Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 66.74
Liaison Jennifer Bodine
Submission Date July 22, 2024

STARS v2.2

Weber State University
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.41 / 3.00 Analeah Vaughn
Green Department Program Manager
Energy & Sustainability Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of employees:
2,663

Total number of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
1,612

Percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
60.53

Name of the employee educators program (1st program):
Green Department Certification Program

A brief description of the employee educators program (1st program):

The purpose of the Green Department Certification Program is to engage WSU faculty and staff in sustainable practices and to give them the knowledge and tools needed to help the university be more energy efficient, reduce waste, and reach the goal of being carbon neutral by 2040. The program is voluntary, competitive, and a great way to enhance staff unity. Participating departments are considered "Green Teams" and acquire points through a variety of sustainable practices and actions from 6 key areas; Energy & Climate, Waste Diversion/Zero Waste, Purchasing, Transportation, Outreach/Education, and Social Sustainability. Examples of available actions include: purchasing Energy Star and EPEAT certified electronics, providing reusable dishes in breakrooms, taking alternate modes of transportation, attending inclusion and diversity trainings, and recruiting other departments to participate in the program. The number of points achieved determines certification at the bronze, silver, gold or green levels. There are 1-4 leaders for each Green Team and they are the main contacts and initiators of the program for their department. The Green Department Program Manager meets with each Green Team at least once every three years to help them reach their sustainability goals and provide additional education. The Green Team leaders then relay information about the actions they are implementing from their checklist, upcoming trainings, and any sustainability updates they receive from the monthly emails sent out by the Green Department Program manager. Green Teams can request a meeting or additional trainings, such as recycling education, at any time. There are currently 98 certified "Green Teams" and 200 Green Team leaders in the program.


A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (1st program):

WSU faculty and staff are the Green Department Program's target audience to create Green Teams within their departments and/or offices and share the sustainability knowledge they learn with their colleagues. Some departments are divided into several Green Teams because they are large or have a variety of functions. The program is offered and available to every department on campus. There are certified Green Teams in each WSU division (Academic Affairs/Provost, Administrative Services, Information Technology, Student Affairs, and University Advancement) and every college (College of EAST, Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts and Humanities, John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics, Jerry and Vickie Moyes College of Education, Dr. Ezekiel R. Dumke College of Health Professions, College of Science, and College of Social & Behavioral Sciences). Departments that haven't been certified have access to the Green Department Program trainings and resources as well.


Number of trained employee educators (1st program):
200

Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (1st program):
50

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (1st program):
0.25

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (1st program):
2,500

Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (1st program) :
Name of the employee educators program (2nd program):
Sustainability Across the Curriculum: Communities of Practice

A brief description of the employee educators program (2nd program):

The Sustainability Community of Practice will focus on fostering sustainability teaching and learning by faculty from across campus. The facilitators (from Geography, Botany, and English) of this year's SUS COP include faculty who have been engaged in sustainability teaching and training. The Sustainability COP will meet 8 times during the year. Sessions will include: -Definitions of sustainability, in its most expansive sense; -Intersectional points of connection and relevance across the curricular landscape; -Connections to our place: campus, community and region; -Connections to high-impact educational experiences; -Possible brief content area presentations (particularly relevant to our locality/region); -Reflection; -Dialogue and sharing of resources, challenges and solutions with fellow faculty from an array of disciplines across campus; and -Time to workshop, learn and implement with colleagues a step-wise process to help include sustainability in some way into courses (the articulation of learning outcomes, the collection of resources and strategies for assessment).


A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (2nd program):

The program's target audience is faculty who are interested in applying to have one or more of their courses SUS designated.


Number of trained employee educators (2nd program):
3

Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (2nd program):
20

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (2nd program):
0.70

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (2nd program):
42

Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (2nd program):
A brief description of all other employee peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:

Employee Wellness Ambassadors: The Employee Wellness Ambassador Program is managed by the Employee Wellness Office. This program allows ambassadors from different departments to shape the wellness culture of campus and advocate for the use of wellness services and released wellness time. Wellness Ambassadors are encouraged to include sustainability within their wellness activities. Employee Wellness often partners with the Energy & Sustainability Office on Green Department Program Points, the Green Badge Program, and shares sustainability education on a variety of topics such as plant-based eating and how to be more energy efficient. The target audience for this program is full-time staff. Learn more here: https://weber.edu/employeewellness/ambassadors_registration.html


Number of trained employee educators (all other programs):
10

Number of weeks, on average, the employee educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
45

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (all other programs):
0.25

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all other programs):
112.50

Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all programs):
2,654.50

Hours worked annually by trained employee sustainability educators per employee served by a peer-to-peer program:
1.00

Website URL where information about the employee sustainability educators programs 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.