Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 69.14
Liaison Olivia Wiebe
Submission Date Dec. 28, 2023

STARS v2.2

University of Idaho
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Olivia Wiebe
Sustainability Manager
Office of the President
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer, sustainability educators program

Total number of employees:
2,447

Total number of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
2,447

Percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
100

1st program 

Name of the employee educators program (1st program):
Sustainable Solutions at UI Professional Development

A brief description of the employee educators program (1st program):
All members of the campus community, including students, staff and faculty, are invited to participate in either in-person training sessions or online training sessions. In-person training is offered by the Office of Sustainability twice a year with university sustainability professionals. Online training can be completed at any time and is available through our website. Both methods require a post-training survey that summarizes content from the training through multiple choice questions and open response questions. The survey also has a feedback section to continuously improve methods and content.

The purpose of this training is to educate campus about sustainability challenges and initiatives while encouraging engagement and peer-to-peer outreach. The training has sections including academics, energy, water, waste, transportation, food, biodiversity and landscaping, built environment, engagement, access and integrity and how to get involved. Each section has information about why the topic is important, the features on campus involving to the topic, and how each member of the campus community can help improve behaviors and performance related to the topic.

The professional development is designed to be adaptable as new challenges and successes arise.

This program is new to the university, and was launched in August of 2023.

Find it here: https://www.uidaho.edu/sustainability/development

A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (1st program):
The target audience for this program includes all students, staff and faculty on the Moscow campus. Employees are valued participants due to their likelihood to interact with campus for longer, consistent spans of time and their diverse areas of interest and expertise.

Remote campus participants are welcome to take the training, though the content is directly related to the Moscow campus. Remote campuses are provided the opportunity to work with the Office of Sustainability to develop campus-specific content.

Number of trained employee educators (1st program):
3

Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (1st program):
41

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (1st program):
1

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (1st program):
123

Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (1st program) :

If reporting employees served by additional peer-to-peer programs, provide: 

2nd Program

Name of the employee educators program (2nd program):
Recycling Ambassadors Training

A brief description of the employee educators program (2nd program):
With the launch of our new single-stream recycling program, we created a Recycling Ambassador program that allows students, staff and faculty to be trained educators to keep contamination levels low. The Recycling Ambassador program requires each participant to review recycling guidelines and literature provided by the Office of Sustainability and pass an online quiz that serves as a comprehension check.

The training includes specific information about what materials are accepted, what single-stream entails, what happens to contaminated recycling, and long-term consequences of poor recycling methods.

This training is designed educate ambassadors that will practice peer-to-peer outreach and active participation in proper recycling techniques.

A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (2nd program):
The target audience for this program is students, staff and faculty. Employees tend to have more influence over university spaces and interact consistently with diverse groups, so their participation is key to the success of the initiative.

Number of trained employee educators (2nd program):
56

Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (2nd program):
41

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (2nd program):
1

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (2nd program):
2,214

Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (2nd program):

If reporting employees served by more than two programs, provide:

Additional Programs 

A brief description of all other employee peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:
The EcoVandals program is a general sustainability ambassador program designed for students, staff and faculty. Each EcoVandal is required to take the Sustainable Solutions at UI training, the Recycling Ambassador training, and take the Vandal Sustainability Pledge.

The EcoVandals are provided a packet and educational materials including social media assets, flatscreen images, and ambassador certificates that can be shared with living groups, classes, offices, and departments to spread the word about sustainable features and opportunities on campus.

The EcoVandal program was redesigned to include staff and faculty and launched in August of 2023.

Number of trained employee educators (all other programs):
3

Number of weeks, on average, the employee educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
41

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (all other programs):
2

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all other programs):
246

Part 2. Educator hours per employee served by a peer-to-peer program

Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all programs):
2,583

Hours worked annually by trained employee sustainability educators per employee served by a peer-to-peer program:
1.06

Optional Fields

Website URL where information about the employee sustainability educators programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Olivia Wiebe; Sustainability Manager, Office of the President

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.