Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.66
Liaison Marianella Franklin
Submission Date Sept. 20, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.92 / 4.00 Marianella Franklin
Director of Sustainability
The Office For Sustainability
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Number of students enrolled for credit (headcount):
27,551

Total number of students enrolled for credit that are served (i.e. directly targeted) by a student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program (avoid double-counting to the extent feasible):
27,000

Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer educator program:
98.00

Name of the student educators program:
Superhero Project / UTRGV Active Bystander Intervention Initiative

Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (headcount):
27,000

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

The Super Hero Project / UTRGV Active Bystander Intervention Initiative is a university-wide initiative to promote the idea that individual Vaqueros (students) have the power to prevent high-risk behavior and harm. The Super Hero Project builds on the existing expertise of campus centers and departments at UTRGV and unifies these with consistent messaging and content.

UTRGV student peer educators are trained and in turn teach fellow students about intervening to prevent harm as well as create a culture of caring for each other's well-being. This builds new institutional norms which support equity, diversity and well-being of all the members of the institution's community.

through the UTRGV office of student rights and responsibilities, superhero project peer-educators provide the university of Texas Rio Grande valley with live training and discussions that revolve around issues such as academic dishonesty, alcohol, sexual assault/sexual misconduct, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, suicide, and other topics that may be of concern to our student population.

The peer-educators bring an interesting, engaging, and practical approach to all subject matter that provides the audience with useful information that can be applied in real life scenarios.


A brief description of how the student educators are selected:

Student peer-educators are invited to apply for the position each year.
Eligibility requirements include that the peer educator must be currently enrolled in the institution, must be in academic good standing (2.0 GPA for undergraduate and 3.0 for graduate students), and must have at least 2 semesters left before graduation.
Student educators are hired based upon meeting the eligibility requirements as well a being excellent communicators, have knowledge of the application of Microsoft office tools, organizational skills and the ability to conduct online research.

All majors are accepted but preferred majors are sociology, criminal justice, health services technology and psychology.


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

The Superhero project has one graduate intern on each campus (Brownsville and Edinburg) and 2 peer educators on each campus. they are trained by student rights and responsibilities in regards to the topics listed above. They receive training on dating violence/healthy relationships (escalation) via one love foundation. All training is conducted by the office of student rights and responsibilities.


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

Bystander Initiative is a UT System 3 year Grant that is provided to all UT schools. Our funding is for 3 years in the amount of $49, 932.00 per year which covers wages for our peer educators, marketing costs, and other consumables.


Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
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Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (2nd program):
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A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (2nd program):
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A brief description of how the student educators are selected (2nd program):
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A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (2nd program):
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A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or faculty/staff coordination) (2nd program):
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Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
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Number of students served (i.e. directly targeted) by the program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the program, including examples of peer-to-peer outreach activities (3rd program):
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A brief description of how the student educators are selected (3rd program):
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A brief description of the formal training that the student educators receive to prepare them to conduct peer outreach (3rd program):
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A brief description of the financial and/or administrative support the institution provides to the program (e.g. annual budget and/or faculty/staff coordination) (3rd program):
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A brief description of all other student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs, including the number of students served and how student educators are selected, trained, and supported by the institution:
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Total number of hours student educators are engaged in peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education activities annually (all programs):
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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 institution’s educators program works toward the sustainable development goal of well-being by ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being of the UTRGV student body.


The institution’s educators program works toward the sustainable development goal of well-being by ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being of the UTRGV student body.

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.