| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 46.80 |
| Liaison | Paul Scanlon |
| Submission Date | Feb. 28, 2014 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Slippery Rock University
PA-2: Sustainability Planning
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Paul
Scanlon Special Assistant to the President President's Office/Sustainability |
"---"
indicates that no data was submitted for this field
None
Does the institution have current and formal plans to advance sustainability in the following areas? Do the plans include measurable objectives?:
| Current and Formal Plans (Yes or No) | Measurable Objectives (Yes or No) | |
| Curriculum | Yes | Yes |
| Research (or other scholarship) | Yes | Yes |
| Campus Engagement | Yes | Yes |
| Public Engagement | Yes | Yes |
| Air and Climate | Yes | Yes |
| Buildings | Yes | Yes |
| Dining Services/Food | Yes | Yes |
| Energy | Yes | Yes |
| Grounds | Yes | Yes |
| Purchasing | Yes | Yes |
| Transportation | Yes | Yes |
| Waste | Yes | Yes |
| Water | Yes | Yes |
| Diversity and Affordability | Yes | Yes |
| Health, Wellbeing and Work | Yes | Yes |
| Investment | No | No |
| Other | Yes | Yes |
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Curriculum:
As addressed in SRU's Strategic Plan Trend 5, one of Slippery Rock's goals is to "increase the number of sustainability components within goal courses in the Liberal Studies Program."
In addition, the stated desire of the President and Provost is to develop a cross-disciplined undergraduate degree in Sustainability.
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Curriculum plan(s):
Our plan to advance sustainability in the curriculum will be measured using a review of the sustainability components added to goal courses, with the STARS Report Curriculum Score being the metric reviewed each year.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Curriculum plan(s):
Office of the Provost
Office of Sustainability
All Academic Departments
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Research (or other scholarship):
As addressed in SRU's Strategic PlanTrend 5, one of Slippery Rock's goals is to "Engage students in sustainability projects on campus and in the surrounding communities."
One action step included in the Strategic Plan to achieve this goal is to "continue to fully support the Green Fund to encourage participation by students, faculty and staff" (the Green Fund Grant program provides up to $20,000 per project for sustainability projects, including research projects).
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Research plan(s):
The number of Green Fund Grants and their funding levels are tracked each year to measure our progress in this area, as is research conducted by graduate assistants employed at the Macoskey Center and through other academic departments. Other sustainability and environmental research activities funded through programs that are not exclusively limited to sustainability topics are also tracked.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Research plan(s):
Administration and Finance Department
Green Fund Advisory Board
Office of Sustainability
Macoskey Center for Sustainable Systems Research and Education
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance Campus Engagement around sustainability:
As addressed in SRU's Strategic Plan Trend 5, SRU's goals include:
1. To "increase the opportunities for students to learn about sustainability and get involved in sustainability efforts on campus";
2. To "Increase faculty and staff awareness and participation in sustainability projects through various dissemination efforts, including web pages, informational pieces, etc.":
2. To "develop Sustainable Living Learning communities within the residential halls.";
3. To "Incorporate sustainability talking points into campus tours";
4. To "Engage students in sustainability projects on campus."; and
5. To "Make sustainable education a part of the "Week of Welcome"
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Campus Engagement plan:
Included in SRU's Strategic Plan, Trend Five are specific sustainability goals, action steps and measurement metrics against baselines established as part of the plan. Progress updates to each action step are updated annually for submission to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Specific measures and timeframes were also established within our Climate Action Plan for campus engagement activities such as the behavioral change program designed to encourage more sustainable lifestyles and conserve our resources.
Some of the measurable objectives related to the Campus engagement Plan include:
1. Completion of an action step (e.g., a "Campus Sustainable Features Map" was created and is now used in Admissions Walking Tours, as well as being available for viewing/downloading from the Sustainability website).
2. Tracking the number of students who register for sustainable education activities such as Earth Week films, lectures and other activities.
3. Tracking the number of students, staff and faculty who electronically sign the Energy Action Pledge during the Week of Welcome activities each year.
4. Tracking the traffic on our sustainability website pages and facebook site.
5. Tracking the number of new sustainable courses/components in the Liberal Studies program.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Campus Engagement plan(s):
Office of Sustainability
Office of the Provost
Office of Student Life
Center for Institutional Service and Leadership
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance Public Engagement around sustainability:
In addition to items described above (some of which apply to both on-campus and off-campus campus engagement goals), additional Strategic Plan Trend 5 goals include:
1. To "develop sustainability workshops as a service to the surrounding communities."
2. To "document the results of campus sustainability efforts and share those results locally, regionally, and nationally.
An ongoing program managed by the School of Business, the Sustainable Enterprise Accelerator, is also a key program used to engage the public (specifically local businesses) through student interns that assist businesses in advancing their sustainability plans.
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Public Engagement plan(s):
The number of workshops/lectures offered and number of attendees is tracked annually, as well as the number of articles published in local, national, and international publications and websites and the number of student intern engagements with local businesses.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Public Engagement plan(s):
Office of Sustainability
Robert A. Macoskey Center for Sustainable Research & Education
McKeever Environmental Education Center
Sustainable Enterprise Accelerator
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Air and Climate:
In general, SRU has signed the President's Climate Commitment, approved a Climate Action Plan, and included several goals in our Strategic Plan Trend 5 such as to "encourage reduction of fossil fuels used in the motor pool by moving to alternative energy sources as they develop," to "create incentives for students, faculty, and staff to reduce automobile use", to "implement a campus energy policy designed to achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible to meet the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment", to "reduce campus waste and increase campus recycling to ultimately become a zero-waste community", and to "increase purchase of green/renewable energy and pursue renewable energy demonstration projects whenever possible."
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Air and Climate plan(s):
In general, our annual Greenhouse Gas Inventory provides the best measure of our progress against all of the goals stated above; our ultimate goal and timeframe is to become carbon neutral by the year 2037. As indicated in our Climate Action Plan, we also have established intermediate goals and timeframes: reducing our GHG emissions 20% by 2017 (already met/exceeded), reducing emissions by 70% by the year 2027, and achieving full carbon neutrality by 2037. Our Title V Operating Permit report also captures all SRU Campus air emissions data required to be reported on by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and is submitted annually.
Additional measurements include tracking our vehicle energy use(gallons of fuel used annually), as well as the amount of Biodiesel produced from Food Service used cooking oil , and the number of high efficiency or electric vehicles purchased to replace grounds crew gasoline-powered pickup trucks and other fleet vehicles.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Air and Climate plan(s):
Office of Sustainability
Facilities Operations and Maintenance Department
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Buildings:
SRU's Strategic Plan Trend 5, goals include:
1. To "ensure that by 2015 the entire campus meets the requirements of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)" (all new buikldings are required to be LEED-Certified, and major renovations are to be designed to LEED standards);
2. To "implement a campus energy policy designed to achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible to meet the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment';
3. To "consolidate use of classrooms to fewer buildings at night and in the summer.";
4. To "implement maximum and minimum temperature set points for heating and cooling within all buildings and educate building occupants about those set points"; and
5. To "meter and display utility usage in campus buildings and connect all buildings to an automated energy monitoring system so that educated choices can be made about building utilizations"
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Buildings plan(s):
Progress on each action step is documented each year in our Strategic Plan update report, and the cumulative impact is reflected in our annual Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Buildings plan(s):
Facilities and Planning Office
Office of Sustainability
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Dining Services/Food:
SRU's Strategic Plan Trend 5, SRU's goal regarding advancing sustainability in our Dining Services/Food is to "encourage food vendors to utilize certified products, such as fair trade coffee, seafood certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, and locally grown products."
In addition, our goal to reduce campus waste and increase campus recycling to ultimately become a zero-waste community also advances sustainability in Dining services.
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The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Dining Services/Food plan(s):
Our Food services vendor, AVI, has sustainability policies located on its website and vendor compliance is monitored. Other measurable objectives include Dining Services contribution to our recycling program, the provision of pre-consumer food scraps to our composting program, and the provision of used cooking oil for our biodiesel fuel program - all of which is measured and quantified in our annual greenhouse gas inventory.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Dining Services/Food plan(s):
AVI
Dining Services
Office of Sustainability
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Energy:
As addressed in SRU's Strategic Plan Trend 5, Slippery Rock's goal is to "implement a campus energy policy designed to achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible to meet the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment."
Another goal is to "increase purchase of green/renewable energy and pursue renewable energy demonstration projects whenever possible".
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Energy plan(s):
Our efforts at advancing sustainability in energy are measured directly (via the PA State System of Higher Education "Utility Usage Report" for each fiscal year) as well as indirectly through our annual greenhouse gas inventory, which includes documentaion of on-site green power generation as well as Renewable Energy Certificates purchased each year. In addition to annual energy audits and recommissioning of existing buildings, major central heating plant upgrades (incorporation of biomass and CHP systems capabilities) and the installation of two large photovoltaic system installations are included in the mid-term and long-term steps of our Climate Action Plan.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Energy plan(s):
Facilities Operation and Maintenance Department
Office of Sustainability
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Grounds:
Contained in the Strategic Plan is an action step to "Revise the Facilities Master Plan to better define growth and include a campus grounds component that incorporates sustainability concepts and practices, and identifies green spaces, wetlands, environmentally sensitive areas, and areas of academic interest/training".
Pursuing SRU's Strategic Energy Plan goal to "Ensure that by 2015 the entire campus meets the requirements of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)" is another vehicle for advancing sustainability in Grounds.
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Grounds plan(s):
One method of measuring progress in the sustainable Grounds plan is to track the campus grounds component of the updated Facilities Master Plan progress (originally scheduled to be conducted in 2014, but postoned temporarily due to lack of funds).
Other measurable objectives include tracking the number of LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED EB OM) certified buildings on campus and/or campus-wide LEED certification, along with monitoring the success of the Integrated Pest Management, Erosion Control, and Landscape Management Plan and the Building Exterior and Hardscape Management Plan developed for the Macoskey Center Harmony House LEED EB OM Silver certification program (to be used as a protoype program to be rolled out across campus).
Finally, a GIS mapping of the campus grounds was completed in 2013 and will be used to track items such as acreage of mowed (vs. "no-mow") areas, as we intend to evaluate the benefits of planting more indigenous plantings and ground cover at steep slope areas currently trimmed with weed whackers.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Grounds plan(s):
Facilities and Planning
Macoskey Center for Sustainable Research and Education
Office of Sustainability
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Purchasing:
As addressed in SRU's Strategic Plan Trend 5, Slippery Rock's goal is to "implement a purchasing policy that stimulates purchasing of environmentally friendly, cost-competitive products and services. This would require recycled content and minimal packaging."
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Purchasing plan(s):
A review of SRU's purchasing policy updates, major vendor agreements (such as the Print Management Service contract currently in progress), percentage of recycled materials purchased annually (such as copy paper) is performed annually as part of our Strategic Plan update reports. Less direct methods of measuring the sustainability of our purchasing plan is through hour annual greenhouse gas inventory and waste minimization plan.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Purchasing plan(s):
Purchasing Office
Office of Sustainability
Each University Department
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Transportation:
As addressed in SRU's Strategic Plan Trend 5, Slippery Rock's goals include to "create incentives for students, faculty, and staff to reduce automobile use", to "encourage reduction of fossil fuels used in the motor pool by moving to alternative energy sources as they develop", and to revise the Facilities Master Plan including an updated campus transportation component that, when implemented, will optimize the use of the Happy Bus and encourage bicycling, walking, and other alternative modes of transportation."
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Transportation plan(s):
Transportation fuel use by SRU's automotive and grounds equipment fleet is tracked annually as part of our greenhouse gas inventory, as is the replacement of older, inefficient vehicles with electric club cars and other high efficiency vehicles.
Tracking progress on the transportation component of the updated Facilities Master Plan, when completed, will provide another method of measuring progress on larger scale transportation action steps (such as new commuter bus routes, use of higher efficincy buses, etc.).
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Transportation plan(s):
Facilities Operations and Maintenance
Office of Sustainability
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Waste:
One of the goals of SRU's Strategic Plan Trend 5 is to " reduce campus waste and increase campus recycling to ultimately become a zero-waste community." Action steps identified include introducing TerraCycling into Residence Housing, going to a single-stream recycling plan to increase the amount of recycling accomplished, installing filtered cold water filling stations around campus to minimize the use of disposable plastic water bottles, working with the Purchasing Department to reduce packaging materials, and initiating a community-wide e-waste collection day.
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Waste plan(s):
Recycling quantities are tracked by category each year through the Environmental Health and Safety Department, and quantities sent to landfill are logged through the Facilities Operations and Maintenance Department by current waste management vendors. Annual updates are provided with our Strategic Plan update reports.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Waste plan(s):
Environmental Health and Safety Department
Facilities Operations and Maintenance Department
Office of Sustainability
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Water:
SRU does not use potable water for irrigation purposes and has already implemented many low-flow devices through an ESCO project executed several years ago, so the primary plan for advancing sustainability in Water is through ongoing implementation of our Energy Conservation Policy (which includes water conservation items) and through educating our students, faculty and staff through workshops, poster campaigns, and web/facebook postings.
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The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Water plan(s):
Our objective is to continuously reduce our water usage on a gallons/FTE basis. SRU's water usage is monitored by our Facilities Operations and Maintenance Department and reported annually in the PA State System of Higher Education's Utility Usage Report.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Water plan(s):
Facilities Operation and Maintenance Department
Office of Sustainability
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance Diversity and Affordability:
Goals related to advancing Diversity and Affordability from the SRU Strategic Plan , Trend Four - "Education as Access" include:
1. Improve student learning and success of low-income, first-generation students and students of color, (FGLI/SC) including first-year and transfer cohorts, as measured by improved retention and graduation rates, obtained through existing and expanded institutional research processes.
2. Identify and improve social, economic, and technological mobility issues
Additional goals and action steps related to this topic are included in Trend One: Global Challenges and Trend Three: Cultural Awareness, but are not included here for the sake of brevity.
Action Steps include the following:
- Identify institutional cultural, economic, and technological barriers that limit low income students’ success.
- Increase the amount of need-based funding from private sources (SRU Foundation, Inc.) and public sources (financial aid) for low income students.
- Strive to be affordable for eligible students from low- and middle-income families.
- Increase the number of need-based scholarship opportunities for prospective and current students.
- Decrease the total average debt of students at time of graduation.
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The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Diversity and Affordability plan(s):
Annual audits are completed to measure, and include in our annual Strategic Plan update report, the following:
- Current private and public funding levels
- First-to-second year persistence for African-American and Hispanic students
- The number of Board of Governor’s Scholars
- A report on barriers that limit low income students' success for use in establishing additonal action steps.
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Diversity and Affordability plan(s):
Diversity and Equal Opportunity Office
Career Services department
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Health, Wellbeing and Work:
This plan is currently under development by the President's Commission on Wellness, which was initiated in 2013.
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Health, Wellbeing and Work plan(s):
TBD
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Health, Wellbeing and Work plan(s):
President's Commission on Wellness
Office of Sustainability
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in Investment:
NA
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the Investment plan(s):
NA
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the Investment plan(s):
NA
None
A brief description of the plan(s) to advance sustainability in other areas:
NA
None
The measurable objectives, strategies and timeframes included in the other plan(s):
NA
None
Accountable parties, offices or departments for the other plan(s):
NA
None
The institution’s definition of sustainability:
SRU's President's Commission on Sustainability has formally defined sustainability as "the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. For an action to be sustainable, it must be environmentally benign, economically justifiable, and socially just."
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Does the institution’s strategic plan or equivalent guiding document include sustainability at a high level?:
Yes
None
A brief description of how the institution’s strategic plan or equivalent guiding document addresses sustainability:
SRU's strategic plan, specifically Trend 5, is solely dedicated to sustainability. It addresses sustainability in the following sections at SRU: Student Interaction, Education and Research, Administration and Finance, and Operations.
None
The website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability planning is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.