| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 55.91 |
| Liaison | Jessica Spence |
| Submission Date | July 26, 2019 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Central New Mexico Community College
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Molly
Blumhoefer CLL and Sustainability Project Manager PPD |
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)?:
Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:
Various sustainability assessments have been given on specific topics such as waste and recycling (during RecycleMania in spring semester), water conservation (during water in the desert during fall semester) and other event-specific sustainability focuses. These have been administered since 2016 by student volunteers during events. The assessments were given via iPad (Survey Monkey) and data was reported during sustainability curriculum committee meetings. However, since these assessments were primarily administered to students who were directed to attend these educational outreach events, and could only be implemented if there were available volunteers, the Sustainability Project Manager did not feel it was a representative sample of the entire campus population and so was concerned that there would not be a huge impact on campus sustainability issues. Therefore, a new approach to assessment was developed during academic year 2018-2019 and has been implemented since spring semester 2019. It was decided that one primary issue (aside from general information about sustainability) would be engaged for each assessment period (such as Waste/Recycling). See more below.
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:
There is a link to the survey on this website. It has also gone out through our internal media platforms (staff and faculty) and students/employees are also directed to it at New Student and New Employee orientation.
https://www.cnm.edu/about/sustainability
A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
This approach includes the following:
1) Design an online "survey" to assess (not quiz) a sample population on sustainability topics that are critical to address/obtain data.
2) Make this survey available to a sample population that includes students (new and beyond 1st semester), staff (new and old). This was achieved by sending the link to the survey out via staff newspaper (News Link), giving it out during New Student Orientation (all in-person sessions) and also during all in-person sessions of New Employee Orientation (Phase III).
3) Analyze results after 1-2 semesters.
4) Implement a change to target the most commonly missed questions (such as implementation of educational signage or specific outreach campaign).
5) Discard old data and start new collection using same questions after the "solution" above has been in place for at least one semester.
A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment, including a description of any measurable changes over time:
The overall results of the assessment show that approximately 90% of the campus population knows what is meant by "sustainability" in general and that between 80-90% know how to recycle. However, between semesters, there is suddenly an influx of NEW students taking the survey (as they take it during New Student Orientation). This is when the results change in a significant way (until the survey goes out again to students who have been at CNM for more than one semester and to staff who have also been at the institution for some time). The measurable changes during New Student Orientation is over the question about whether or not liquids may be recycled if they are contained in a recyclable material. Under "normal" conditions when equal amounts of all populations are being sampled, about 85-90% of the survey results show that people DO NOT think it is okay to recycle liquids. During the influx of new students this number drops to about 75%, meaning that new students are the most "unaware" or uneducated about recycling best practices.
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.