Utah State University
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Part 1. Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer, sustainability educators program

Institution engages its students in sustainability outreach and education as measured by the percentage of students served (i.e., directly targeted) by a peer-to-peer educators program.

Part 2. Educator hours per student served by a peer-to-peer program

Institution engages its students in sustainability outreach and education as measured by the ratio of the number of hours worked by trained student educators to the number of students served by a peer-to-peer program.

To earn points for this credit, an institution must coordinate an ongoing, peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program for students that is explicitly focused on sustainability. The institution:

• Selects or appoints students to serve as peer educators and formally designates the students as educators (paid and/or volunteer);

• Provides formal training to the student educators in how to conduct peer outreach; and

• Supports the program with financial resources (e.g., by providing an annual budget) and/or administrative coordination.

This credit recognizes ongoing student educator programs that engage students as peers on a regular basis. For example, student educators may be responsible for serving (i.e., directly targeting) a particular subset of students, such as those living in residence halls or enrolled in certain academic subdivisions. Thus, a group of students may be served by a program even if not all of these students actively participate.

Sustainability outreach campaigns, sustainability events, and student clubs or groups are not eligible for this credit unless the criteria outlined above are met. These programs are covered by the Outreach Campaign and Student Life credits.

This credit applies to all institutions with students who are enrolled for credit and attend the physical campus.

Part 1

An institution earns the maximum of 2 points available for Part 1 of this credit by having one or more peer-to-peer educator programs that serve all students enrolled for credit. Incremental points are awarded based on the percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer educators program. For example, an institution with a program that serves 50 percent of all students would earn 1 point (half of the points available for Part 1).

Points for Part 1 are calculated automatically in the STARS Reporting Tool as follows:

Part 2

An institution earns the maximum of 2 points available for Part 2 of this credit when trained student educators work at least one hour annually for each student served by a peer-to-peer educators program. Incremental points are awarded based on the number of hours worked per student served. For example, an institution for which trained student educators work 0.5 hours per student served earns 1 point (half of the points available for Part 2.

Points for Part 2 are calculated automatically in the STARS Reporting Tool as follows:

Timeframe

Report on current program status and offerings at the time of submission for ongoing programs. Use the most recent data available from within the three years prior to the anticipated date of submission to report the number of students served by each program, the number of student educators, and the total number of enrolled students.  

Sampling and Data Standards

Part 1

Include, at minimum, all students enrolled for credit (undergraduate and graduate). Continuing education students, non-credit students, and other students who are not recognized by the institution as seeking a degree, certificate, or other formal award and students who are exclusively enrolled in distance education programs may be excluded.

Part 2

Institutions may report the total number of student educators trained in a given year, a representative snapshot, or an average from throughout the period.

If the actual number of hours worked is not tracked directly, the total number of hours worked annually may be estimated by multiplying the number of trained educators × the average or expected number of hours worked weekly × the number of weeks educators are active.