| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 72.29 |
| Liaison | Jonna Korpi |
| Submission Date | Sept. 11, 2024 |
University of Minnesota, Duluth
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.50 / 1.00 |
Jonna
Korpi Sustainability Director UMD Sustainability |
Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture?:
Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:
The purpose of the 2023 UMD Sustainability Survey is to evaluate undergraduate students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors towards sustainability. Additionally, the survey assesses students’ interest in sustainability curriculum and courses on campus. The Institute on the Environment - Duluth (IonE-D) and the Office of Sustainability will use this baseline data to determine which sustainability events, co-curricular activities, courses, and programs are most needed to address knowledge and attitude gaps on our campus. For example, based on the results of the survey, IonE-D and the Office of Sustainability staff will plan events or campaigns that target behaviors that have been marked for improvement. The UMD Sustainability Survey will be repeated every year to collect longitudinal data to track our improvement and reassess the effectiveness of our programming concerning undergraduate student knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors around sustainability issues. At UMD, campus-wide sustainability surveys were first conducted in 2012 with 90 undergraduate student participants and in 2016 with 572 undergraduate and graduate students and staff included. Starting in 2020, a sustainability survey was administered to a random subset (1/3) of all undergraduate full-time students over the age of 18 to repeat the survey annually. There was a pause in survey implementation post-COVID and the survey was again sent out to a random subset of 1/3 of undergraduate students in 2023. The survey is planned to be distributed annually to 1/3 of undergraduate students during the Fall semester going forward.
A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nWL79FYwRteZBIqu-Hr_bmHFLpYxsqW58xebS5y_nxY/edit
A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
The survey was administered online via Qualtrics. A random representative sample of full-time undergraduate students was obtained by the UMD Office of Information Technology Systems and Services and links to participate in the survey were sent via email using the Qualtrics platform. The survey was open for two weeks during October 2023. This is the second time the survey has been administered, the first being in spring of 2020.
In 2023, the following demonstrates that the sample is relatively representative of the student body across disciplines. The overall student body population is the first number in each cluster and survey respondents' affiliation is the second number in each cluster: CAHSS = 21%/ 24%, CEHSP =23%/ 24%, LSBE = 21%/ 15%, SCSE = 35%/ 37%. LSBE students are slightly underrepresented, but within 10% of expected results.
A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment:
The results of the cultural assessment sent in October 2023 are in the process of being analyzed. Below are preliminary results comparing results of the survey from 2020 to 2023. These results exclude the sustainability literacy questions contained in Section 2, which are reported in AC-6.
2020
348 respondents (13% response rate)
Average sustainable behavior score (based on Questions 1-17; 1 signifying they never do the behavior and and 5 signifying they always do the behavior): 4.6
Average score for sustainable attitudes questions (based on Questions 30-40; 1 signifying they strongly disagree with the sustainable attitude and 7 signifying they strongly agree): 6.1
Average score for campus sustainability engagement questions (based on questions 41-46; 1 signifying they strongly disagree with the sustainable attitude and 7 signifying they strongly agree) : 4.6
2023
491 respondents, (14.7% response rate)
Average sustainable behavior score (based on Questions 1-17; 1 signifying they never do the behavior and and 5 signifying they always do the behavior): 3.0
Average score for sustainable attitudes questions (based on Questions 30-40; 1 signifying they strongly disagree with the sustainable attitude and 7 signifying they strongly agree): 6.1
Average score for campus sustainability engagement questions (based on questions 41-46; 1 signifying they strongly disagree with the sustainable attitude and 7 signifying they strongly agree) : 4.5
The cultural assessment conducted in October 2023 is currently in the pre-publication data analysis phase. The results from the 2020 campus sustainability survey have been published and can be found online at: https://www.susted.com/wordpress/content/value-action-gaps-between-sustainability-behaviors-knowledge-attitudes-and-engagement-in-campus-and-curricular-activities-within-a-cohort-of-gen-z-university-students_2023_04/
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.