| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 65.60 |
| Liaison | Dayna Cook |
| Submission Date | May 1, 2014 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Northern Arizona University
EN-3: Student Life
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Ellen
Vaughan Manager Office of Sustainability |
Does the institution have one or more co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives that fall into the following categories?:
| Yes or No | |
| Active student groups focused on sustainability | Yes |
| Gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, or urban agriculture projects where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems | Yes |
| Student-run enterprises that include sustainability as part of their mission statements or stated purposes | Yes |
| Sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives through which students can develop socially, environmentally and fiscally responsible investment and financial skills | Yes |
| Conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience | Yes |
| Cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience | Yes |
| Wilderness or outdoors programs that follow Leave No Trace principles | Yes |
| Sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences | Yes |
| Programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills | Yes |
| Sustainability-focused student employment opportunities offered by the institution | Yes |
| Graduation pledges through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions | No |
| Other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives | --- |
The name and a brief description of each student group focused on sustainability:
There are many student clubs/organizations dedicated to sustainability or that have heavy sustainable components.
Student Environmental Caucus or "Green Jacks" - overarching environmental group on campus: http://nau.edu/Green-NAU/Green-Jacks/
Student-governed
Additional Student Groups are listed below, information on them can be accessed at: http://nau.edu/Green-NAU/Student-Groups/
Three Environmental Caucus Action Teams:
Waste Minimazation Action Team (WMT)
Transportation Action Team (TransAT)
Sustainable Landscape Team
Eco-Reps
Net Impact NAU
Hospitality and Business Sustainability Club (HBS)
Connecting Higher Education Indigenously (CHEI)
Botany Club - Student-governed
Forestry Club - Student-governed
Hiking Club (NAUHC) - Student-governed
Program in Community, Culture and Environment (CCE)
Student Association for Fire Ecology (SAFE) - Student-governed
The Wildlife Society - Student-governed
Ambassadors for the College of Engineering, Forestry & Natural Sciences (ACEFNS) - Student-governed
Anthropology Club - Student-governed
Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP)
Astronomy Astrobiology Club - Student-governed
Community Re-engagement for Arizona Families, Transitions, and Sustainability
Northern Arizona University’s Campus and Community-Based Action Research Teams (ARTs) are changing the way our students participate in the classroom and with the community. The ARTs create dynamic intergenerational active learning communities, bringing first year seminar students, returning undergraduates, masters students in the Sustainable Communities program and community partners into a collaborative relationship. We seek to foster sustainable communities through activism, hands-on work and educational activities that bring a greater understanding and awareness across a wide spectrum of issues. Since the ARTs began working with the First Year Seminar program in the fall of 2011, they have grown to include over 12 Action Research Teams involving over 350 undergraduate and 20 graduate students participating both on and off campus in the areas of social, environmental, and economic justice every semester. This includes water rights, food justice, alternative business models, voting, gay rights, engaged democratic learning, health and much more. The ARTs are growing and expanding each and every semester.
The Action Research Teams (ARTs) include:
Public Achievement
Weatherization and Community Building Action Team (WACBAT)
Action Group for Water Advocacy (AGWA)
Sustainable Living and Urban Gardening (SSLUG)
Flagstaff Foodlink: Community Gardens
Flagstaff Foodlink: School Gardens
New Economy Northern Arizona (NENAU)
Students Nurturing Alternatives in Landscaping (SNAIL)
VeloComposting
ALL Student-governed!
Graduate Clubs
Environmental Science and Policy Graduate Student Organization (ESPGSO) - Student-governed
Biology Graduate Student Association (BGSA) - Student-governed
Forestry Graduate Student Association (FGSA) - Student-governed
Geology Graduate Student Org (GGSO) - Student-governed
NAU Learning Communities
Residence Life has developed on-campus communities where like-minded students live and study together.
http://nau.edu/CEFNS/Learning-communities/
The website URL where information about student groups is available:
A brief description of gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and urban agriculture projects where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems:
The Students for Sustainable Living and Urban Gardening (SSLUG).
What SSLUG does:
Integrate growing local foods and broader food-sustainability issues into education at the university via hands-on learning.
Advocate for food justice, and promote community gardening, fruit tree planting, and composting.
Research traditional agricultural practices.
Cultivate broad participation and durable networks of support so that they are able to flourish for many years.
Enhance collaboration with the broader community, particularly Flagstaff Foodlink and Community Gardeners.
What they grow and how we grow it
The SSLUG Garden promotes sustainable food systems through demonstration of organic growing methods in a campus setting. Hands-on participation in planting, harvesting, seed collecting, and soil amendment activities enable volunteers to learn how to grow a variety of food crops in a challenging high-elevation climate. The Garden features short-season heirloom vegetables, medicinal and culinary herbs, climate-appropriate fruit trees and berries, along with native wildflowers and shrubs. Since Flagstaff has a relatively short growing season (103 days), many of the plants are sown from seed in the NAU Greenhouses in the spring and cared for by volunteers until they are ready to be planted in the garden in early June.
- Student-governed
The NAU Botney Club runs the SHAND garden on north campus. Creation of the garden transformed a weedy, unused lot into a beautiful and functional place on campus. The garden serves as an important teaching tool and research location for all botany courses.
- Student-governed
NAU funds a full-time Campus Organic Gardener (COG) to support the SSLUG organization and the expansion of on-campus, organic gardens that will be accessible to all students.
Flagstaff Foodlink: Community Gardens
First Year Seminar Programs work with Flagstaff Foodlink to get out into the community and connect students with community gardens.
Flagstaff Foodlink: School Gardens
First Year Seminar Programs work with Flagstaff Foodlink to get out into the community and connect students with K-12 gardens.
Students Nurturing Alternatives in Landscapes (SNAIL) - Engage the campus community in cooperative gardening on campus.
- Student-governed
The website URL where information about the organic agriculture and/or sustainable food systems projects and initiatives is available:
A brief description of student-run enterprises that include sustainability as part of their mission statements or stated purposes:
New Economy NAU Action Research Team - Student group focuses on sustainable entrepreneurship cooperatives and alternative economic models. They work with community high school students and on-campus students.
- Student-governed
The University partners with the Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technology (NACET) to nourish student-run enterprises, especially those that relate to sustainability. Specifically, the Launch Box program allows students to submit business proposals for the chance to win enterprise funding.
The website URL where information about the student-run enterprise(s) is available:
A brief description of the sustainable investment or finance initiatives:
GreenFund - The Green Fund Committee oversee's NAU's Green Fund: In March, 2010, NAU students overwhelmingly voted to establish the University's Green Fund: a $5.00 per student, per term fee that goes towards projects that make NAU campus more sustainable. Funded projects aim to decrease the University's carbon footprint and contribute to the University's culture of sustainability.The Green Fund Committee is a resource available to the student body for project and investment coaching. The committee votes to select distribution of funds.
http://nau.edu/Green-NAU/NAU-Green-Fund/
Student-governed
The website URL where information about the sustainable investment or finance initiatives is available:
A brief description of conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience:
Earth Week and Campus Sustainability Day are both held annually on campus. Both include activities such as speakers, sustainable demos, events (like the Eco-Fashion show) and often music attractions.
NAU's Provost holds a lecture series each year and it is typical that at least one of her speakers is a sustainability-related speaker.
Franke College of Business brings at one sustainability related business presenter a year.
Community, Culture, and the Environment, ARTs, and the Program for Community Culture and the Environment brought three sustainability related presenters to their conference on Sustainable Business and Cooperative Economics in 2013.
The website URL where information about the event(s) is available:
A brief description of cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience:
NAU hosts an annual "Better World Film Series"
This free documentary film series shows our society’s greatest challenges and celebrate the triumph of the human spirit.
Sustainable films shown in 2013 were:
Bag It
Last Call at the Oasis
In Organic We Trust
The Big Fix
A Chemical Reaction
Revenge of the Electric
Your Environmental Road Trip
End of the Line
Trashed
Chasing Ice
Earth Day
The Better World Film Series is sponsored by: The Office of Sustainability, the Green NAU Energy Initiative, and the W.A. Franke College of Business
The Center for International Education (CIE) helps prepare Northern Arizona University students to be globally competent upon graduation.
They host an annual Symposium and International Week as wells as "Culture Nights." Other CIE events included a Tai Chi expert lesson, a lesson on international dances, and an international quiz show event. They also hosted a seminar on international business communication, a panel on STEM careers, and a session on international internship opportunites. They hosted lectures about Tibet, Chinese women's history, and women's experiences in Bosnia.
The Native American Cultural Center hosts cultural arts events.
Campus Dining holds regular cultural food events
The website URL where information about the cultural arts event(s) is available:
A brief description of wilderness or outdoors programs for students that follow Leave No Trace principles:
NAU is one of the many nation-wide educational institutions that has partnered with the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. The mission of the NAU Outdoor Program is to facilitate experiential opportunities where students have the ability to learn the values of trusting one's self, intrapersonal communication, diversity, health, leadership, and the importance of creating life-long friendships while exploring and preserving our natural environment.
NAU Outdoors consists of a collection of programs designed to assist NAU students and others to explore Arizona and the surrounding area.
NAU Hiking Club supports LNT principles: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2217965304/
The website URL where information about the wilderness or outdoors program(s) is available:
A brief description of sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences:
The first-year experience kicks off each year with the Flagstaff Reads program. Flagstaff Reads is a city-wide program that aims to engage the students of Northern Arizona University and the community of Flagstaff in a common book experience that encourages dialogue and community involvement. It is the goal of Flagstaff Reads to "focus community conversation on global awareness, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability."
For example, "No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet" by Colin Beavan was the chosen book for 2011.
The website URL where information about the theme is available:
A brief description of program(s) through which students can learn sustainable life skills:
The Sustainable Environments and Engaged Democracy (SEED) Residential Learning Community.
SEED enables you to learn and work with people of diverse backgrounds in order to foster creative and beneficial change in the world.
http://nau.edu/Residence-Life/Housing-Options/Learning-Communities/SEED/
The Eco House learning community is a residential and academic community that focuses on making positive environmental change through:
Environmental research and education
Community engagement
Personal change
http://nau.edu/CEFNS/Student-Resources/Learning-Communities/Eco-House/
The First Year Seminar Program brings the best faculty, teachers, and scholars on campus together with highly motivated first year students to explore rich and engaging topics based upon faculty research, scholarship, interests, and current issues. Through this experience, undergraduate research is pursued from the beginning of students’ careers, communities are established among Seminar students, strong mentoring relationships are formed with Seminar faculty, and increased numbers of students are retained from the first year into the second year.
http://nau.edu/University-College/Your-First-Year/Seminar-Program/
"NAU 100" is a one-unit class that focuses on helping student’s transition into college, navigate campus resources, and make social connections to the NAU Mountain Campus. Above all else, NAU 100 teaches students a number of valuable academic and professional skills that they can utilize throughout their life. Some learning objectives of NAU 100 are:
Students learn about and participate in campus activities and resources.
Peer Instructors teach the course and provide an authentic understanding of college success.
Academic Transition Program’s research demonstrates that students who successfully complete NAU 100 receive higher GPA’s and are more likely to graduate than students who don’t participate.
"NAU 120" Furthers the development of these academic and life skills
http://nau.edu/University-College/Academic-Transition-Programs/Courses/
The website URL where information about the sustainable life skills program(s) is available:
A brief description of sustainability-focused student employment opportunities:
Students can work for:
Sustainable Landscape Maintenance Project
http://nau.edu/Green-NAU/Sustainable-Landscape-Maintenance-Project/
Green NAU Energy Initiative
http://nau.edu/Facility-Services/Energy/GNEI/
Environmental Caucus
http://nau.edu/Environmental-Caucus/
Office of Sustainability
http://nau.edu/Green-NAU/Office-of-Sustainability/
Campus Recreation/NAU Outdoors/Bike Hub
http://nau.edu/recreation-services/outdoors/
Composting with Campus Dining
http://nau.edu/Dining/Sustainability/
Green Fund
http://nau.edu/Green-NAU/NAU-Green-Fund/
Graduate Assistantships
NAU has dozens of Sustainability-related academic departments and classes which can offer GA positions.
http://nau.edu/Green-NAU/Academic-Programs/
The website URL where information about the student employment opportuntities is available:
A brief description of graduation pledges through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions:
The website URL where information about the graduation pledge program is available:
A brief description of other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives:
NAU students can earn a Sustainable Living Certificate and become a No Impact Jack.
No Impact Jacks adopt and practice sustainable living habits. By choosing to become a No Impact Jack, they support NAU’s commitment to conserve limited natural resources and help make the world a better place.
The website URL where information about other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Joel Mckower and Bill McKibben will be presenting in 2014
DIY Earth Week 2014 will count as a sustainable living workshops next year.
AHESC for 2014
We hope to add a pledge to NAU's No Impact Jack certificate
Joel Mckower and Bill McKibben will be presenting in 2014
DIY Earth Week 2014 will count as a sustainable living workshops next year.
AHESC for 2014
We hope to add a pledge to NAU's No Impact Jack certificate
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.