Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.76
Liaison Allison Jenks
Submission Date Jan. 26, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

New Mexico State University
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.37 / 3.00 joni newcomer
Mgr. Env. Policy and Sustainability
Facilities and Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of employees (staff + faculty, headcount):
4,389

Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program (avoid double-counting):
2,000

Percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer educator program:
45.57

Name of the employee educators program:
Greening the Curriculum

Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount):
400

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities:

An example of peer-to-peer outreach is our Greening the Curriculum program. Faculty from all colleges worked together to share their knowledge on sustainability in their individual fields. Several workshops and a retreat were held with faculty, staff, and students all sharing their knowledge and dreams for a School of Sustainability.

We also have peer to peer training in our Facilities and Services department. The workers in the various shops (plumbing, carpentry, etc) have been introduced to sustainable practices by the sustainability manager in one on one and group training sessions. When new employees are hired for each of these departments the supervisors and existing employees educate the new employees on our sustainable practices.


A brief description of how the employee educators are selected:

Through our volunteer Sustainability Council we have a group of employees that have already shown an interest in sustainability. We selected these faculty and staff who in turn found other like-minded individuals to join the efforts to start a School of Sustainability. Meetings were held in the NMSU Teaching Academy and invitations were sent out to the entire campus' faculty and staff.


A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach:

The chair of the Sustainability Council was the leader in getting faculty and staff to work with each other on this new program. Meetings were held to gain interest and then individuals worked directly with the three co-chairs of the School of Sustainability task force for further training. One training session was during a Sustainability Council meeting where we Skyped with the person at Arizona State University how he got their School of Sustainability started.


A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or paid faculty/staff coordination):

Presidents Performance Fund. The president gave $15,000 in 2013, $15,000 in 2014, and $10,000 in 2015 to fund the Greening the Curriculum and School of Sustainability programs. This continues with volunteers from the Sustainability Council's Education Committee.


Name of the employee educators program (2nd program):
Campus Sustainability Resource Map

Number of employees served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount) (2nd program):
2,000

A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (2nd program):

The campus sustainability resource map project serves the entire campus community by creating an online map of things related to sustainability. The map shows recreational sites, water refill stations, recycling centers, bike fix-it stations, bike paths, LEED buildings, among many other green items. A student also developed an app for the map. This was a collaboration between the geography/GIS department and the Facilities and Services Space Planning department as well as the Office of Sustainability. and can affect everyone on campus. http://nmsu.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Viewer/index.html?appid=60ba3ee83bd34bd48c00ca9c655ca764


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

The employee educators are the sustainability manager, the Geography/GIS department head, and the Space Planning manager. These are the people most directly involved in educating the faculty and staff on campus.


A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (2nd program):

The three main people that do the outreach for this map are the three that developed the map. The space planning manager has her degree in GIS and was the main leader of the project. The Geography faculty teaches GIS and is one of our biggest advocates for sustainability on campus - her outreach is impressive. The sustainability manager is the person who provided the requirements and information for the map. It is also mainly her job to share information about the resource map and how to use it. The map has been posted on campus Hotline (daily email to subscribers that gives news on campus happenings), through presentations at faculty/staff events, and (though it's not a part of this credit) to our 15,000 students, as well as the community.


A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or paid faculty/staff coordination) (2nd program):

Administrative support came from the Associate Vice President of Facilities and Services and the Department Head of the Geography Department as well as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The two staff members were allowed to take work time to create this map. The faculty member from GIS worked with a graduate student who created the map as well as an app.


A brief description of all other employee peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs, including the number of employees served and how employee educators are selected, trained, and supported by the institution:

Facilities Operations Sustainability Council Partnership. The Facilities and Services department consists of four different departments that support the maintenance and upkeep of campus: Utilities, Custodial/Waste/Recycling, Landscaping and Grounds, and Facilities and Maintenance. The supervisors of each of the sections of the four departments attend the Sustainability Council monthly meetings where they are educated about sustainability efforts on campus. Each of the twenty-three supervisors are then required to share with their individual sections (consisting of 224 technicians) what they learned at the Sustainability Council meeting. Through this program our techs are able to manage, construct, and maintain our campus using sustainable knowledge and practices.

The attendees are selected because they are section supervisors. Each supervisor is assigned a particular month to attend the meeting during the year.

The Sustainability Council's job is to educate on all different aspects of sustainability. The speakers we select for each program are knowledgeable in their particular field, so the training comes from their education and particular area of expertise. - This is an all-volunteer program.


Total number of hours employee educators are engaged in peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education activities annually:
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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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.