshed
- Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
- Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada (BOMA)
- Canada Green Building Council
- Canadian Alliance of College and University Sustainability Professionals (CUSP)
- One Simple Act - Alberta Environment & Sustainable Resource Development
- Recycling Council of Alberta

The University of Alberta works with and/or is also a member of these organizations that incorporate aspects of sustainability into their business:

- Association of Physical Plant Professionals for North America
- Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO)
- G20 University Presidents
- International Facility Management Association
- National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
- Western Canadian University Physical Plant Association (WCUPPA)
- Western Collaboration of Universities


A brief summary of additional ways the institution collaborates with other campuses to advance sustainability :

There exists an informal working relationship between UAlberta and many other Alberta based post-secondary institutions in regards to sustainability-related support and implementation. Two examples are provided below:

ONE HOUR, NO POWER CAMPUS CHALLENGE
http://sustainability.ualberta.ca/EarthHour

Initiated in March 2010, the U of A has hosted the “One Hour, no Power: Cross Campus Challenge”. Aligned with World Wildlife Fund’s international Earth Hour movement, our 2014 Cross Campus Challenge saw 13 Albertan schools participate in a friendly competition. The winning school has the highest percentage of student and staff pledging to participate in the Earth Hour movement. Post-secondary schools involved to date have included:

-Bow Valley College
- Concordia University College of Alberta
- Grande Prairie Regional College
- King’s University College
- Lakeland College - Vermilion Campus
- MacEwan University
- Medicine Hat College
- Mount Royal University
- NorQuest College
- Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)
- Red Deer College
- University of Calgary

The impact and profile of this competition has grown substantially, and included 3,042 participants in 2014. As hosts of the competition we work with representative of each school, and provide promotional tools (i.e. posters, bag tags and door hangers) for the other schools to take advantage of, if they so choose.

STUDENT SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT
http://sustainability.ualberta.ca/summit

The fourth annual Student Sustainability Summit happened on January 24 and 25, 2014. This one and a half day conference strives to provide students with the tools and resources needed to accomplish sustainable change by giving them the opportunity to develop relevant leadership and employability skills. The Summit is co-hosted by the Office of Sustainability, Sustain SU and the Students' Umbrella for Social Justice.

The theme for 2014 was Power & Prosperity: The relationship between energy systems and communities - looking at the varied and complex opportunities and challenges that result from energy production and consumption, and it allows an in depth exploration of the environmental, economic and socio-political effects of fossil fuels in our province and beyond.

All Albertan post-secondary students are encouraged to attend the Summit, and to facilitate their attendance a transportation sponsor, eBus, provided free travel from cities across the province. In total, the conference saw 103 students attend from 7 unique post-secondary institutions across Lethbridge, Calgary & Edmonton.

FACILITIES ADMINISTRATOR COMMITTEE

UAlberta participates in a provincial Facilities Administrator Committee which explores opportunities for institutions to collaborate on initiatives. Sustainability-related opportunities have been included in some meetings.


The website URL where information about cross-campus collaboration is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.