| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 72.94 |
| Liaison | John Alejandro |
| Submission Date | Oct. 13, 2017 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
University of San Diego
EN-3: Student Life
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Alison
Sanchirico Sustainability Coordinator Sustainability |
Does the institution have one or more active student groups focused on sustainability?:
A brief description of active student groups focused on sustainability:
The Be Blue Go Green (BBGG) club is committed to reducing USD’s waste and water consumption and to lower our carbon footprint through marketing campaigns, community service and outreach, and eco-events. Events and notable achievements accomplished by the student group are:
1. Food labeling in dining areas
2. Petitioning for reusable cups in dining areas
3. Petitioning for a vegan station in main dining facility
4. Composting pilot project
The website URL where information about the student groups is available (optional):
Does the institution have gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and/or urban agriculture projects where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems?:
A brief description of the gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and/or urban agriculture projects:
The community garden is located in a prominent space behind the central housing office of Residential Life. Students enrolled in the Campus Recreation Gardening class, student volunteers, and Be Blue Go Green members tend the garden together. The instructor for this course is a manager of one of the campus cafes. The garden is also a location of community dinners and serves as a space to gather collectively. The garden features a rain barrel to collect rainwater that is then used to water the garden.
The website URL where information about the gardens, farms or agriculture projects is available (optional):
Does the institution have student-run enterprises that include sustainability as part of their mission statements or stated purposes (e.g. cafés through which students gain sustainable business skills)?:
A brief description of the student-run enterprises:
The website URL where information about the student-run enterprises is available (optional):
Does the institution have sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives through which students can develop socially, environmentally and fiscally responsible investment and financial skills?:
A brief description of the sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives:
The University of San Diego Social Innovation Challenge (SIC) promotes, guides, and supports student-driven ideas to launch or contribute to social enterprises. Social enterprises can be for-profit, nonprofit, or blended ventures, working locally and internationally. The SIC is a bottom-up initiative in which the university’s Center for Peace and Commerce (CPC) acts as catalyst and mentor. It seeks to harness students’ imagination for a better world and offer concrete tools and opportunities to help them turn their ideas into reality. With CPC support, students are responsible for developing or refining proposals for social enterprises that achieve positive results for the four P's: People, Profit, Planet, and Peace, in order to:
- invest in students with the potential to make positive, sustainable social impact
- promote problem-solving through the development of sustainable ventures
- support enterprise development for the quadruple bottom-line (people, planet, profit, and peace)
The website URL where information about the sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives is available (optional):
Does the institution have conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience?:
A brief description of the conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability:
Sustainability-related events are organized by various on-campus organizations such as the Changemaker Hub, Center for Peace and Commerce, the Center for Education Excellence, the Sustainability LLC, and the Office of Sustainability. Examples include:
- The USD Social Innovation Challenge (which is Linked to the Dell Challenge) and associated Idea-Lab sessions with social entrepreneurship
- Raj Patel: How to Move Beyond a World That’s Stuffed and Starved
- Karen Piper: The Price of Thirst
- Idea Lab speaker Tiffany Persons: “Accidental Social Entrepreneur”
The website URL where information about the conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability is available (optional):
Does the institution have cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience?:
A brief description of the cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability:
A single-use water bottle installation was created on campus to showcase the amount of water bottles that are thrown away on campus and educate students around water conservation and waste . Climate change movie screenings take place once a year as part of the Be Blue Go Green community activities that target students to encourage peer-to-peer awareness. The screening takes place on campus and is open to all students of USD.
The website URL where information about the cultural arts events, installations or performances is available (optional):
Does the institution have wilderness or outdoors programs (e.g. that organize hiking, backpacking, kayaking, or other outings for students) that follow Leave No Trace principles?:
A brief description of the wilderness or outdoors programs that follow Leave No Trace principles:
Sustainability is a key part of the USD outdoors program which follows ‘leave no trace’ principles. Outdoor Adventures (OA) serves USD community members with opportunities to experience outdoor activities that promote personal growth, leadership development, relationship building and environmental responsibility.
With a focus on outdoor recreation, environmental education, leadership development and team-building, OA offers a variety of outings locally, regionally and internationally. Pre-Orientation Adventure, overnight trips, outdoor recreation classes and day trips around San Diego are a few examples. OA also operates a resource center and rental shop that provides outdoor recreation equipment and trip planning resources for individuals and groups that choose to venture on their own excursions.
Outdoor Adventures is also a hub for people interested in living an active, outdoor lifestyle that strives to create a balance between humanity and the natural world.
The website URL where information about the wilderness or outdoors programs is available (optional):
Does the institution have sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences (e.g. choosing a sustainability-related book for common reading)?:
A brief description of the sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences:
USD was designated an ASHOKA Changemaker campus due to its commitments to sustainability & ethics and to develop young people into changemakers. The Changemaker Hub annual themes are inspired by its vision of creating a more just and sustainable world.
The University of San Diego Changemaker Challenge is an initiative for uniting students, faculty and staff in employing their imagination, hard work and passion to generate ideas for better addressing a current social challenge. The 2013 Challenge focused on Wasteful Production and Consumption, while the 2014 Challenge focused on Food for Life. The 2015 and 2016 Challenges focused on water issues.
As a Catholic institution, USD also establishes a theme each semester according to one of the seven principles of Catholic Social Thought. While the most prominent sustainability theme is the call to "Care for Creation," other themes also tie in sustainability components.
Each semester, the Center for Educational Excellence selects a book as part of the USD "Just Read!" initiative. For the past two semesters, the novels chosen have been sustainability-focused on issues of pollution and water.
The website URL where information about the sustainability-related themes is available (optional):
Does the institution have programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills?:
A brief description of the programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills:
The university offers a 0.5 unit class that focuses on sustainable gardening and living a healthy, organic lifestyle. This class is taught through the community garden on campus.
The website URL where information about the sustainable life skills programs is available (optional):
Does the institution offer sustainability-focused student employment opportunities?:
A brief description of the sustainability-focused student employment opportunities offered by the institution:
Multiple student worker positions at the Electronics Recycling Center and in the Office of Sustainability are offered to encourage student driven leadership initiatives.
Internships as well as graduate assistantships have been offered to students who show keen interests in sustainability and help their peers again awareness of the various programs on campus.
The website URL where information about the student employment opportunities is available:
Does the institution have graduation pledges through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions?:
A brief description of the graduation pledges:
The website URL where information about the graduation pledges is available (optional):
Does the institution have other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives?:
A brief description of the other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives:
The Office of Sustainability partners with various on-campus student groups to help promote sustainability across various dimensions of academics. Two of the groups that the Office is working with include:
1. Net Impact: Undergrad/Grad Chapter - The Office supports the Net Impact club by providing guidance on the initiatives that can be driven by the club such as Sustainability panel discussions, recycling challenges etc.
2. Management Consulting Association - The Office collaborates with the MCA to guide students and provide mentors in the sustainability consulting industry, help organize Sustainability/CSR Roundtable and partner with local organizations to provide consulting services for social change.
The website URL where information about other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives is available (optional):
Estimated percentage of students (full-time and part-time) that participate annually in sustainability-focused co-curricular education and outreach programs (0-100):
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.