| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 68.66 |
| Liaison | Eric Boles |
| Submission Date | March 5, 2021 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
University of Arkansas
EN-1: Student Educators Program
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Eric
Boles Director Office for Sustainability |
Number of students enrolled for credit (headcount):
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):
Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer educator program:
Name of the student educators program:
Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount):
A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities:
Students from diverse fields of study are hired to serve as interns for the University of Arkansas Office for Sustainability (OFS). There's usually 12 paid student interns per semester. Interns spearhead their own sustainability events, programs, and projects, as well as collaboratively work to accomplish goals set forth by the OFS. They target and serve the entire student body through various events, programs, and projects. Previous examples include peer-to-peer outreach in the form of film screenings, sustainability capstone research conducted via internship positions, RecycleMania, e-Waste drives, monthly newsletters, social media platforms, tabling at new student orientation, bike fest, earth day, Arbor Day, lunch and learns, trash cleanups, tree plantings, invasive species removal, trail building, sustainability lectures, blog posts, and many more.
A brief description of how the student educators are selected:
Positions are advertised, a portion of those students are interviewed by students and staff, and then the best candidates are offered positions. They're chosen based on the skills they could offer the OFS, their commitment to sustainability, and their background knowledge of sustainability. The selected interns' backgrounds varied from law to architecture to politics to engineering, and over half of them were actively pursuing a minor in sustainability.
A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach:
Interns completed a 1 day training session prior to the beginning of the school year in which they are familiarized with the Office for Sustainability, its mission, goals and expectations for the interns over the semester. The goal of hiring interns was to increase outreach of sustainability efforts to the student body at large.
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):
The interns are led by the Office for Sustainability Director with support from the Admin Assistant and Active Transportation Coordinator. All student interns are paid an hourly living wage and receive a $1/hr increase annually.
Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (2nd program):
A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (2nd program):
The University of Arkansas RSO Sustainability Coalition is a group of registered student organizations that fall within the umbrella of sustainability. The mission and purpose of the organizations are to connect leaders and students of their groups with other like-minded students and administration. Each organization is required to host a minimum of two events throughout the academic school year, one per semester. All the RSOs come together for at least on event annually, which is usually Earth Week. There are more than 15 different RSO within the Coalition as of 2020. A few examples of RSO's are; Net Impact, Horticulture Club, Recyclebacks, Students Advocating for the Environment, and The Wildlife Society. New RSOs are always welcomed to the group. The RSO Sustainability Coalition meets monthly to coordinate efforts and uses a GroupMe to chat regularly and share resources.
https://wordpressua.uark.edu/sustain/meet-the-new-and-improved-rso-sustainability-coalition/
A brief description of how the student educators are selected (2nd program):
RSOs with an interest in sustainability are either self identified or identified by the group. Once identified, the president and Vice President of the RSO is added to the monthly meeting and group chat. They're also promoted on the Office for Sustainability website.
A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (2nd program):
The RSO Sustainability Coalition meets once a month, which requires the leadership of each organization to attend. At the meetings, each organization discusses the events for the semester and what they want to accomplish. At these meetings, each RSO is given training and resources to help support the events and goals that which to accomplish each month and semester. It's usually an inspirational exchange of ideas. The leaders are then required to take that information back to their individual RSOs
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):
Each RSO is supported through their own fundraising which is organized by the students themselves and supported by the Associated Student Government.
Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (3rd program):
A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (3rd program):
The University of Arkansas' Residents’ Interhall Congress (RIC) is an organization designed to improve the quality of life for the on-campus population of students. The student body consists of executives, legislative representatives, and judiciary officials, whose goal it is to develop and maintain policies and programs that revolve around the student's interests. An example of the peer-to-peer outreach activities in the 2019-2020 school year is Green Bag Distribution.
A brief description of how the student educators are selected (3rd program):
Representatives are elected by their student housing hall and must be faithful to the special needs of that particular hall. If a representative does not attend hall meetings and associate with residents of their hall, they cannot accurately represent the hall.
A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (3rd program):
Each representative of RIC is required to attend all RIC Senate meetings, give weekly reports on their hall, read legislation before every meeting, and question and challenge parts of legislation when they are not legitimate.
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):
Funding is provided by Campus Housing and they have Housing staff who support the program.
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:
Total number of hours student educators are engaged in peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education activities annually (all programs):
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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.