University of California, Santa Cruz
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination

In Fall 2017, the Campus Sustainability Plan Steering Committee was charged by Executive Vice Chancellor Marlene Tromp to support the implementation of goals, strategies and annual actions in the 2017-22 Campus Sustainability Plan, by:

-Engaging campus leadership to facilitate key communications and provide other support as needed
-Engaging key campus faculty, staff and student partners across academic divisions and campus support units
-Encouraging key campus divisions and units to take direct leadership on implementation where appropriate
-Advising the Sustainability Office and other key implementers on priorities and resource allocation
-Partnering with the Sustainability Office to facilitate effective progress reporting and data collection

Committee Chair and Associate Vice Chancellor, Physical Planning, Development & Operations
Undergraduate Student Representative
Interim Director, Physical Plant
Associate Professor of Digital Arts and New Media, Arts Division
Graduate Student Representative
Associate Vice Chancellor, Colleges, Housing & Educational Services
Dean, Social Sciences
Undergraduate Student Representative
Principal Engineer, Physical Planning & Construction
Executive Director, University Communications
Director, Sustainability Office

At the time of submission, UCSC is wrapping up its current 5-year Campus Sustainability Plan in 2022 and will be updating the existing governance committee membership and structure with the new plan in 2022-23.

The Sustainability Office strives to foster a culture of diverse, equitable and inclusive sustainability at UCSC. We actively engage students, staff, faculty and community members through education, leadership development, institutional change and behavioral transformation. We build partnerships with students and community members to improve UCSC's environmental performance, seeking to model the way large institutions can work collaboratively to solve some of the world's biggest environmental and social justice challenges.

Goals:
Institutionalize sustainability. Work proactively to integrate sustainability into the core responsibilities and daily activities of faculty, students, and staff.

Improve environmental performance through the Campus Sustainability Plan. The Sustainability Office facilitates and manages UCSC's Campus Sustainability Plan and supports the campus to refine, track, and implement goals and benchmarks.

Create centralized communication and promote successes. Create a central space for coordination of campus sustainability activities, educational initiatives, noteworthy campus achievements, reporting and national rankings.

Promote a culture of inclusive sustainability. Work to advance different cultural definitions of how to care for environmental spaces and human communities, promote social justice and anti-racism work, and advance multicultural inclusion in sustainability initiatives across campus.

Integrate sustainability into the classroom. Build bridges between operations, teaching and research to establish UCSC as a living, learning laboratory in which students can learn and apply sustainability principles and techniques.

The Sustainability Office directly coordinates the development of the five-year Campus Sustainability Plan, most recently completed in 2017. The office facilitates the steering committee and drives execution of annual actions collaboratively through funding, student support and direct on-the-ground implementation. Accomplishments are updated annually via a progress report. View Progress Reports here: https://sustainability.ucsc.edu/campus-sustainability-plan/plans-reports/index.html