Overall Rating | Bronze - expired |
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Overall Score | 31.41 |
Liaison | Hannes Gerhardt |
Submission Date | April 20, 2015 |
Executive Letter | Download |
University of West Georgia
EN-3: Student Life
Status | Score | Responsible Party |
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2.00 / 2.00 |
Hannes
Gerhardt Sustainability Director Department of Geosciences |
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indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Does the institution have one or more co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives that fall into the following categories?:
Yes or No | |
Active student groups focused on sustainability | Yes |
Gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, or urban agriculture projects where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems | Yes |
Student-run enterprises that include sustainability as part of their mission statements or stated purposes | No |
Sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives through which students can develop socially, environmentally and fiscally responsible investment and financial skills | No |
Conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience | Yes |
Cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience | Yes |
Wilderness or outdoors programs that follow Leave No Trace principles | Yes |
Sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences | Yes |
Programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills | Yes |
Sustainability-focused student employment opportunities offered by the institution | Yes |
Graduation pledges through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions | No |
Other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives | Yes |
The name and a brief description of each student group focused on sustainability:
1. Green Elite - This organization, known as the Green Elite, is established for the purpose of increasing participation and contribution of students in sustainability efforts on campus and in the community. Yes student governred.
2. GREAN (formerly Love Not Litter) – no description provided to Center for Student Involvement. Yes student governed.
3. Wolves Helping Others: Wolves Helping Others (W.H.O.) is a student organization whose purpose is to provide on and off campus volunteer opportunities for the campus community. Their programs are selected by students and implemented through five committees. Yes student-governed.
4. The ACS (American chemical Society) club is not focused100% on sustainability, per se, but is an ongoing interest to the group. Student governed.
5. Tri Beta Biological Honors Society. Student governed.
The website URL where information about student groups is available:
A brief description of gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and urban agriculture projects where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems:
Community Garden established Spring 2014. The garden includes a small garden greenhouse on-site. We have a passive composting site adjacent to the garden where we dump all our removed leaves and herbaceous plants from the campus.
The campus group Green Elite is the driving force behind the garden. They are mainly Geoscience students. Dr. Shea Rose is their faculty sponsor and James Hembree is the facilities sponsor. Garden was established in partnership with Tanner Health Systems, Home Depot, and Keep Carroll Beautiful. Food is consumed by students or donated to local soup kitchen. Yes student-governed.
The website URL where information about the organic agriculture and/or sustainable food systems projects and initiatives is available:
A brief description of student-run enterprises that include sustainability as part of their mission statements or stated purposes:
None.
The website URL where information about the student-run enterprise(s) is available:
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A brief description of the sustainable investment or finance initiatives:
None.
The website URL where information about the sustainable investment or finance initiatives is available:
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A brief description of conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience:
1. Earth Week- student governed events included: Tie Dye Shirt, Bamboo Plant event, live Earth Day twitter feed, recycled bottle art.
Yes student governed.
2. Carve on the Quad was made "green" (2013, 2014) through Green Elite's student led composting of pumpkin wastes and saving of seeds. The folks carving pumpkins and participating were from the Art Dept. Yes student governed.
3. Environmental Awareness Week: Was not student governed.
4. Global warming talk sponsored by Library. Not student governed.
5. The College of Arts and Humanities organized a symposium on the humanities and the environment at the most recent Interdisciplinary Conference in the Humanities at UWG. Not student governed.
The website URL where information about the event(s) is available:
A brief description of cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience:
1. Earth Week – Poem Reading.
2. Environmental Awareness Week – Dirty Car Artist. Not student governed.
3. An artist from Georgia State who makes art pieces from ocean waste and ocean plastic came to speak on campus 2 years ago and students were in attendance. Not student governed.
The website URL where information about the cultural arts event(s) is available:
A brief description of wilderness or outdoors programs for students that follow Leave No Trace principles:
1. University Recreation's Adventure Trips – Hiking, Kayaking, Bouldering, and Camping events are done each semester The Outdoor Recreation program is centered around the Leave No Trace principles. The program offers numerous trips a year ranging from backpacking to sea kayaking, climbing to whitewater rafting, and on-campus seminars and clinics that focus on backcountry skills.
2. Outdoor Recreation also offers a rental program to provide equipment and resources to the university community.
Not student-governed.
The website URL where information about the wilderness or outdoors program(s) is available:
A brief description of sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences:
There are two.
1) Sustainable Cities: The Sustainable Cities Learning Community is organized for students interested in thinking creatively about cities and towns. All cities and towns are the products of natural and social systems. The city is as much “natural” as it is “social”—it is an assemblage of economic and water flows, political boundaries, air and soil, culture and biological landscapes, etc. How can we evaluate cities and towns (e.g. Atlanta and Carrollton) as socio-natural places? Which ones will last (they’re sustainable”) and which ones will need to change, and how? Can we envision a “better” Atlanta and/or Carrollton? What would it look like? Answers to these questions will require considerations from many perspectives, from the scientific, economic, and political to the ethical, spiritual, and aesthetic.
WEBSITE: http://www.westga.edu/fyp/index_21952.php
2. The Globalization Learning Community is organized for students interested in the economic, political, social, and cultural transformations brought about by globalization. We will take a hands-on approach to learning about how global supply chains are involved in the production of commonly used consumer products such as blue jeans, cars and gasoline. We will also explore how the forces associated with globalization are challenging the primacy of the nation-state. And, importantly, we will discuss how these changes will affect the professions for which you are currently preparing.
The website URL where information about the theme is available:
A brief description of program(s) through which students can learn sustainable life skills:
1. First-year students living in residential halls are introduced to resource conservation principles through a communication & engagement campaign that includes the following:
- A sustainability video centered around the sustainability achievements in the residence halls and aimed to raise awareness of energy consumption/water usage within their rooms. This is posted on social media site by both the Residential Life office and the main UWG accounts.
- During resident orientation meeting students were requested to fill out a pledge card to reduce their environmental impact through specific lifestyle habits. These cards were prominently displayed in the buildings lobbies.
- A series of edu-tainment collateral pieces centered on reducing energy consumption, encouraging the use of reusable resources and discouraging one time disposable items are disbursed in the residence halls throughout the semester.
The website URL where information about the sustainable life skills program(s) is available:
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A brief description of sustainability-focused student employment opportunities:
1. Housing employs 10 students to help with recycling collection. These student workers are dedicated to the recycling efforts in all of the residence halls. They pull bags and place new ones in the containers. Count the number of bags, record weight, put in spreadsheet for sustainability documentation. Out of the 10, 4 are a dedicated Recycling team (4) and some of the ones we hired for Greek Village are currently being cross trained into the recycling program as well.
2. There are currently 3 students working within the Risk Management Department who specifically focus sustainability efforts. Their responsibility is to pick-up materials for recycle / reuse and are mainly restricted to the following:
Cardboard
Plastic and aluminum bottles
Wooden pallets
Printer cartridges
3. A group of students work in landscaping and learn to follow sustainable landscaping practices.
The website URL where information about the student employment opportuntities is available:
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A brief description of graduation pledges through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions:
None.
The website URL where information about the graduation pledge program is available:
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A brief description of other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives:
Housing and Residence Life worked with Good Will this past move out day to collect unwanted student items to be donated to this operation. Plans are to prepare in advance this upcoming move-out period for an ongoing effort to build this program in years to come.
The website URL where information about other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives is available:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.