University of California, Santa Cruz
EN-10: Inter-Campus Collaboration

Given the number of people at UCSC actively working on sustainability, it would be difficult to list every paper, guide, and presentation made available to other institutions. For this reason, we have chosen to share a few key examples rather than an exhaustive list:

In 2011 Tim Galarneau received the Sustainability Champion award at the California Sustainability in Higher Education Conference for his far-ranging vision and his ability to advance the sustainable foods movement on campus and beyond.

UCSC presented and received a Best Practices Award for their retrofit of Science Library lighting upgrade from the CA Higher Education Sustainability Conference (Patrick Testoni, Energy Manager, 2011).

UCSC's Procurement and Business Contracts developed a Greenwashing Awareness Training program for campus buyers. Kathryn Cunningham, Strategic Sourcing and Sustainability Buyer, has presented to the UC system-wide Procurement working group and will present the tool at the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference in June, 2013.

The Campus Sustainability Internship Coordinator, Shauna Casey, coordinates a 30 student internship program and is contributing to an AASHE guide for creating and maintaining sustainability internship program with the University of Connecticut and Indiana University.

Sustainability Governance- The Campus Sustainability Coordinator, Elida Erickson, presented at AASHE in 2012, for a panel on campus sustainability planning entitled "Planning for the Future: Creating and Achieving Campus Sustainability Goals," with Ohio State, University of CA Office of the President, and Emory University.

Carbon Fund - The Student Outreach Coordinator, Elissa Martinez, presented on our campus' green fund, known as the Carbon Fund, at the California Sustainability in higher Education Conference in June 2012.

The campus has hosted guest Pete Schmuck from Germany, faculty from Taiwan and local campus sustainability staff from CSU - Monterey Bay in the last 5 years.

UCSC is a member of AASHE, USGBC, ACUPCC. The University coordinates and collaborates with the UC Office of the President and UC Sustainability Working Groups; is a founding signatory and member of the Monterey Bay Regional Climate Action Compact; and participates in the Real Food Challenge and the Environmental Protection Agency's sustainability programs, including the Food Waste Recovery Challenge.

Much of the research on campus is collaborative with other national and international universities, for example the Green Wharf Project involves research on wind energy in collaboration with the University of Denmark.

In addition, the primary avenue for collaboration has been through conferences and welcoming local, national and international visitors to our campus.

Conferences: (attended, participated, presented)

AASHE 2010, 11, 12 Conference participants: Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Various presentations from staff across campus in all years.

UC Santa Cruz participates in the annual CA Higher Education Sustainability Conference, a partnership of the University of California, California Community Colleges, the California State University, and private and independent colleges. This conference highlights best practices of colleges and universities throughout the state related to environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Participant in 2011, 12, 13. Various presentations from staff across campus in all years.

In 2012 Sustainability Office staff from CSU Monterey Bay "shadowed" UCSC staff for a one-day session of meetings and presentations about UCSC's sustainability governance and operations.

In 2012, we hosted Peter Schmuck from University Göttingen, Germany, for a faculty seminar and meetings as well as Faculty from the University of Taiwan and University of Hawaii, West Oahu.

In 2011, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in Taipei hosted 3 of our staff, along with the University of California Office of the President Sustainability manager to present on student sustainability leadership and activism for the Taiwan Green University Program.