University of Pittsburgh
EN-2: Student Orientation

Sustainability is infused into both the programming and operational aspects of the University of Pittsburgh's Welcome Week and the transfer and commuter student orientations in the following ways:

1) During Welcome Week all incoming first year students are offered assistance with recycling packaging materials and information on sustainability in the residence halls through the Pitt Green Team program.

2) Welcome Week typically features a number of programs that highlight campus sustainability initiatives including a "Zero Waste Ice Cream Social" for first year and transfer students and a low-waste/plant forward menu for the annual Chancellor's picnic (an event that welcomes Pitt students, parents, faculty and staff). These events are staffed by the Pitt Green team and featured compostable items and information on zero waste events across campus.

3) First year students are offered a "Discover U" tour of sustainable highlights on campus, including LEED Gold Certified facilities, green roofs, dining hall food composting, the campus student "Plant to Plate" garden, and even a view of Pitt's resident Peregrine falcon nesting site on the iconic Cathedral of Learning.

4) The Student Office of Sustainability hosts a "SOOS Meet and Greet" open house for incoming first year, transfer and graduate students who are interested in learning more about campus sustainability efforts.

5) The University of Thriftsburgh, Pitt's student run thrift store, holds a welcome back dollar sale for all students. The theme of the sale is to encourage reuse and re-purpose instead of purchasing new items at the start of the school year. It serves as a practical introduction to on-campus sustainability efforts and utilizes items harvested during Pitt's spring move out Clutter for a Cause campaign.

6) All incoming students learn about sustainable transportation and mobility options from the Department of Transportation and Mobility in the first-year student orientation module. This include information on how to use campus shuttles and Port Authority busses for free with campus IDs, free city bike share access, carpool, biking, and parking options. In this online orientation students are also briefly introduced to the Office of Sustainability and the Pitt Sustainability Plan.

7) The Student Office of Sustainability participates in a series of panels focused on transfer and commuter students and how they can become more involved in campus life.

8) As a pivot towards more virtual and accessible programming for academic year 2020 the Student Office of Sustainability and the Pitt Eco-Reps created and delivered "Green Greetings" programs. These programs focused on the history and culture of sustainability at Pitt, recycling and composting and the Healthy Ride Bike Share program. They were open to all new and returning Pitt students.

To calculate the percentage of entering students receiving sustainability orientation program we did the following;

1. Took the whole student body number and separated out undergraduates from graduates.
2. Assuming the average undergraduate spends four years at Pitt we divided that number by 4 to get the average number of freshmen entering each year. (4,833)
3. Assuming that the majority of graduate students attending two-year master programs we divided their number by two to get the average number of entering graduate students each year. (4,672)
4. Combining those two number we get the number of total entering students per year (9,505).
5. We then divided the number of entering freshmen by that number because we know they are exposed to multiple sustainability orientations which gives us .508- Rounding down this gives us 50% of entering students being exposed to sustainability orientations.