Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 52.49
Liaison Caitlin McLennan
Submission Date Nov. 1, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Utah State University
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 3.00 Kristin Brubaker
Community Engagement Specialist
Center for Civic Engagement and Service-Learning
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability :
Community Bridge Initiative; Partnership with the City of Logan

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? :
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe?:
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus?:
The partnership supports at least one, but not all three, dimensions of sustainability

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (Yes, No, or Not Sure):
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above:

Under-represented groups are brought into decision making whenever possible, dependent on projects. One example of this occurred as a Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning class worked with the city to identify possible land use options for a downtown space. The class attended neighborhood meetings and engaged the local Hispanic population, as development of this space would have directly impacted that community. In this way a population that otherwise might not have participated was brought into decision making.

The Community Bridge Initiative (CBI) program piloted in 2015, connects classrooms with community leaders to address need defined by the community. Based off of the University of Oregon’s Sustainable City Year Program, CBI builds a multi-year, ongoing partnership with local governments and community agencies to provide students with hands on experience, in a place-based service-learning model. All proposed projects must have a sustainability, social justice, or economic development focus, and work towards increasing the livability of the local community. During the pilot year, USU partnered exclusively with the City of Logan, and completed projects in issue areas including:

Community agencies receive multi-disciplinary assistance on their proposed projects, while students gain professional skill sets, and faculty built networks and research opportunities. This program is based in reciprocity, building collaborative partnerships where community leaders and employees are co-educators for students. Although still a relatively new program, CBI has been transformative to the education of students, access to resources for the community, and for the local community.

The CBI pilot year led to a restructuring of all community partnerships for both curricular and co-curricular engagement. New community partners are being brought into this model, and the Provost’s office is working closely with Service-Learning to identify courses that might be able to partner with the community to offer student support. In this way, relationships are being developed for both curricular and co-curricular student engagement in sustainability, social justice, and livability community-based projects.


Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
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Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (2nd partnership):
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Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (2nd partnership):
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Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus? (2nd partnership):
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Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (2nd partnership) (Yes, No, or Not Sure):
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A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above (2nd partnership):
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Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
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Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (3rd partnership):
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Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (3rd partnership):
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Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus? (3rd partnership):
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Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (3rd partnership) (Yes, No, or Unknown):
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A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above (3rd partnership):
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A brief description of the institution’s other community partnerships to advance sustainability:
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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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.