University of California, Berkeley
EN-1: Student Educators Program

The Residential Sustainability Program's mission is to introduce on-campus residents to the importance of cultivating sustainable lifestyles and to support them with the right resources. Created seven years ago to assist residential managers in developing sustainable environments within the residence halls, RSP uses paid and volunteer students to educate their peers on how to contribute to the creation of a sustainable environment on campus. They also collaborate with campus and departmental partners – for example, working with Cal Dining to experiment with a “Meatless Mondays” concept to raise awareness about factory farming and to promote a meatless diet for residents. They are among the first to introduce new students to our sustainability programs and take that responsibility seriously. The number of students served reported above includes students in the on-campus residence halls.

Coordinators and Educators apply for the positions. Residential Sustainability Program volunteers are appointed in the beginning of the academic year for a two-semester term. We currently have 18 students directly involved with the group. These students plan programs, post newsletters and undertake other initiatives that serve the entire residential population.

Volunteers meet with facility managers to discuss pertinent issues and awareness programming and attend bimonthly meetings with the campus-hired Residential Sustainability Program supervisors within Campus Recycling and Refuse Services and the rest of the RSP team. Together they design outreach, implement ideas and get the word out to residents that preserving the environment is important.

Coordinators and Educators are paid positions, funded by Cal Housing. As described above, the volunteers regularly consult with facility managers to discuss their work.

Nature Village is a peer to peer sustainability education program set in family student housing. http://serc.berkeley.edu/nature-village/ The Nature Village Team, in partnership with campus and student staff from The Green Initiative Fund, the Student Environmental Resource Center, Campus Recycling & Refuse Services and Residential & Student Service Program, have completed many projects and events since Nature Village’s founding in 2012. Examples include: End the Cycle Laundry Project: distributes drying racks to residents and puts water & energy conservation stickers on all the Village’s washers and dryers The Water Project: installs low-flow shower valves in Village apartments The Waste Management Project: recycles e-waste at the University Village Office provides individual and large-scale composting across the Village updates the trash/recycling enclosures and adds new signage The Bike Project: includes resident bike rides led by Nature Village volunteers has added a bike fix-it station hosts educational bike events at the Village Nature Sundays: monthly sustainability education events at the Village Move-In/Move-Out Guide developed Yard Sales, Eco Movie Nights, Village Festival Green Family Ambassador Program Nature Village launched a partnership with Imperfect Produce to sell Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes to University Village residents and address food insecurity and food waste issues. Imperfect Produce products are usually disposed of because of their appearance. These CSA boxes are sold for $12 each and feed a household of 3-4 people for a week.

Nature Village is a multidisciplinary group of University Village resident volunteers and campus sustainability students, staff and organizations working towards the goal of building a sustainable community at UC Berkeley’s family housing complex. Student educators already live at University Village and step forward to volunteer their services and work with campus staff.

The Student Environmental Resource Center coordinates the ongoing training of the student educators and resident educators. The training occurs as needed when new people join the leadership team.

Nature Village began as a 2012 Green Initiative Fund project and was transitioned to the Student Environmental Resource Center Initiative beginning fall 2014.

The DeCal Program (or just DeCal) is an aggregate of student-run courses at the University of California, Berkeley where students create and facilitate their own classes on a variety of subjects, many of which are not addressed in the traditional curriculum. In the last completed school year, about a dozen DeCal classes addressed sustainability issues.

A faculty member sponsors a student’s course as a 98/198 section. That faculty member, as far as the computer systems and transcripts are concerned, is the “instructor of record.” The student that runs the course can be viewed as the delegated instructor for the faculty sponsor. The responsibility of such courses rests on the department chair, faculty member and student facilitator, who all sign a contract of understanding before the DeCal is reviewed by the Courses of Instruction/Academic Senate.

All new facilitators must attend a workshop offered through the Student Learning Center. The workshops include the following titles: "Take Action: Thoughtful & Identity-Conscious Facilitation": Bears That Care and Undergraduate Course Facilitator Training & Resources have teamed up to bring you an additional offering for training! In this workshop, we will explore ways to navigate the unique position DeCal facilitators occupy as both peers and educators to create an inclusive learning environment in your DeCal classroom. "Cultivating Teaching Habits that Enhance Student Learning": This workshop examines teaching behaviors that hinder student learning and explores strategies for cultivating alternative habits to optimize student success.

The Undergraduate Course Facilitator Training & Resources (UCFTR) are trained, professional staff hired by the UC to help student instructors. The staff can help at any stage of the process: finding a sponsor, writing a syllabus, forming a lesson plan, dealing with student complaints, etc.

Total number of degree-seeking students includes all full-time undergraduate and graduate students in 2017. The student count listed in the DeCal field came from an estimate on the DeCal website that 3000 to 4000 students participate every semester in DeCal classes.