Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 76.93
Liaison Ezra Small
Submission Date March 6, 2020

STARS v2.2

University of Massachusetts Amherst
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.16 / 4.00 Ezra Small
Sustainability Manager
Physical Plant
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Number of students enrolled for credit:
29,713

Total number of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
29,713

Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
100

Name of the student educators program (1st program):
Eco-Rep Program

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

The UMass Amherst Eco-Rep Program is focused on working towards environmental literacy both within the program, and on the campus at large. The mission of the Eco-Rep Program is to foster environmental literacy within the campus community and translate that new understanding into more sustainable behavior.

Using a peer-to-peer model of classroom engagement, Eco-Reps build a foundational knowledge base surrounding issues of sustainability and explore opportunities for improving their own and others’ impact on the world. Focusing on the role and impact of both the individual and the collective, Eco-Reps work to promote environmentally responsible behavior in the campus community, starting with their own actions.

Eco-Rep Facilitators, trained undergraduate students who have themselves participated in the Eco-Reps program, educate and facilitate the Eco-Reps within an academic structure each semester by holding weekly discussions and implementing an interdisciplinary curriculum that they co-develop in collaboration with the Student Program Manager and a Faculty Advisor. In addition to weekly meetings, Eco-Reps work on a variety of campus outreach and personal behavior change efforts throughout the course of the semester.


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

Eco-Rep targets all students living on campus, living off campus, and continuing education students.


Number of trained student educators (1st program):
8

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (1st program):
26

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):
2,080

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (1st program):
Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
UMass Permaculture Initiative

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

The UMass Permaculture Initiative is a unique and cutting-edge sustainability program that converts underused grass lawns on the campus into edible, low-maintenance, and easily replicable gardens. This initiative was created by students and then adopted and funded by our administration in 2010. Students and permaculture staff work together along with UMass Dining Services, Sustainable UMass, and many other departments to demonstrate the vision of what a sustainable community and world can look like.

UMass was the first public university in the country implementing sustainable permaculture gardens directly on campus each year and serving the local, healthy produce in the university's dining commons.

Although the UMass Permaculture Initiative was born from just a few visionary students, we have grown considerably since our inception. As a result of our expansion, the initiative has formed partnerships with three different branches within the UMass Amherst system. The student-led UMass Permaculture committee, the Stockbridge School of Agriculture and, UMass Dining - all working together to achieve the same end.

Currently, the Permaculture Initiative which is facilitated by students, holds workshops and classes within the classroom and in the gardens on and off campus to fellow students and the greater community regarding permaculture techniques, community building, social justice and local food, and grassroots organizing.


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

Students who partake in the 1-credit practicum “Permaculture Gardening at UMass” are trained in various skills and concepts related to permaculture, organic gardening, and design under the facilitation of the Garden Coordinator. One of the students’ primary requirements during their course semester is to engage with the wider campus community to support the permaculture initiative. Specifically, they must fulfill 4 hours of community engagement in order to pass the course. They do so by tabling at various events across campus, including the Student Farmers’ Market which runs weekly throughout the Fall. Practicum students also serve as leaders during open garden volunteer sessions. These sessions, which occur twice weekly throughout the Fall and Spring, are open to all students and typically draw between 5 and 10 volunteers per session. Practicum students guide the volunteers through the day’s work under the supervision of the garden coordinator and student intern(s).”


Number of trained student educators (2nd program):
5

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (2nd program):
36

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (2nd program):
10

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (2nd program):
360

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (2nd program):
Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the student educators program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (3rd program):
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Number of trained student educators (3rd program):
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Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (3rd program):
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Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (3rd program):
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Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (3rd program):
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Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (3rd program):
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A brief description of all other student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:
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Number of trained student educators (all other programs):
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Number of weeks, on average, the student educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
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Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per student educator (all other programs) :
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Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (all other programs):
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Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators (all programs):
2,440

Hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators per student served by a peer-to-peer program:
0.08

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