Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 77.43
Liaison Elida Erickson
Submission Date Feb. 28, 2022

STARS v2.2

University of California, Santa Cruz
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.84 / 4.00 Alessandra Alvares
Office Manager
Sustainability Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Number of students enrolled for credit:
21,173

Total number of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
8,908

Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
42.07

Name of the student educators program (1st program):
Student Sustainability Advisors

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

The primary role of the Student Sustainability Advisors (SSAs) is to raise awareness and offer educational opportunities within their designated residential communities about the ways campus residents can positively affect and contribute to UCSC's sustainability goals. The SSAs collaborate with staff members and sustainability experts from across campus to support and improve rates of recycling, waste reduction, energy and water conservation, composting, food waste reduction, use of green products and patronage of green business.


A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (1st program):

The UCSC campus is broken up into 10 different colleges, the SSAs are assigned to work within specific colleges to tailor their projects and programs to the interests and needs of those specific parts of campus.


Number of trained student educators (1st program):
4

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (1st program):
30

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (1st program):
10

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (1st program):
1,200

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (1st program):
Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
Carbon Neutrality Initiative Fellow Program

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

**Energy & Emissions Presentation
Since 2019, the Sustainability Office has been supporting the Energy & Emissions Presentation. The Office hires a Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI) Fellow to provide an educational presentation on all things related to UCSC's energy, emissions, and plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2025.


A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (2nd program):

The CNI student reaches out to different clubs, organizations, and classes and provides the 1-1.5 hour presentation across the campus community.


Number of trained student educators (2nd program):
1

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (2nd program):
30

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (2nd program):
3

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (2nd program):
90

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (2nd program):
Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
The Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP)

A brief description of the student educators program (3rd program):

ESLP is a student-led organization committed to empowering students to take action in the climate crisis. The program creates collaborative learning environments through UCSC-accredited courses for students of all backgrounds to learn the skills needed to transition toward a society that prioritizes the planet and its people.


A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (3rd program):

The Education for Sustainable Living Program's main target is our UCSC student body. ESLP works to foster co-intentional learning between students, while creating a culture where our students can take action. Students can participate in ESLP in 3 different ways: joining as an organizer, training in the Winter Training Seminar, or taking the Spring Series class.

Joining as an ESLP Organizer
Students can become an organizer with ESLP as a volunteer or an intern. The organization provides the opportunity to plan and design our two UCSC courses that include learning skills about facilitating, communication, contacting guest speakers, designing our own curriculum, collaborating with other organizations, and more.

CRSN 160: The Winter Training Seminar
The Winter Training Seminar is designed to prepare student facilitators for leading Action Research Teams in our spring sustainability course. The curriculum is composed of four major parts: (1) Curriculum development, (2) Facilitation skills, (3) Development of core competency, and (4) Peer mentoring. Students who wish to become involved in peer-to-peer leadership for environmental education can enroll in this course for a two-quarter commitment.

CRSN 61/161: The Spring Series
The Spring Series is a student-run course on sustainability offered every spring quarter at the University of California Santa Cruz. Our class has two components: the Speaker Series and the Action Research Teams, which are based upon sustainable living topics found in the Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus. The spring Action Research Teams focus on research-based projects or hands-on, experiential learning. The 5-unit ESLP Spring Class, CRSN 161, or the 2-unit, CRSN 61, qualify as a prerequisite for UCSC's Sustainability minor and may be substituted for Sociology major credit. Speak with your adviser to learn about your options.


Number of trained student educators (3rd program):
7

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (3rd program):
33

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (3rd program):
11

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (3rd program):
2,200

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (3rd program):
A brief description of all other student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:

CALPIRG UCSC engages around 60-90 students a year on activism skills, building grassroots support with other students or lobbying elected officials, with a core group of about 15-30 at any given time. Campaigns areas range from 100% Renewable Energy, Affordable Higher Education, Plastic-Free Seas, Save the Bees, Zero Hunger, New Voters Project and more.


Number of trained student educators (all other programs):
30

Number of weeks, on average, the student educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
30

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per student educator (all other programs) :
6

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (all other programs):
5,400

Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators (all programs):
8,890

Hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators per student served by a peer-to-peer program:
1.00

Website URL where information about the student sustainability educators programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

To avoid double counting, we used the number for the Student Sustainability Advisor (SSA) Program as the 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) and did not include the numbers from the other programs mentioned above, since the SSA program is so wide reaching.


To avoid double counting, we used the number for the Student Sustainability Advisor (SSA) Program as the 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) and did not include the numbers from the other programs mentioned above, since the SSA program is so wide reaching.

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.