Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.53
Liaison Dedee DeLongpre Johnston
Submission Date July 27, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Wake Forest University
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Brian Cohen
Program Coordinator
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture (i.e. the assessment focuses on sustainability values, behaviors and beliefs, and may also address awareness of campus sustainability initiatives)?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
The entire campus community (students, staff and faculty), directly or by representative sample

Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
Longitudinally to measure change over time

A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:

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.


A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:

See attached


A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:

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.


A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment, including a description of any measurable changes over time:

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.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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