Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 69.61
Liaison Tina Woolston
Submission Date Nov. 2, 2022

STARS v2.2

Tufts University
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Tina Woolston
Director
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Sustainability committee(s) 

Does the institution have at least one sustainability committee?:
Yes

The charter or mission statement of the committee(s) or a brief description of each committee's purview and activities:
In 2021, the third iteration of the Tufts Campus Sustainability Council was tasked with creating an overarching sustainability vision and goals for the university. The council, made up of students, staff, and faculty with in-depth experience and expertise in climate change and sustainability, helps Tufts select effective, impactful goals and strategies leading to a sustainable university that serves current and future students and employees equally while supporting the health and wellbeing of all of humanity and our home planet.
The committee's goals initiate collaboration through exploring the more impactful and attainable ways to integrate sustainability into school, division, and university priorities. Using its leadership position to look across the university and link the disparate sustainability efforts together into a cohesive whole. Shape the vision, key principles, focus areas, and, ultimately, plan for sustainability and climate action at Tufts, including reaffirming existing or developing new principles for decision making. Hold an understanding of what Tufts is doing university wide regarding sustainability, enabling a unified message about the breadth and depth of Tufts actions in this area.

To view the most recent reports online, view our Council Updates page. https://sustainability.tufts.edu/sustainability-at-tufts/institutional-environmental-initiatives/sustainability-council/

Members of each committee, including affiliations and role:
Chair: Mike Howard, Executive Vice President

Council Members:

Julian Agyeman
Professor and Interim Chair
Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP)

James Glaser
Dean
School of Arts & Sciences

Eric Hines
Professor of Practice and Kentaro Tsutsumi Faculty Fellow, Civil & Environmental
School of Engineering

Amy Myers Jaffe
Research Professor and Managing Director of the Climate Policy Lab
The Fletcher School

Kyongbum Lee
Dean ad interim, Karol Family Professor
School of Engineering

Shirley Mark
Program Director
Tisch College

Ananyaa Mehra
Environmental Studies Undergraduate Student
School of Arts and Sciences

Gilbert Metcalf
John DiBiaggio Professor of Citizenship and Public Services
Department of Economics - School of Arts and Sciences

Erin Moonz
MD Candidate
School of Medicine

William Moomaw
Co-Director of the Global Development and Environment Institute
The Fletcher School

Gaurav Sharma
Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy
The Fletcher School

Barbara Stein
Vice President for Operations
Facilities Services

Janet Walton
Assistant Dean for Public Health Programs
School of Medicine

Tina Woolston
Sustainability Program Director
Office of Sustainability

Sustainability office(s) 

Does the institution have at least one sustainability office that includes more than 1 full-time equivalent employee?:
Yes

A brief description of each sustainability office:
The Tufts Office of Sustainability serves as a resource, a catalyst, and an advocate for environmental sustainability at Tufts. The Office of Sustainability's mission statement is available at https://sustainability.tufts.edu/about/.

Full-time equivalent of people employed in the sustainability office(s):
4

Sustainability officer(s) 

Does the institution have at least one sustainability officer?:
Yes

Name and title of each sustainability officer:
Tina Woolston, Sustainability Program Director

Institution-wide coordination 

Does the institution have a mechanism for broad sustainability coordination for the entire institution?:
Yes

A brief description of the activities and substantive accomplishments of the institution-wide coordinating body or officer during the previous three years:
The Tufts Office of Sustainability spearheads a number of major programs and initiatives, including the following (details in other credits):
- Orientation outreach for all students and employees
- On-line and in person recycling and general sustainability training
- Peer-to-peer student Eco-Representative program
- Peer-to-peer employee Eco-Ambassador program
- Green Office Certification
- Zero waste events
- Campus climate resilience workshops
- Tufts waste reduction and recycling program
- The Green Fund
The office works with other units and departments at Tufts such as Purchasing, Operations, Human Resources and Finance to incorporate sustainability into institutional practices and protocols. In the past 3 years a decarbonization plan was created for the main (Medford/Somerville) campus buildings and infrastructure and another one is in the process of finalization for the Grafton campus.
In conjunction with other sustainability-focused groups at Tufts, such as the Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE), the Eco-Reps, and student clubs, the office has organized a number of sustainability events, including Earth Month/Day, Zero Waste Week, community engagement events related to sustainability planning, and webinar series.
The Office of Sustainability maintains a website, blog, Twitter account, YouTube channel, Facebook page, Instagram account, Tik Tok account, and a monthly newsletter. The office also creates and disseminates a wide variety of publications and other sustainability resources, including transportation brochures and a bike map that shows locations of bike racks, terrain elevation, bike-friendly routes, and bike safety tips.
The Office of Sustainability releases a Campus Sustainability Progress Report on an annual basis, detailing university energy, GHG, water, and waste data as well as highlighting the many sustainability accomplishments over the past year. (https://sustainability.tufts.edu/sustainability-at-tufts/progress-reports/)
For more information on the Tufts Office of Sustainability and its accomplishments, please visit http://sustainability.tufts.edu/.

Optional Fields 

Job description (1st position)

Job title of the sustainability officer position:
Sustainability Program Director

Job description for the sustainability officer position:
Job description for the sustainability officer position:
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Job description (2nd position) 

Job title of the sustainability officer position (2nd position):
Education and Outreach Coordinator

Job description for the sustainability officer position (2nd position):
Job description for the sustainability officer position (2nd position):
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Job description (3rd position) 

Job title of the sustainability officer position (3rd position):
Recycling and Waste Reduction Coordinator

Job description for the sustainability officer position (3rd position):
Job description for the sustainability officer position (3rd position):
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Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability coordination is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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