Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 50.50
Liaison Ryan Chabot
Submission Date March 2, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Central Florida
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.25 / 1.00 Hannah Hollinger
Social Outreach Assistant
Sustainability Initiatives / SGA
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture (i.e. the assessment focuses on sustainability values, behaviors and beliefs, and may also address awareness of campus sustainability initiatives)?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
A subset of the campus community or a sample that may not be representative of the entire community

Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
Without a follow-up assessment of the same cohort or representative samples of the same population

A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:
Between February 2016 and June 2016, more than 2,000 University of Central Florida (UCF) students were surveyed about their attitudes, practices, and knowledge about environmental sustainability topics and the university’s sustainability initiatives. Students were interviewed at various high traffic, main campus locations. The survey was conducted by the Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS), part of UCF’s Department of Sociology.

A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:
"First I have a few questions about your interest in sustainability practices.  I am going to read a list of personal sustainability practices and would like you to tell me the degree of importance you place on each of them... are these practices Very Important, Important, Neutral, Unimportant, or Very unimportant?..." "Next I am going to read a list of personal sustainability practices and would like you to tell me the frequency with which you do the following ... do you do them always, usually, sometimes, rarely, or never...?"

A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
Surveys were conducted as face-to-face, computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI) by trained, undergraduate volunteer researchers. Participants were approached using an “every Nth person” systematic random sampling technique. Among the 2,174 respondents that agreed to participate, 78 were excluded for not being a UCF student and 23 were excluded as they were under eighteen years old, resulting in a total sample size of 2,073 respondents.

A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment, including a description of any measurable changes over time:
Most participants indicated they had some interest in sustainability (64%). An additional 18% considered themselves passionate about sustainability. Approximately 12% of the students were neutral, and only 6% indicated they had little or no interest in sustainability. Recycling was the sustainability practice most frequently performed. Approximately 73% of the students in this sample indicate that they recycle always (35%) or usually (38%). The next most common sustainability practice was conserving energy, with approximately 66% of the participants indicating that they always (29%) or usually (36%) conserve energy, such as powering down electronic devices not in use or keeping thermostats between 74-78 degrees.

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.