Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.07
Liaison Breeana Sylvas
Submission Date Feb. 25, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

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

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Breeana Sylvas
Assistant Director
Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution coordinate one or more ongoing student, peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs that meet the criteria for this credit?:
Yes

Number of degree-seeking students enrolled at the institution:
6,685

Name of the student educators program (1st program):
Alliance to Save Energy "PowerSave" Green Campus

Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (1st program):
6,685

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (1st program):

The UC Merced PowerSave Campus program is funded by the Alliance to Save Energy, a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. The objective of the PowerSave Campus Program is to embrace the culture of sustainability through student led projects. These projects consist of building retrofits, green career panels, impactful behavior changes, and initiatives that save energy or water within campus. Here at UC Merced we have a team of four student interns and multiple volunteers that help integrate the four main pillars of the program: water conservation, energy efficiency, green workforce development, and academic infusion.

Peer-to-peer outreach activities include auditing workshops, tabling, electronic outreach, and organizational partnerships. An auditing workshop will teach participants the fundamentals of auditing a building for lighting, plug loads, HVAC, and water. The fundamentals include an explanation of all the auditing equipment (e.g. Kill-a-watt meter, foot-candle meter, water audit bags, drip gauge, etc.), sample calculations of determining the appropriate lighting for certain rooms, and a hands-on audit where the participants audit a building themselves with the help of PowerSave Student Interns. Tabling includes a bike-blender attached to a bike, anyone peddling on the bike can create their own smoothie. This is a great way to exemplify that energy saving is exciting. Electronic outreach, using MailChimp includes monthly newsletters of five articles regarding sustainability on the UCM campus, sustainability in the news and community, as well as in world events. Organizational partnerships include fraternities and sororities, clubs, ASUCM, and community organizations.


A brief description of how the student educators are selected (1st program):

Students are recommended to volunteer with PowerSave to grasp how the program operates. PowerSave members are selected through a standard process which requires a resume and cover letter from all students interested. After paperwork has been submitted by interested students and reviewed, the team selects about 6-10 students for a formal interview on campus. The formal interview includes a series of questions asked from each member of the existing team including the team’s campus lead from Oakland, CA. After the interview process is over, the PowerSave team will discuss each student candidate strengths and weaknesses to determine best fit. The candidate(s) will be notified within 24 hours of their interview if they were or were not selected.


A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive (1st program):

Students are trained by both the PowerSave program’s campus lead who is stationed in Oakland, CA, as well as the campus team manager. Students meet their campus lead via Skype for about an hour introduction of the PowerSave Campus program, and the different positional roles on the team. The campus team manager provides information on both campus resources and partnerships to provide up-to-date energy efficient ideas. The campus team manager training session is a 3-4 hour session which includes team building exercises, how to use auditing equipment, examples of calculations for adequate lighting, project planning, implementation, and a building audit.


A brief description of the financial or other support the institution provides to the program (1st program):

The PowerSave campus program is supported through student paid internships, faculty, staff, and organizational campus partnerships that help promote PowerSave campus activities.


Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
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Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (2nd program):
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A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (2nd program):
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A brief description of how the student educators are selected (2nd program):
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A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive (2nd program):
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A brief description of the financial or other support the institution provides to the program (2nd program):
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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 (3rd program):
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A brief description of the financial or other support the institution provides to the program (3rd program):
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Name(s) of the student educator program(s) (all other programs):
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Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by all other student educator programs:
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A brief description of the program(s), including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (all other programs):
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A brief description of how the student educators are selected (all other programs):
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A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive (all other programs):
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A brief description of the financial or other support the institution provides to the program (all other programs):
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Total number of hours student educators are engaged in peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education activities annually:
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The website URL for the peer-to-peer student outreach and education program(s):
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

As of December 2015 Alliance to Save Energy "PowerSave" Green Campus student program funding has been discontinued and the group is no longer intact.


As of December 2015 Alliance to Save Energy "PowerSave" Green Campus student program funding has been discontinued and the group is no longer intact.

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.