| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 61.63 |
| Liaison | Leslie North |
| Submission Date | March 1, 2024 |
Western Kentucky University
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Madeline
Petty Graduate Assistant Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences |
Does the institution have at least one sustainability committee?:
The charter or mission statement of the committee(s) or a brief description of each committee's purview and activities:
WKU's Student Government Association created the SGA Sustainability Committee in 2015. This is an open committee, consisting of SGA and non-SGA students, as well as several faculty and staff members. The committee's primary goal is to drive sustainable policy-making that promotes sustainable practices at the university. The committee also partners with the Office of Sustainability to organize and acquire funding for the annual Earth Day festival.
WKU Sustainability Champions is an open sustainability staff committee. This group focuses on improving campus sustainability behaviors within staff settings. Staff also participate in peer-to-peer education, with the committee chair having a background in sustainability.
Members of each committee, including affiliations and role:
SGA Sustainability Committee: (names not included as they are transitional positions)
President
Treasurer
Secretary
approximately 10 members
WKU Sustainability Champions
Committee Chair: Lily Collins
Approximately six members
Does the institution have at least one sustainability office that includes more than 1 full-time equivalent employee?:
A brief description of each sustainability office:
WKU has one Office of Sustainability located on the main campus. It is the mission of the Office of Sustainability to promote a culture of sustainability at WKU, integrating principles of ecological integrity and social equity into academics, practices, and partnerships. Our goal is to ensure that WKU is an institution that provides innovative solutions to global challenges, prepares students as engaged and responsible citizens, and observes best practices in campus operations and services. The Office functions under the leadership of the Director of Sustainability. The Office also engages ambassadors and interns who are paid a stipend to write grants, and develop outreach materials for the Office.
The office employs two part-time graduate assistants, two part-time undergraduate students, and up to 5 student ambassadors during any academic semester.
Full-time equivalent of people employed in the sustainability office(s):
Does the institution have at least one sustainability officer?:
Name and title of each sustainability officer:
Does the institution have a mechanism for broad sustainability coordination for the entire institution?:
A brief description of the activities and substantive accomplishments of the institution-wide coordinating body or officer during the previous three years:
The WKU Food Recovery Network was resurrected in April 2019. The chapter operates out of the Office of Sustainability Chapter and the WKU Food Pantry. The Food Recovery Network has recovery partnerships with four campus dining locations, and has also recovered food from off-campus locations, donating the food to local churches and non-profits. As of 2023, the WKU chapter has recovered 9,546 pounds of food.
In December 2023, WKU was recognized as the 664th World's Most Sustainable University in the University of Indonesia Green Metric World University Rankings, out of 1,183 universities worldwide. WKU was the 7th most sustainable university of the universities in the United States.
Ogden College Hall achieved and has maintained WELL v2 Gold Certification in 2020, and was the first educational laboratory in the US to do so. The International WELL Building Institute™ (IWBI™) is leading the global movement to transform our buildings and communities in ways that help people thrive.
WKU has three Green Dining Certified locations. Our environmental practices are verified by the Green Restaurant Association, a national nonprofit dedicated to making restaurants more sustainable. Collectively, our three locations have taken more than 80 environmental steps and earned over 500 GreenPoints™ in six environmental categories: Energy, Water, Waste, Reusables & Disposables, Chemicals & Pollution, Food, and Building & Furnishing.
WKU built a Sensory Garden and outdoor classroom area where more than 80 different plant and tree species, along with water fountains, bird feeders, chimes and more, sit in the Kim Eisert Simpson Sensory Garden located at the WKU College Heights Foundation’s Cliff Todd Center, completed in May 2022. The garden is subdivided into five sections, each with a specific sense in mind and designed to engage all five senses. Additionally, WKU significantly expanded greenspace in a central area of campus with the demolition of an old building, Garrett Conference Center.
The WKU Food Pantry expanded from two shelves to an entire room for stocking and increasing resources to students and the community. Additional space to stock food and hygiene resources further promotes sustainability resources on campus and improves accessibility to necessary resources to an increasing number of students and other community members.
WKU's recent partnership with Logan Aluminum further expands our recycling operations to include athletic events and Greek events that recycling may not have been captured at previously. Logan Aluminum collects recycling from Greek events and housing in addition to hosting game day competitions to build support and participation in recycling at large events.
Job title of the sustainability officer position:
Job description for the sustainability officer position:
Job description for the sustainability officer position:
Serves as a liaison between students, departments, campus organizations, and faculty/staff, ensuring communication and resource coordination for sustainability programs and projects. Provides leadership for Western Kentucky University Office of Sustainability graduate and undergraduate assistants. Assists in defining sustainability goals within the WKU Office of Sustainability. Serves as an advisor for research and programs through the WKU Office of Sustainability. Assists in grant writing to support individual student projects and WKU Office of Sustainability initiatives.
Oversees annual reporting of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) self-assessment program and assists in the compilation of university data. Controls operating budget of the WKU Office of Sustainability.
Job title of the sustainability officer position (2nd position):
Job description for the sustainability officer position (2nd position):
Job description for the sustainability officer position (2nd position):
Job title of the sustainability officer position (3rd position):
Job description for the sustainability officer position (3rd position):
Job description for the sustainability officer position (3rd position):
Sustainability Coordinator for all of dining services on the WKU campus. Position includes working with local farmers and vendors to bring in local produce to campus restaurants. Co-advisor of the Food Recovery Network and Chair of the WKU Sustainability Champions.
Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability coordination is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Most divisions at WKU have a direct liaison for sustainability.
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.