| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 45.22 |
| Liaison | Mei May |
| Submission Date | Nov. 27, 2019 |
University of Texas at San Antonio
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Mei L
May Director Office of Sustainability Sustainability |
"---"
indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Sustainability committee(s)
Yes
The charter or mission statement of the committee(s) or a brief description of each committee's purview and activities:
UTSA Sustainability Council:
The Council will consist of faculty, staff and students from the three campuses and include representatives from the offices of the President and each of the Vice Presidents. The Council will function as a university standing committee and its chair and members will be appointed by the President and/or his/her designee.
The Council will advise the President, Provost and other senior administrators regarding strategies for enhancing the university's sustainability performance. The Council will make recommendations on sustainability programs, initiatives, and practices, and on the allocation of resources; will help monitor the development and progress of the campus sustainability efforts; and will provide guidance and assistance in fostering alliances with community partners.
The Council will be responsible for developing a five-year sustainability plan. The Council will review and update the plan on an annual basis, and present it to Campus Management and Operations (CMO) for approval, support and provision of resources. The Council will have the responsibility of preparing an annual report on the progress of the university-wide sustainability plan. In addition, the Council will be responsible for preparing the annual UTSA Campus Sustainability report for The University of Texas System (UT System).
The Council will consist of faculty, staff and students from the three campuses and include representatives from the offices of the President and each of the Vice Presidents. The Council will function as a university standing committee and its chair and members will be appointed by the President and/or his/her designee.
The Council will advise the President, Provost and other senior administrators regarding strategies for enhancing the university's sustainability performance. The Council will make recommendations on sustainability programs, initiatives, and practices, and on the allocation of resources; will help monitor the development and progress of the campus sustainability efforts; and will provide guidance and assistance in fostering alliances with community partners.
The Council will be responsible for developing a five-year sustainability plan. The Council will review and update the plan on an annual basis, and present it to Campus Management and Operations (CMO) for approval, support and provision of resources. The Council will have the responsibility of preparing an annual report on the progress of the university-wide sustainability plan. In addition, the Council will be responsible for preparing the annual UTSA Campus Sustainability report for The University of Texas System (UT System).
Members of each committee, including affiliations and role:
LIST OF CURRENT SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL,
Lani May, Chair Director of UTSA Office of Sustainability
JoAnn Browning Interim Dean, College of Architecture, Construction and Planning; Dean, Engineering
Amanda Perez Student Activities
Linda Day Representative, Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute
Daniel Kiley Assistant Chief of Police
Elisa Perkins Citymester Program Manager, Honor's College Representative
Kevin Price (or Lauren Beaver) Senior Associate VP for Housing and Campus Services; or delegate
Lindsay Ratcliffe CAAP City Representative
Jack Rust SGA President
Can "John" Saygin University Planning
Ingrid Wright University Communications Representative
Anastacio Alvarez Recycling
Carolina “Caro” Nanez Student appointee
Alyssa Canizalez Student appointee
OPEN Student appointee
Lani May, Chair Director of UTSA Office of Sustainability
JoAnn Browning Interim Dean, College of Architecture, Construction and Planning; Dean, Engineering
Amanda Perez Student Activities
Linda Day Representative, Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute
Daniel Kiley Assistant Chief of Police
Elisa Perkins Citymester Program Manager, Honor's College Representative
Kevin Price (or Lauren Beaver) Senior Associate VP for Housing and Campus Services; or delegate
Lindsay Ratcliffe CAAP City Representative
Jack Rust SGA President
Can "John" Saygin University Planning
Ingrid Wright University Communications Representative
Anastacio Alvarez Recycling
Carolina “Caro” Nanez Student appointee
Alyssa Canizalez Student appointee
OPEN Student appointee
Sustainability office(s)
Yes
A brief description of each sustainability office:
Function: To serve as the central contact for coordination and monitoring of campus sustainability issues, recommended actions to the President of the University and is the key liaison between the university and the City of San Antonio, South Central Texas Community.
Scope: To take a leadership role in addressing our campus’ and region’s sustainability challenges and work to integrate the best sustainability ideas, knowledge and practices into the life of our campus and community.
Typical:
1. Proactively advance sustainability initiatives for the university using creative and resourceful strategies acquired from experience associated with resource management, including policy implementation, energy and water conservation, greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, food systems, healthy living programs and related topics.
2. Chair and facilitate meetings of the UTSA Sustainability Council and provides operational leadership to promote academic and operational initiatives for sustainability. Directly supports academic and operations subcommittees. Represents the University on system‐wide sustainability efforts. In addition, shall serve on and support the “UTSA Green Fund Committee”.
3. Develop communication strategies and programs to increase awareness among both internal and external constituents regarding advancement of sustainable programs, to include working with University departments, alumni, and current University community members. Work with faculty involved with sustainability research as appropriate. Develop and implement joint student/faculty/staff projects as part of course curriculum to support and further awareness of sustainability within the University. Shall oversee sustainability website information updates.
Build effective partnerships and relationships to propel the university to the forefront of recognized leadership in sustainability. Included herein is an expanding collaboration with student groups.
5. Direct and lead studies and research related to sustainability on campus, such as the Climate Risk Assessment. Responsible for responding to sustainability surveys from external entities. Examples of surveys include a year‐plus effort in leading the University self‐assessment and successful submission to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) that earned the University a Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) rating of Silver.
6. Pursue local, regional, state and national grant opportunities to support UTSA sustainability strategies. Implementation and management of resultant grant fund considered part of this function.
Scope: To take a leadership role in addressing our campus’ and region’s sustainability challenges and work to integrate the best sustainability ideas, knowledge and practices into the life of our campus and community.
Typical:
1. Proactively advance sustainability initiatives for the university using creative and resourceful strategies acquired from experience associated with resource management, including policy implementation, energy and water conservation, greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, food systems, healthy living programs and related topics.
2. Chair and facilitate meetings of the UTSA Sustainability Council and provides operational leadership to promote academic and operational initiatives for sustainability. Directly supports academic and operations subcommittees. Represents the University on system‐wide sustainability efforts. In addition, shall serve on and support the “UTSA Green Fund Committee”.
3. Develop communication strategies and programs to increase awareness among both internal and external constituents regarding advancement of sustainable programs, to include working with University departments, alumni, and current University community members. Work with faculty involved with sustainability research as appropriate. Develop and implement joint student/faculty/staff projects as part of course curriculum to support and further awareness of sustainability within the University. Shall oversee sustainability website information updates.
Build effective partnerships and relationships to propel the university to the forefront of recognized leadership in sustainability. Included herein is an expanding collaboration with student groups.
5. Direct and lead studies and research related to sustainability on campus, such as the Climate Risk Assessment. Responsible for responding to sustainability surveys from external entities. Examples of surveys include a year‐plus effort in leading the University self‐assessment and successful submission to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) that earned the University a Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) rating of Silver.
6. Pursue local, regional, state and national grant opportunities to support UTSA sustainability strategies. Implementation and management of resultant grant fund considered part of this function.
Full-time equivalent of people employed in the sustainability office(s):
1
Sustainability officer(s)
Yes
Name and title of each sustainability officer:
Mei Lani May, Director of the Office of Sustainability
Institution-wide coordination
Yes
A brief description of the activities and substantive accomplishments of the institution-wide coordinating body or officer during the previous three years:
The Office of Sustainability has in the past 2 years created:
* a media outreach program (Facebook, Twitter, and Website)
* a video series available on closed circuit and YouTube called "Sustainability Profiles"
* Grant awarded Aug 2019 $50,000 for tree canopy
* Grant 2019 $339.000 for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality through transportation demand modeling.
* 1.4 million dollars in sustainability research was brought in to to study greenhouse gas emission, and climate change action plans.
* a media outreach program (Facebook, Twitter, and Website)
* a video series available on closed circuit and YouTube called "Sustainability Profiles"
* Grant awarded Aug 2019 $50,000 for tree canopy
* Grant 2019 $339.000 for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality through transportation demand modeling.
* 1.4 million dollars in sustainability research was brought in to to study greenhouse gas emission, and climate change action plans.
Optional Fields
Job description (1st position)
Director
Job description for the sustainability officer position:
Job description for the sustainability officer position:
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Job description (2nd position)
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Job description (3rd position)
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Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability coordination is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
https://sustainability.utsa.edu/
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.