Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 50.41
Liaison David Tedder
Submission Date Sept. 30, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Kentucky
EN-3: Student Life

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Shane Tedder
Sustainability Coordinator
Office oF Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have one or more active student groups focused on sustainability?:
Yes

A brief description of active student groups focused on sustainability:

UK Greenthumb:
The UK Greenthumb Environmental Club is engaged in environmental activism on campus and beyond. Much of Greenthumb’s work is focused on pushing to create a more sustainable campus. Greenthumb is also dedicated to educating both the UK community and its own members. Greenthumb participates in outings, such as trips to mountain top removal sights and leadership trainings held by other environmental organizations, as well as lobbying events and rallies.

UK Student Engaged in Agricultural Discovery (SEAD):
SEAD is a student-led organization whose goal is to educate the student body and members about issues within the food production system of the United States and promoting sustainable agriculture.

The Campus Kitchen at UK:
Campus Kitchen is a student-powered hunger relief effort at the University of Kentucky. Members recover unused food from school cafeterias, prepare meals, and serve them to low-income citizens.

Student Sustainability Council (SSC):
The SSC supervises the distribution of the Environmental Stewardship Fee in order to responsibly advance the theory, practice and reality of Sustainability at the University of Kentucky.

Environmental Science Club:
The UK Environmental Science Club is dedicated to enriching the experience of students interested in natural resources and environmental science at UK through: guest speakers, fun and exciting outings, job and internship opportunities, philanthropic events, and networking opportunities within the community.

All groups student governed


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:

Shawneetown Community Gardens - Community Garden for graduate and family students at the University of Kentucky. Student-governed.

UK CSA - The UK Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project is a part of the UK College of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture, and is an integral component of the Sustainable Agriculture (SAG) Undergraduate Curriculum. Not student-governed.


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)?:
Yes

A brief description of the student-run enterprises:

Campus Kitchens
The mission of The Campus Kitchens Project is to use service as a tool to:
Strengthen bodies by using existing resources to meet hunger and nutritional needs in our community; Empower minds by providing leadership and service learning opportunities to students, and educational benefits to adults, seniors, children and families in need; and
Build communities by fostering a new generation of community-minded adults through resourceful and mutually beneficial partnerships among students, social service agencies, businesses and schools.


The website URL where information about the student-run enterprises is available (optional):
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?:
No

A brief description of the sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives:
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The website URL where information about the sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives is available (optional):
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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:

The UK Office of Sustainability, the Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment, the Student Sustainability Council, and several of our degree programs host sustainability-focused outreach events. That said, the Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference, which is student-goverened by the Political Ecology Working Group is probably the most prominent. Several other prominent examples include Earth Days in the Bluegrass (coordinated by the Office of Sustainability-http://www.sustainability.uky.edu/edbg), The TFISE Research Showcase (http://tfise.uky.edu/showcase) and the Sustainable Ag and Food Systems Working Group's First Friday Breakfasts (http://safs.ca.uky.edu/). None of these secondary examples are student-governed.


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:

Each year the College of Design hosts a large fund raising event called the Beaux Arts Ball. They feature several design installations and this year sustainability was a key focus for those installations.

There is also a yearly event called Design Week in the Department of Landscape Architecture. Design Week pertains to sustainability as it tasks students to collaborate with those outside their own discipline to develop richly creative design solutions. The challenge of sustainability is crafting long term solutions to answer complex problems, and that is exactly the opportunity Design Week gives students. Students are able to look at Lexington through a lens of what is most helpful systematically and environmentally as well as what makes the city more exciting to experience; simply put, students are developing solutions that make the city more livable for everyone.


The website URL where information about the cultural arts events, installations or performances is available (optional):
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:

UK Outdoor Pursuits is a student-governed program within campus recreation. The mission of the Outdoor Pursuits Program is to provide outdoor recreation and education opportunities for the University of Kentucky community using human–powered adventure pursuits‚ experiential education‚ and the natural environment.


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)?:
No

A brief description of the sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences:
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The website URL where information about the sustainability-related themes is available (optional):
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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:

Adulting UK is an event where students can learn about different logistical aspects of being an adult.


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 UK Office of Sustainability has a paid internship program. Several other sustainability-focused programs also employ students, including the eco-rep program, Urban Forest Initiative, and the Food Connection, UK Recycling and the Wildcat Wheels Bicycle Library also has paid positions.


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:

Wide array of co-curricular programs and initiatives too numerous to list here. The University Facebook page and sustainability website listed below provide the most comprehensive sources of information on these efforts.


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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