Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 75.41
Liaison Marianne Martin
Submission Date March 23, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Colorado Boulder
EN-3: Student Life

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Marianne Martin
Associate Director
Environmental Center
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Does the institution have one or more active student groups focused on sustainability?:
Yes

A brief description of active student groups focused on sustainability:

Numerous student clubs and groups exist to promote sustainability and environmental action. The below students clubs are duly registered with the university and claim and environmental purpose in their charter:

Anderson-Ball Center for Sustained Social & Ecological Progress
The ABC for sustained progress weaves & institutionalizes the interconnections between a wide variety of symptoms to undue political or corporate influence and control with grassroots solutions for affordable and diverse education.

Biomimicry Club
Architecture, Business, Engineering, Environmental
The Biomimicry Club offers student-led discussion, research, and innovation through the study of nature's solutions to evolutionary challenges.

Colorado Natural Resources, Energy + Environmental Law Review
Seeks to publish high quality academic journal of legal articles on relevant natural resources, energy, and environmental law.

CU Biodiesel
CU Biodiesel is dedicated to advancing the use and knowledge of biodiesel, a clean-burning alternative to petroleum diesel.

CU Colorado Ocean Coalition Chapter
The mission of the Colorado Ocean Coalition is to create, unite and empower a Colorado coalition with shared values, goals, and actions to promote healthy oceans through education and community engagement.

CU Energy: The Student Alliance of the RASEI
The CU Energy club aims to connect students to the emerging energy industries through a variety of means.

CU in the Garden
Our goal is to empower each Colorado student to make small changes that positively impact the world every single day.

CU Wild
CU Wild is a multifaceted organization dedicated to wild places and their inhabitants.

Ducks Unlimited at CU
Ducks Unlimited conserves, restores, and manages wetlands and associated habitats for North America’s waterfowl.

ENVS Club
To increase involvement of Environmental studies undergraduate students in their curriculum, their community and the environment, and to facilitate communications between nonaffiliated organizations on and off campus with the ENVS department

Environmental Law Society - ELS organizes service outreach activities, fundraising events, and outdoor adventures each semester, giving law students opportunities to immerse themselves in the larger natural resources law community that Colorado has to offer. Contact: 303.492.8073
Geology Club of CU Boulder
Geology Nerds expands the network of undergraduates to better their graduate and work possibilities.

Second Mile Water
Second Mile Water is an organization that exists to bring a permanent end to the world’s water crisis.

Student to Farm
It’s not about farming - it’s about about getting off campus and discovering Colorado through food. By working the land, learning from farmers, and eating the food, we wish to promote healthy lifestyles among students!

Society of Environmental Engineers (SEVEN)
SEVEN, as a branch of the Environmental Engineering (EVEN) program, is a resource for engineering students to connect and explore applications of environmental engineering. Given the interdisciplinary nature and wide applications of environmental engineering, we value the exploration of different focuses within the industry, including water resources, air quality, remediation, energy, applied ecology, chemical processing, engineering for developing communities, sustainable agriculture, and more.

Take Back the Tap
Our mission is to reduce and ultimately eliminate single-use plastic water bottles. We hope to educate the CU community on the environmental, humane, and financial issues surrounding plastic water bottles.

USGBC Chapter at CU (The)
The USGBC is an organization that sponsors Green Building techniques, promotes LEED certification, inspires companies and school to think about sustainably towards architecture and materials.

All CU organizations are listed here: http://www.colorado.edu/involvement/organizations


The website URL where information about the student groups is available (optional):
Does the institution have gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and/or urban agriculture projects where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems?:
Yes

A brief description of the gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and/or urban agriculture projects:

Smiley Court residence hall has such a garden; all organic, non-GMO, chemical-free, and assisted by Boulder County organic gardeners. CU in the Garden is a student group which students have garden plots on campus as well as off campus for applied learning. Student to Farm group immerse students at local farms and ranches to gain experience over fall or spring breaks.


The website URL where information about the gardens, farms or agriculture projects is available (optional):
Does the institution have student-run enterprises that include sustainability as part of their mission statements or stated purposes (e.g. cafés through which students gain sustainable business skills)?:
No

A brief description of the student-run enterprises:
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The website URL where information about the student-run enterprises is available (optional):
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Does the institution have sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives through which students can develop socially, environmentally and fiscally responsible investment and financial skills?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives:

Sustainable CU and the Energy/Climate Fund are both managed by student boards. Sustainable CU is a grant program for innovative projects on campus. ECRF is a 0-interest loan program for energy improvements.


The website URL where information about the sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives is available (optional):
Does the institution have conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience?:
Yes

A brief description of the conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability:

Numerous speakers, films, and events during the school year focus on sustainability. One of the flagship events is Front Range Eco-Social Solutions is free for all CU students to attend and is organized by CU Environmental Center in collaboration with community organizations and features over 30 workshops, field trips and national broadcast plenary speakers. CU Environmental Center has an annual events budget of $25,000 for sustainability programming on campus. CU Environmental Center partners with Cultural Events Board and Distinguished Speakers Board to also bring in high profile presenters. The annual Conference on World Affairs
Conference of World Affairs also features sustainability topics and presenters. CWA Week is free and open to the public. It is a festival of ideas featuring 200 panels, 100 speakers and performers, over 5 days, attracting more than 70,000 in cumulative attendance each year.


The website URL where information about the conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability is available (optional):
Does the institution have cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience?:
Yes

A brief description of the cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability:

Inside the Greenhouse: We work to deepen our understanding of how issues associated with climate change are/can be communicated, by creating artifacts through interactive theatre, film, fine art, performance art, television programming, and appraising as well as extracting effective methods for multimodal climate communication.
http://www.insidethegreenhouse.org/

CU Presents is the home of performing arts on the beautiful University of Colorado Boulder campus. With hundreds of concerts, plays, recitals and more on our stages each year, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
Our performances include:
The Artist Series, which for more than 80 years has welcomed world-renowned musicians and dance troupes to historic Macky Auditorium
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival, a professional theatre company devoted to the Bard’s works
The Takács Quartet, a world-renowned chamber ensemble in residence at CU Boulder
The Eklund Opera Program and CU’s New Opera Workshop
Select performances at CU Boulder’s Department of Theatre & Dance
Major events, master classes, workshops and lectures at the CU Boulder College of Music
The Holiday Festival, an annual student and faculty music showcase in Macky Auditorium
In 2017, CU Presents hosted The Nile Project: https://cupresents.org/2017/01/25/nile-project/


The website URL where information about the cultural arts events, installations or performances is available (optional):
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Does the institution have wilderness or outdoors programs (e.g. that organize hiking, backpacking, kayaking, or other outings for students) that follow Leave No Trace principles?:
Yes

A brief description of the wilderness or outdoors programs that follow Leave No Trace principles:

CU Outdoor Program: This program is nationally known and provides a gateway for students to enjoy the Colorado backcountry and more. The program offers hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, backpacking, scuba diving, ice or rock climbing, rafting, kayaking, fly fishing, avalanche training, a challenge ropes course and more. Each semester more that 50 classes are offered that emphasize skill acquisition, safety, positive group dynamics, environmental awareness (Leave No Trace) and fun.


The website URL where information about the wilderness or outdoors programs is available (optional):
Does the institution have sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences (e.g. choosing a sustainability-related book for common reading)?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences:

First Year Experience offers seminars is to provide students with the opportunity to get exposure to topics that are important to student success, while balancing the time focused on academic content. There are 10 different topic seminars offered during the first 8 weeks of the semester. The topics cover a wide range of options including both advising-based and opportunity-based sessions. Each seminar is open to students from any section. Sustainability is one of the 10 topics.


The website URL where information about the sustainability-related themes is available (optional):
Does the institution have programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills?:
Yes

A brief description of the programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills:

Williams Village North is a LEED Platinum residence hall. There are 2 residential academic programs housed here: SEEDS and Sustainable by Design. Other programs where students learn life skills: Student to Farm program, Biomimicry club. The Eco-Engage Events program seeks to introduce students to all the ways sustainability is practiced and offers a real time look at what it takes and where they might "plug in" to all that is going on. The program is aimed primarily at first and second year students, (although all enrolled CU students are welcome) and features an array of sustainability oriented half-day and day-long field trips - both on and off campus - focused on sustainability. Also, we offer sustainability skills workshops. These applied learning workshops are focused on skill-building along with applied information to improve your understanding in the practice of sustainability. Most workshops are aimed at newcomers and beginners.


The website URL where information about the sustainable life skills programs is available (optional):
Does the institution offer sustainability-focused student employment opportunities?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-focused student employment opportunities offered by the institution:

The main opportunity is via CU Environmental Center which employs over 100 students annually. Students work on peer to peer outreach, behavior change campaigns, sustainability policy, bike station operations, recycling operations and special events, etc.


The website URL where information about the student employment opportunities is available:
Does the institution have graduation pledges through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions?:
No

A brief description of the graduation pledges:
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The website URL where information about the graduation pledges is available (optional):
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Does the institution have other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives?:
Yes

A brief description of the other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives:

Investigating Careers in Environment (ICE)
By bringing environmental professionals to campus to share their perspectives on a wide range of environmental careers, the ICE talks provide a unique opportunity for students to enhance their awareness of environmental career opportunities and interact with experts in the field. Each session provides an overview of a specific environmental career path, followed by time for questions and discussion.


The website URL where information about other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives is available (optional):
Estimated percentage of students (full-time and part-time) that participate annually in sustainability-focused co-curricular education and outreach programs (0-100):
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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