Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.35
Liaison Trevor Ledbetter
Submission Date May 2, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Arizona
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Benjamin Champion
N/A
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Number of students enrolled for credit (headcount):
42,236

Total number of students enrolled for credit that are served (i.e. directly targeted) by a student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program (avoid double-counting to the extent feasible):
42,236

Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer educator program:
100

Name of the student educators program:
Eco Reps

Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount):
7,216

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities:

Eco-Reps are the voice for sustainability in the residence halls at the University of Arizona. They have two major responsibilities: advocate for sustainability on hall council and facilitate sustainability education for the hall. They are responsible for providing sustainability programming to the residence halls on their own and in conjunction with Resident Assistants. They use their training to tailor programming to each residence hall. They also work to raise awareness for various types of sustainability issues, such as recycling and environmental justice through programming and through administering competitions between the residence halls such as Battle of the Utilities and Recycle Mania.


A brief description of how the student educators are selected:

“Eco-Rep” is a position on every hall council, one that is filled at the beginning of the year during regular hall council recruitment. Students self-select into the Eco-Reps program at this time. There is no cap on the number of students who can serve as Eco-Reps. The goal is to have at least one per hall, but we have had as many as 5 at once. . In addition to the Hall Council position, residents can become general Eco-Reps for their Residence Hall. This enables students who do not wish to participate in hall council to still be a member of Eco-Reps.


A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach:

All Eco-Reps attend weekly 1.5 hour meetings which include presentations created by Residence Life, covering the triple bottom line of people, planet, and prosperity. Eco-Reps take the information imparted through the presentations to advocate in their respective Hall Councils and communities.


A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or faculty/staff coordination):

Eco-Reps have a $2600 budget, provided by Residence Life. Individual Hall Councils will allocate additional monies to fund the individual sustainability education programs that the Eco-Reps host in each hall. Staff support of Eco-Reps comes in the form of Residence Life's Coordinator of Sustainability Education leading the Eco-Rep Program. Residence Life pays for this salary in its entirety.


Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
Students for Sustainability

Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (2nd program):
42,236

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (2nd program):

Students for Sustainability is a student group on campus administered through the Associated Students of the University of Arizona (ASUA). The group's mission is to engage students around projects that build a sustainable university and community, and raise awareness for sustainability issues in student life.

Students for Sustainability engages students through several of all of its programs. The group runs and helps maintain on campus gardens in which both students and employees are encouraged to participate; Grassroots, which is a peer to peer volunteering group for sustainability projects; Green the Greek, which focuses on promoting recycling in fraternity and sorority organizations on campus; Compost Cats, which is a student administered campus and local business composting service that aims to create agriculture grade compost that can be used for University and for business use. Throughout all of the programs, training and education is provided by the students involved as well as by other student groups that partner on the projects.

Students for Sustainability has 10 active committees focused on sustainability leadership across energy, water, waste, food production, food waste minimization, ecological and social justice, and more.


A brief description of how the student educators are selected (2nd program):

Students for Sustainability has a full-time program coordinator as staff, and funds two undergraduate co-directors. It is an internship program, which offers participating students academic credit. Students must apply and have the option to enroll in the program. The program is open to all who wish to apply, but they must participate in program activities, and there is a minimal-tolerance policy for absences from committee and full-group activities. The undergraduate co-directors are selected each year by a vote of the participating students.

The organization has grown from a handful of students in 2010 to 80-90 students each semester in 2015-2016 academic year.


A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (2nd program):

The administrative staff and interns of Students for Sustainability learn to plan committee actions, manage complex projects, communicate effectively across the UA landscape and how to conduct media relations and outreach efforts. These skills are taught through a peer-based system within committees on an ongoing basis, with mentorship from the program coordinator and undergraduate co-directors.

Additionally, interns learn specific skills according to which project an intern selects for the year. Examples include operating large farm machinery for composting, identification of recyclable material for the recycling project, and contract management for the gardening project.


A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or faculty/staff coordination) (2nd program):

The University of Arizona supports Students for Sustainability with financial funding and assigned UA personnel. Projects are financially supported through an annual budget allocation of $5,000 from ASUA. If more funds are needed they are acquired through grant-writing and other forms of fundraising, most commonly through applying for funds from the UA Green Fund.


Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
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Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (3rd program):
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A brief description of how the student educators are selected (3rd program):
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A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (3rd program):
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A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or faculty/staff coordination) (3rd program):
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A brief description of all other student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs, including the number of students served and how student educators are selected, trained, and supported by the institution:
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Total number of hours student educators are engaged in peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education activities annually (all programs):
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Information on degree-seeking students and numbers of students served by programs have been brought up-to-date with the latest data available from the UA Factbook (http://factbook.arizona.edu/) - as of February 2016, data for FY15 is available.

Latest update: February 2016


Information on degree-seeking students and numbers of students served by programs have been brought up-to-date with the latest data available from the UA Factbook (http://factbook.arizona.edu/) - as of February 2016, data for FY15 is available.

Latest update: February 2016

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.