Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 68.45
Liaison Justin Mog
Submission Date March 4, 2022

STARS v2.2

University of Louisville
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Brian Barnes
Professor & EcoReps Director
Philosophy
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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

Number of students enrolled for credit:
21,776

Total number of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
21,776

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

1st program

Name of the student educators program (1st program):
Eco-Reps

A brief description of the student educators program (1st program):
EcoReps is an ongoing peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program established in 2012 for all students, faculty, and staff at UofL. The program is designed to move the campus community beyond talk and towards action for a more sustainable UofL. The organization provides basic training and resources, service opportunities, and leadership positions as a point-person and peer-to-peer advocate for sustainability. At the core off the program is an Online Training Series available publicly on YouTube which focus on various sustainability topics and particularly how they can be applied at UofL.

Once you become an EcoRep, you’re expected to serve as a resource person for sustainability in your sub-community at UofL, whether it’s your immediate peers and colleagues, your department, your building, your club, your residence hall, or any other realm where you live, work, and play. We encourage EcoReps to become conscious of the specific physical and social systems in their own departments or residence halls, and to help their peers understand the options and advantages of more sustainable solutions during planning meetings or when designing systems.

EcoReps stand for sustainable action, so we also encourage participants to actively demonstrate their personal commitment in those places where they can have the most impact. EcoReps are not “green police.” Eco-Reps are educators and mentors. As an EcoRep, you should feel free to politely observe and make note of problem behaviors or unsustainable systems, but you should always be courteous, respectful and supportive rather than punitive. EcoReps should also be a voice for sound practices regarding our campus environment, its inhabitants, and the planet at large. EcoReps should always strive to “practice what they preach” and to lead by example.

EcoReps are expected to attend our monthly workshops to expand their exposure to sustainability concepts and locals making a difference. There they can discuss their own sustainability activities in a public forum (with a free vegetarian lunch!), and report on their activities and ideas about sustainable practices to UofL's Sustainability Council. We also expect EcoReps to submit a brief monthly report designed to help everyone brainstorm and document more effective strategies for EcoReps representation across campus.

EcoReps also engage in group service projects to engage the community around UofL in some highly visible and meaningful efforts. EcoReps are encouraged to partner with Recognized Student Organizations, Campus Housing, the Student, Staff, and Faculty Senates, and other campus organizations to spread the word about sustainability on campus, and to help identify opportunities to engage with sustainability.

A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (1st program):
The target audience of EcoReps is any and all students who are interested in working towards a more sustainable University of Louisville. This means that EcoReps has been designed in hopes of 100% student involvement - accomplished by not just holding in-person meetings and workshops, but also providing bountiful online resources and recordings of any workshops that were held in person! The workshops which EcoReps sponsor monthly focus on a different sustainability topic each meeting and provide both free vegetarian lunches to all those in attendance and wisdom in the world of UofL sustainability.

The role of an EcoRep is described above as well as at the link provided. The steps to becoming an EcoRep are also listed in detail at the same link - displaying both how eager the program is to involve as many students as possible as well as how easy it truly can be to become an EcoRep.

Number of trained student educators (1st program):
100

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (1st program):
52

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (1st program):
5

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (1st program):
26,000

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

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

2nd program

Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
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A brief description of the student educators program (2nd program):
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A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (2nd program):
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Number of trained student educators (2nd program):
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Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (2nd program):
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Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (2nd program):
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Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (2nd program):
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Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (2nd program):
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If reporting students served by three or more peer-to-peer programs, provide:

3rd program 

Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the student educators program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (3rd program):
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Number of trained student educators (3rd program):
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Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (3rd program):
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Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (3rd program):
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Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (3rd program):
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Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (3rd program):
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Additional programs 

A brief description of all other student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:
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Number of trained student educators (all other programs):
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Number of weeks, on average, the student educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
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Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per student educator (all other programs) :
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Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (all other programs):
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Part 2. Educator hours per student served by a peer-to-peer educator program

Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators (all programs):
26,000

Hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators per student served by a peer-to-peer program:
1.19

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the student sustainability educators programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
UofL's Sustainability Council launched its peer-to-peer EcoReps program for all students and employees in the fall 2012 semester. There are many resources available at the link provided - including the online educational videos, and links to monthly in-person and virtual workshops.

While there are roughly 100 students involved in the EcoReps Program at any given time of the year, some students are more involved and work longer hours than their peers. The average hours worked are derived from the knowledge that about a quarter of EcoReps are working 10 hours or more a week, and the rest are working anywhere from 1 to 5 hours per week. The 5-hour average is a conservative estimate.

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.