University of South Florida (Tampa)
ER-3: Sustainability in New Student Orientation

Sustainability is prominently featured during new student orientation in several ways, including: 1) Student Government distributes sustainability related materials to all first-year students during Week of Welcome ("W.o.W.") activities, in which all first-year students participate and which are open to all USF students. The materials include reusable shopping bags and water bottles along with sustainability related literature from the Office of Sustainability. 2) Sustainability initiatives and practices are prominently featured during W.o.W. activities. The Director of the Office of Sustainability is present during events such as Resident Assistant Orientation and many other W.o.W. activities, including new student registration. 3) Green LLC tour - Students from the Green Living and Learning Community are given a green tour of campus. The guide, a faculty member, speaks about the development of sustainability initiatives on campus, shows examples of sustainability related projects, and has students visit the Office of Sustainability, the Center for Urban Transportation Research, and the Botanical Gardens. Overall the tour takes about 1.5 hours. 4)Film festival - In 2010, three films were shown: "Flow," "Blue Gold: World Water Wars," and "Running Dry," with introductions by the Associate VP for Academic Affairs and Strategic Initiatives and the Director of the School of Global Sustainability. After each film, a reception was hosted jointly by the Office of Sustainability and the School of Global Sustainability. 5)In 2010-2011, there was a required sustainability colloquium for all incoming Honors College students, “Global Challenges for a Sustainable Future: Conversations with USF Scholars in Outcome-driven Sustainability Science” with speakers from varied fields including Integrative Biology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Geography and with topics ranging from change in land use related to food security to ocean acidification and climate change.