| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 83.12 |
| Liaison | Patrick McKee |
| Submission Date | Nov. 16, 2023 |
University of Connecticut
EN-7: Employee Educators Program
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.71 / 3.00 |
Patrick
McKee Senior Sustainability Program Manager Office of Sustainability |
Total number of employees:
Total number of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
Percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
Name of the employee educators program (1st program):
A brief description of the employee educators program (1st program):
As of spring 2023, 95 offices have been certified, with a goal of reaching 100 by the academic year's end. The Green Office Certification Program is aimed at reducing the campus environmental footprint, one office at a time. The Office of Sustainability provides technical support to offices on campus by assessing their behavioral sustainability in the office through the use of a survey. Once we receive the results from these surveys, we calculate a raw score that determines how the office ranks competitively amongst other UConn offices. We focus on encouraging behavioral changes that will have a large impact on office water and energy consumption as well as waste reduction.
Each spring, the Office of Sustainability hosts a GoTo Breakfast for the Green Office Team Organizers (GoTo). They are invited to bring one or more guests from their office or other offices. GoTo's are encouraged to invite a friend from another office in order to help grow the program further.
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/green-office-certification-program/
A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (1st program):
Any office or department, regardless of scope or size, is encouraged to participate in UConn's Green Office Certification program. Participating offices range from individual dining hall offices and academic departments to local museums on campus and RA offices. All UConn employees are therefore targeted and served by this program.
Number of trained employee educators (1st program):
Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (1st program):
Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (1st program):
Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (1st program):
Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (1st program) :
Name of the employee educators program (2nd program):
A brief description of the employee educators program (2nd program):
A cross-university interdisciplinary seminar on how nature, science, and society interact. This seminar is led by UConn faculty member Dr. Mark Urban with the goal of furthering faculty members understanding of important sustainability topics to further share with their students and colleagues.
Weekly meetings were held online on Mondays at 4:30 pm throughout the Fall 2022 semester
Topics covered:
Sept. 12th - Buffering acid politics: comparing acid rain and climate change action
Gene Likens
We faced global problems before, including acid rain and the ozone hole and we eventually met these challenges. Is climate change different or has the world changed?
Sept. 19th - Ministry for the Future
Mark Urban (EEB)
In this science fiction book, the U.N. creates a ministry to solve the climate crisis because no other ministry acts in defense of future peoples. Are the eventual solutions viable or pure fiction?
Sept. 26th - All We Can Save and other writings
With Carol Atkinson-Palombo (Geography), Phoebe Godfrey (Sociology), and Jessie Rack (Natural History Institute
Oct. 3rd - The Positive Benefits of Negative Growth?
Kathy Segerson (Economics)
How do we reconcile limits to economic growth with the view that economies must grow or society suffers? Is negative growth possible or just a fantasy of neo-liberals?
Oct. 10th - Has climate change overshadowed biodiversity?
Dave Wagner and Mark Urban (EEB)
If so, why and what can be done? Recent evidence suggests that research and media attention have been far more focused on the climate change crisis relative to the biodiversity crisis, although one could argue that both are equally dangerous.
Oct. 17th - EVs with Gene
Student protest update (Chase Mack)
Oct. 24th - Assessing Environmental rollbacks and the Inflation Reduction Act - saving the climate or saving face?
With Bethany Davis Noll (Institute for Policy Integrity, NYU Law)
On legislative rollbacks:
https://www.yalejreg.com/wp-content/uploads/09.-Davis-Noll-Revesz-Article.-Final.pdf
Innovative provisions in the IRA:
https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Updated-Inflation-Reduction-Act-Modeling-Using-the-Energy-Policy-Simulator.pdf
Oct. 31st - UConn’s water and salinization
Mike Dietz
Freshwater salinization syndrome
Nov. 7th - Eco-fascism and the Far Right
Alex Menrisky (English)
Nov. 14th - National Nature Assessment (Meg Walsh)
Turkey talks
Nov. 28th - Decarbonizing UConn campus with geothermal
Paul Aho & Bert Bland (Cornell)
Dec. 5th - Update COP27
Mark Urban
A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (2nd program):
Faculty members spanning a variety of academic disciplines that relate to sustainability.
Number of trained employee educators (2nd program):
Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (2nd program):
Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (2nd program):
Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (2nd program):
Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (2nd program):
A brief description of all other employee peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:
Number of trained employee educators (all other programs):
Number of weeks, on average, the employee educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (all other programs):
Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all other programs):
Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all programs):
Hours worked annually by trained employee sustainability educators per employee served by a peer-to-peer program:
Website URL where information about the employee sustainability educators programs 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.