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

STARS v2.2

University of Massachusetts Amherst
PRE-2: Points of Distinction

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete N/A Nathanael Schildbach
Marketing Manager
University Relations
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name of the institution’s featured sustainability program, initiative, or accomplishment:
School of Earth and Sustainability

A brief description of the institution’s featured program, initiative, or accomplishment:

Established in Spring 2016, the School of Earth & Sustainability (SES) is a cross-disciplinary partnership between the Departments of Environmental Conservation, Geosciences, Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning and Stockbridge School of Agriculture as well as the Environmental Microbiology group from the Department of Microbiology. SES joins diverse academic programs, research, and outreach that share a common focus on earth, sustainability, and environmental sciences. Together, our community includes over 100 world-class faculty, 1300 undergraduate students, 320 graduate students as well as many research scientists, technicians and support staff.


Which of the following impact areas does the featured program, initiative, or accomplishment most closely relate to?:
Curriculum
Research
Campus Engagement

Website URL where more information about the accomplishment may be found:
STARS credit in which the featured program, initiative, or accomplishment is reported (if applicable):
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A photograph or document associated with the featured program, initiative, or accomplishment:
Name of a second highlighted sustainability program/initiative/accomplishment:
Fully Online Certificate and AS and BS Degrees in Sustainable Food and Farming

A brief description of the second program/initiative/accomplishment:

The University of Massachusetts Amherst has offered Bachelor of Science degrees to students at the UMass Amherst campus since 1871 when 27 students graduated with an agricultural degree. It began offering Associate of Science degrees in 1918. In 2008 we began offering online agriculture courses and now offer the first fully online sustainable agriculture degrees, with our certificates, AS and BS degrees in Sustainable Food and Farming. The degrees offer flexibility in designing a personal program of study, allowing students to focus on a variety of topics, including vegetable, fruit and animal systems, permaculture, whole farm production and marketing, agricultural education, public policy, advocacy, community development and more.


Which impact areas does the second program/initiative/accomplishment most closely relate to?:
Curriculum
Research
Food & Dining

Website URL where more information about the second program/initiative/accomplishment may be found:
STARS credit in which the second program/initiative/accomplishment is reported (if applicable):
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A photograph or document associated with the second program/initiative/accomplishment:
Name of a third highlighted program/initiative/accomplishment:
Sustainability, Innovation & Engagement Fund (SIEF)

A brief description of the third program/initiative/accomplishment:

Established in August 2013, the fund fosters a strong culture of sustainability on our campus by providing financial support to students, faculty, and staff with green ideas. Any student faculty, staff, student group, academic class, or faculty/staff and student team can propose a sustainability project. Campus members will be limited to receiving one grant per year.

Successful projects that SIEF has funded include:
• New2U Reuse Tag Sale & Move-Out Collection
• UMass Minute Riders Compost Pick-Up Service
• Campus Recreation Paperless Program
• Reusable To Go Containers at Berkshire Dining Commons Grab and Go
• Student Run UMass Grape Vineyard
• Carbon Farming at the ALC
• Paperbark Literary Magazine


Which impact areas does the third program/initiative/accomplishment most closely relate to?:
Research
Campus Engagement

Website URL where more information about the third program/initiative/accomplishment may be found:
STARS credit in which the third program/initiative/accomplishment is reported (if applicable):
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A photograph or document associated with the third program/initiative/accomplishment:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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