| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 80.07 |
| Liaison | Lindsey Lyons |
| Submission Date | March 5, 2021 |
Dickinson College
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Neil
Leary Director Center for Sustainability Education |
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:
From Terms of Reference for the President’s Commission on Environmental Sustainability (PCES)
The President's Commission on Environmental Sustainability shall work to enable Dickinson College to become a leader for sustainability in higher education through transformative innovations in our curriculum, co-curricular programs, student life, campus culture, campus operations, and interactions with communities beyond the campus.
The Commission shall achieve this mission by guiding at a strategic level all aspects of Dickinson’s efforts in the area of sustainability, monitoring progress and advising the President and other bodies as appropriate. The Commission shall help guide the development and implementation of a strategic vision for sustainability at Dickinson, identify priority actions needed to advance the vision, promote engagement of all spheres of the college, provide a forum to share information across divisions, coordinate cross-divisional efforts, oversee implementation of Dickinson’s Climate Action Plan, and monitor and evaluate progress toward sustainability goals.
The commission shall meet at least four times each academic year (early fall, late fall, early spring, and late spring) to (a) hear updates on sustainability efforts from the divisions and organizations of the College, (b) provide a forum for discussion of any issues of coordination among divisions and organizations, (c) discuss potential new initiatives in the area of environmental sustainability, and (d) develop and agree on recommendations.
The Commission shall report to and make recommendations to the President for advancing the mission of enabling Dickinson to become a national leader for sustainability in higher education. The Commission also may make recommendations to other bodies of the college. The Commission may, as needed, establish temporary task groups to explore problems, develop options, and propose solutions. Task groups of the Commission may, and typically would, include members who are not members of the Commission.
Members of each committee, including affiliations and role:
PCES members for 2020 - 2021:
Bronte Burleigh-Jones, Vice President, Finance & Administration
Sheri Davis-Cordell, Academic Department Coordinator, Educational Studies
Lars English, Professor, Physics and Astronomy
Brian Falck, Associate Vice President, Advancement
Alex Goles, '22, Student
Jackie Greger, '22, Student
Christine Guardino, Assistant Professor, Psychology
Angie Harris, Associate Dean, Student Life
Richard Huynh, '22, Student
Gary Kirk, Executive Director, Center for Civic Learning & Action
Kristen Kostecky, Associate Vice President, Facilities Management
Neil Leary, Director, Center for Sustainability Education
Jennifer Love, Assistant Chief of Staff, Office of the President
Jesse McDonald, Associate Director, Admissions
Anna McGinn, '14, Alumnus
Connie McNamara, Executive Director, Marketing & Communications
Charis Mincavage, '95, Alumnus
Wendy Moffat, Professor, English
Mariana Past, Associate Professor, Spanish & Portuguese
Carlo Robustelli, Vice President, Advancement
Clara Roth, '21, Student
Ken Shultes, Associate Vice President, Sustainability and Facilities Planning
Robert Weed, '80, Alumnus, Executive Director of Project SHARE
Neil Weissman, Provost
Sean Witte, Associate Vice President, Financial Operations & Controller
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:
Dickinson College has two sustainability offices with broad responsibilities that cover the entire institution. The Center for Sustainability Education (CSE) focuses on academic and co-curricular programs, while the Office of Sustainability & Facilities Planning focuses on campus operations. The two offices collaborate extensively and are co-located.
CSE creates, enhances, and connects opportunities for learning about sustainability in and out of the classroom and helps promote sustainability in all facets of the College's work. Working with a variety of partners, CSE supports activities that use the campus as a living laboratory for sustainability, helps faculty members incorporate sustainability in their teaching and research, funds student-faculty research, organizes speakers and events, serves as an information hub for Dickinson’s sustainability efforts, facilitates student initiated campus greening projects, and coordinates preparation of Dickinson’s greenhouse gas inventory and reports to external organizations such as AASHE. CSE is guided by a Steering Committee composed of faculty, staff, and students.
CSE has a staff of 3.5 FTE, which includes a Director, Assistant Director, EcoLeague Coordinator (PT) and Administrative Assistant. In addition, CSE employs 10 to 12 student interns. The interns work on a variety of sustainability initiatives that include managing The Handlebar Bike Cooperative, The Hive Beekeeping Cooperative, Dickinson Free xChange and EcoReps program, assisting with our GHG inventory, nitrogen-footprint, sustainability dashboard, Energy Challenge, newsletter, outreach, event planning and engagement with the Greater Carlisle community.
The Office of Sustainability & Facilities Planning coordinates, promotes, and monitors sustainability performance in all facets of campus operations and facilities planning, has lead responsibility for implementation of Dickinson's Climate Action Plan, and oversees operation of the Dickinson Organic Farm. The office has 5.5 year-round employees who include the Associate Vice President for Sustainability and Facilities Planning, the manager, assistant manager and two full-time staff of the Dickinson Organic Farm, and an Administrative Assistant. The farm also employs 4 full-time farm apprentices from May through October, 4 full-time student farmers during the summer and 12 to 15 part-time student farmers during the spring and fall semesters.
In addition, the Alliance for Aquatic Resources Monitoring (ALLARM) is a citizen science organization that has a sustainability oriented mission focused on watershed management and protection. ALLARM works with diverse community partners to empower communities to use scientific tools to monitor, protect, and restore their watersheds. ALLARM has 4 full-time staff: a Director, Assistant Director, Community Science Specialist and Communications Specialist. ALLARM also employs 12 to 14 part-time student staff members in fall and spring semesters.
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 President’s Commission on Environmental Sustainability (PCES) made the following recommendations which were adopted and implemented by other actors at Dickinson in the three-year period 2018 – 2020:
• Affirmation of sustainability as a core element in Dickinson’s new strategic framework document
• New waste reduction and diversion policy
• Increase commitment of endowment funds to the Sustainability Equity Series from $8 million to $16 million
• Revised criteria for identifying and reporting ESG investments
• Conduct student and employee sustainability surveys
• Join the US chapter of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 2019
• Apply for grants and match costs to install EV charging stations on campus
• Develop a 3-MW solar field on college owned land through a power purchasing agreement
• Join Lafayette College, Lehigh University and Muhlenberg College in a virtual ppa to develop a 200+ acre solar farm
• Invest in LED Lighting Blitz to replace >90% of campus lighting with highly efficient LED
• Purchase over 7000 MTCO2e carbon offsets t reach carbon neutrality goal in 2020
• Assist the Borough of Carlisle in developing a climate action plan
Recently formed PCES working groups will work on the following issues in 2021:
• Update and extend Dickinson’s climate action plan to 2030
• Develop recommendations for staff professional development programs to enhance sustainability and equity knowledge and competencies
• Review and update protocols of building operations and maintenance
Job title of the sustainability officer position:
Job description for the sustainability officer position:
Job description for the sustainability officer position:
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):
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:
Webpages with information about sustainability coordination:
President's Commission on Environmental Sustainability (PCES), http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20052/sustainability/2286/presidents_commission_on_environmental_sustainability_pces
Center for Sustainability Education (CSE), http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20052/sustainability/2278/center_for_sustainability_education
Sustainability and Facilities Planning, https://www.dickinson.edu/info/20074/campus_operations
Sustainability Practices
https://www.dickinson.edu/homepage/596/practice_of_sustainability
Dickinson Farm, https://www.dickinson.edu/homepage/389/college_farm
Climate Action, https://www.dickinson.edu/homepage/599/climate_action
Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM), http://www.dickinson.edu/homepage/754/alliance_for_aquatic_resource_monitoring_allarm
Webpages with information about sustainability coordination:
President's Commission on Environmental Sustainability (PCES), http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20052/sustainability/2286/presidents_commission_on_environmental_sustainability_pces
Center for Sustainability Education (CSE), http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20052/sustainability/2278/center_for_sustainability_education
Sustainability and Facilities Planning, https://www.dickinson.edu/info/20074/campus_operations
Sustainability Practices
https://www.dickinson.edu/homepage/596/practice_of_sustainability
Dickinson Farm, https://www.dickinson.edu/homepage/389/college_farm
Climate Action, https://www.dickinson.edu/homepage/599/climate_action
Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM), http://www.dickinson.edu/homepage/754/alliance_for_aquatic_resource_monitoring_allarm
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.