Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 68.42
Liaison Austin Sutherland
Submission Date Feb. 18, 2025

STARS v2.2

University of Pennsylvania
EN-4: Outreach Materials and Publications

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Central sustainability website 

Does the institution have a central sustainability website that consolidates information about the institution’s sustainability efforts?:
Yes

Website URL for the central sustainability website:
https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/

Sustainability newsletter or social media platform

Does the institution have a sustainability newsletter or social media platform that focuses specifically on campus sustainability?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability newsletter or social media platform:

The Penn Sustainability Office publishes an e-newsletter quarterly provide the Penn community with facts and figures on our operational progress, project and program spotlights, and highlights of academic research and teaching. The Penn Sustainability Office also manages three social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These sites provide the Penn community with up-to-date sustainability facts and figures, trending news stories, information on upcoming events and initiatives, and sustainability lifestyle tips.


Signage

Does the institution have signage that highlights sustainability features on campus?:
Yes

A brief description of the signage that highlights sustainability features on campus:

Discover Penn is a campus-wide cell phone tour that provides an innovative approach to experiencing the campus. The program helps users understand Penn and its people, its art, its buildings, its academics, and its landscape. The program, which started in Fall 2008, currently has approximately thirty sites that are changed from time to time and that are identified by the red "Discover Penn" signage. The signage provides a phone number and participants who call the number hear recordings by Penn Trustees, faculty, alumni, and those who are experts in their field or who have a close connection to Penn. The messages run approximately 2 minutes long and vary between deep, trivial, serious, and lighthearted. The sites are equally diverse, including public art, historic buildings, campus sustainability features, and research milestones. The Singh Center for Nanotechnology, a LEED Gold Building, is one of the stops on this tour, as is the rain garden at Shoemaker Green, a sustainable SITES location, the Kaskey Park Biopond, and the stormwater landscape initiatives at Amy Gutmann College House.


Sustainability map or tour

Does the institution provide a sustainability walking map or tour?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability walking map or tour:

Penn offers multiple maps of campus to highlight various sustainability features- a plant explorer map, a green infrastructure map, a LEED buildings map, and more. https://sustainability.upenn.edu/resources?combine=&field_campus_initiative_target_id=All&field_nr_resource_type_target_id=37 


Green living guide 

Does the institution produce a guide for green living and/or incorporating sustainability into the residential experience?:
Yes

A brief description of the guide for green living and/or incorporating sustainability into the residential experience:
The individual decisions residents living on campus make on a daily basis, even if seemingly small, play a critical role in the University’s sustainability initiatives. The Penn Sustainability Office seeks to recognize these choices and provide on- and off-campus residents with an opportunity to reflect on their environmental impact by offering the "Green Living Certification" program—an environmental certification.
 
Establishing greener lifestyles creates a tangible, positive impact on our campus. By offering ""Green Living Certification"", residents will be inspired to take further steps towards improving the health of our environment and to provide a model for others to do the same.
 
Certification is awarded upon completion of two sections: Required and Optional Actions. The 5 Required Actions are habits that are relatively easy to accomplish and provide the foundation for implementing more difficult sustainable practices. The Optional Actions are organized into 5 categories: Waste Minimization & Recycling; Energy & Water; Transportation; Purchasing; Involvement at Penn. All Optional Actions are assigned points based on a combination of environmental impact, difficulty of implementation, and cost. Based on the number of points achieved, participating students can earn one of three levels for completing the program, bronze, silver or gold. There are 90 possible points.
 
 
The Green Living Certification is offered through the Qualtrics survey platform. For students who wish to re-visit the actions mentioned in the survey after they have already submitted their answers, a Green Living Certification Manual is available for reference.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other comprehensive sustainability outreach materials and publications not covered above:
Penn Sustainability frequently develops new and updates existing sustainability outreach materials and publications for various segments of the campus population.
A few examples include:
Low Emission Vehicle Guide- Explore information, tools, resources, and recommendations for purchasing low- or zero-emissions vehicles.
Green Labs Guide- Lab staff can use this resource to reduce the environmental impact of lab spaces.
CIRCE's Bring it Home Guide- Practical Ways for Penn Faculty and Staff to Respond to the Climate Emergency.
Bird Spring Migration Brochure- Learn more about Bird Awareness Week and how you can support birds migrating through Penn's campus. https://sustainability.upenn.edu/resources?combine=&field_campus_initiative_target_id=All&field_nr_resource_type_target_id=36&page=0 
 

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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