Wake Forest University
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

A comprehensive sustainability culture and literacy assessment was developed in the spring of 2018. Questions in the cultural portions measured values, concerns, behaviors, perceived personal relevance, and perceptions of others on campus. Questions were primarily generated internally, though some were inspired by surveys from other universities. All questions were reviewed by university experts in social surveys and the assessment was distributed in May 2018. Previous assessments have also been conducted on campus. A sustainability behavior survey was implemented with on-campus residents during the Spring 2017 semester. Students were asked a variety of questions to determine what proportion and to what extent they commit to a sustainable lifestyle at Wake Forest. Topics included turning off lights, unplugging electronics, using dual-flush toilets, choosing not to consume bottled water, keeping fan coil units operating properly, keeping windows closed, and promptly reporting maintenance issues. Demographic information (class year and residence hall) was also collected. The survey was developed with the help of Facilities & Campus Services and Residence Life & Housing. Questions were selected to provide us with data on which "preferred" sustainable behaviors most students were engaging in and with what frequency, and how this differed between residence halls and the various class years. This data was then used to create a pilot campaign to raise awareness of sustainable living issues and subsequently change behaviors of on-campus residents. Other targeted assessments have been carried out in the past few years in areas such as dining and transportation.

See attached

For the Spring 2018 assessment, a list of all university email addresses was compiled and sorted at random. The instrument was then sent to 1,000 university users, which included students, faculty, and staff. The 2017 residence hall behavior survey was distributed via email to all on-campus residents through their Resident Advisors (RAs). Residence Life & Housing helped incentivize participation by offering a pizza party to the hall with the highest rate of responses. The demographic data allowed us to sort by class year and we are confident we obtained a representative sample of om-campus residents within each class.

The Spring 2018 cultural assessment, like the literacy assessment, showed the differences between different segments of the campus community. Undergraduates were more involved in sustainability culture than graduate students and demonstrated a greater interest and participation in sustainability-related topics. This is not surprising, as the majority of the Office of Sustainability's outreach efforts target undergraduates. An assessment of faculty and staff responses offered mixed results. Starting next year, when another cultural assessment is distributed, we hope to be able to point to measurable changes that indicate a more environmentally-conscious university community. A summary of the results from the Spring 2017 assessment is attached under "Additional documentation." We used this data, along with the advice of Facilities & Campus Services, to select the three or four areas of focus for sustainable living that would be most impactful for each residence hall. We selected two residence halls for the pilot campaign, which was implemented during the Fall 2017 semester. Preliminary energy data indicates some success in getting residents to be more mindful of their everyday decisions, and a follow-up survey has confirmed these results. A follow-up survey will be administered campus-wide to determine the changes in self-reported behaviors over the year and if these changes are more pronounced in the residence halls exposed to the pilot campaign. We plan to use this information to alter the campaign as necessary before implementing it in all residence halls.