University of Maryland, College Park
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

The Green Office Program engages staff, faculty and students in a voluntary, self-guided initiative that promotes best environmental practices at the University of Maryland. The program supports and promotes offices that are taking steps toward reducing their environmental footprint. A series of checklists and tools will guide offices through three levels of certification. Each of these three checklists includes at least 20 different ways in which an office can be more sustainable. Examples of these items range from simpler tasks such as recycling toner/ink cartridges and unplugging vampire power to more difficult items such as hosting zero-waste office events and incorporating sustainability into PRDs. Each checklist must be 75% complete in order to be considered certified at that level. It is up to the Green Office representatives in each participating office to go through the checklists, ensure the staff are changing their behaviors and completing the actions, and report back to us when they have completed a new level of certification.

The program operates through a network of Green Office representatives (GO Reps) in offices across campus. GO Reps volunteer to be involved in the Green Office Program, and after receiving training, implement practices to make their respective offices more environmentally friendly.

"Train the trainer program" - employees from the Office of Sustainability train the GO Reps in environmentally friendly practices through a one and a half hour training session, and the GO Reps then train their office staff on how to implement these practices in the office. There is also a GO Reps listserv to keep in touch, and an intranet website that contains all Go Rep resources and a discussion forum.

The Green Office Program is supported by staff, interns, and resources from the Office of Sustainability. The Office of Sustainability offers all program materials for free to the offices participating in the program. The Green Office Program helps support the university's Strategic Plan of becoming "a national model for a green university" and its Climate Action Plan goals. The program informs participants of how the program can save money and critical natural resources, such as energy, water and forests.

The Sustainability Teaching Fellows are faculty from across the campus who are working on integrating sustainability into their courses. Through discussion, collaborative activities, and ongoing networking, participating faculty members educate one another (as peers)about the interdisciplinary nature of sustainability by sharing information about how each of their individual disciplines is connected to broad sustainability concepts.

Professors apply to participate and the Office of Sustainability selects participants based on the applicant pool.

Professors participate in a two-day workshop, which provides an introduction to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and creates space where professors can discuss those issues with each other. After completing the workshop, professors become part of the Sustainability Teaching Fellows Learning Community, for which they reassemble once each semester to continue peer-to-peer dialogue about sustainability.

The Provost and Deans provide financial support to this program. Each professor receives a $500 stipend to participate. The Office of Sustainability provides administrative support for the program.