Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 65.26
Liaison Matt Wolsfeld
Submission Date March 21, 2023

STARS v2.2

University of Saskatchewan
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Matt Wolsfeld
Community Engagement Co-ordinator
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:
The Sustainability Leadership Table was created by the university's Chief Sustainability Officer upon their hiring in Summer, 2022. It is a multi-disciplinary team of leaders for specific areas of the 2021-2030 Sustainability Strategy to help develop objective measures of success, identify opportunities, and distribute responsibility for achieving sustainability success across the institution.

Members of each committee, including affiliations and role:
Janelle Hutchinson - Chief Sustainability Officer, Office of Sustainability - Office of the President
Robert Bierman - Director, Infrastructure, Planning, and Real Estate & Engineering and Project Management Office - "Model the Way" Lead
Nancy Turner - Director, Teaching and Learning Enhancement - "Empower Our Learners" Lead
Maureen Reed - Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability - "Capitalize On Our Strengths" Lead
Matt Wolsfeld - Community Engagement Coordinator - Office of Sustainability - Office of the President

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:
Our mission is to build a model sustainable campus through community engagement and collaborative action. We strive to foster growth of a culture of sustainability throughout all areas of campus life—education, research, operations, governance and community engagement.

Full-time equivalent of people employed in the sustainability office(s):
2

Sustainability officer(s) 

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

Name and title of each sustainability officer:
Janelle Hutchinson, Chief Sustainability Officer; Vasily Bigildeev, Energy and Emissions Officer; Matt Wolsfeld, Community Engagement Coordinator

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:
Guided by the framework of the Campus Sustainability Plan, the Office of Sustainability has worked in collaboration with partners throughout campus to move sustainability forward across all areas of campus life.

Operations: GHG Inventory updates, co-generation feasibility study, Energy Management and Information System (EMIS), water conservation retrofits, desktop printer reduction efforts, installation of electric vehicle charging station

Community Engagement: Green Lab resources, USSU Sustainability Committee, sustainability week workshops, inaugural eco-hack solutions design event

Education and Research: Sustainability Research Inventory, support for international education for sustainability conference, sustainability literacy and culture assessment

Optional Fields 

Job description (1st position)

Job title of the sustainability officer position:
Chief Sustainability Officer

Job description for the sustainability officer position:
---

Job description for the sustainability officer position:
Primary Purpose: The Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) provides leadership and expertise in order to successfully operationalize USask's Sustainability Strategy 2021 – 2030: Critical Path to Sustainability. The (CSO) will work with designated individuals within key portfolios with specific responsibilities for academic/curriculum, research/discovery, institutional operations and external engagement to implement the strategy, facilitating their leadership in their designated areas while maintaining oversight for the overall success of the Strategy.

Nature of Work: Reporting to the President, this position is responsible for oversight of the institution’s sustainability strategy. They will be directly responsible for institutional-level sustainability work such as: reporting on the success of the Strategy and other sustainability-related initiatives, coordinating governance and advisory tables, creating and managing policy and procedures, leading communications strategies, and representing the university to external stakeholders.

In addition to leading a team of administratorsstaff, the CSO will be responsible for facilitating the work for portfolio-specific leaders identified to have responsibility for the Sustainability Strategy in the areas of: academics, research, operations and engagement. The position will work with these representatives in assisting them to move the work of their portion of the Sustainability Strategy forward as well as identifying and leading this team on any pan-portfolio initiatives.

The position engages in dialogue with a variety of senior USask leaders, administrators, faculty, staff, students and key stakeholders to identify and frame sustainability strategies, initiatives and programs. It is vital that this position develops and maintains key relationships across the campus and externally and be able to convey the benefits of sustainability in order to influence change.

This multi-faceted position must understand the present environment and future trends and drivers as it pertains to global sustainability and envision solutions amidst a rapidly changing world. Strong leadership, managerial and business acumen skills with an emphasis on enthusiasm, vision, objectivity, and accountability; exceptional collaborative ability to build working relationships and credibility with various stakeholders, on and off campus; skill for innovation, influence, managing change, strategic planning, versatility, systems and design thinking. This is a key, highly visible position that requires the ability to work both collaboratively and independently and to be a self-initiator, acting at all times with openness and integrity. Involvement with international organizations, research funding agencies, government, and industry is also required to position the USask at the forefront of the sustainability agenda.

The CSO will represent USask in a variety of venues at conferences, workshops, roundtables, committees, task forces, boards and other events to build awareness of the USask’s sustainability activities and maintain its presence as a sustainability leader.

Job description (2nd position) 

Job title of the sustainability officer position (2nd position):
Energy and Emissions Officer

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

Job description for the sustainability officer position (2nd position):
Primary Purpose: To strategically develop, implement, and monitor energy use, conservation and efficiencies and the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the University of Saskatchewan. The position will work collaboratively as part of the cross-functional team as the lead in advancing initiatives and continually enhancing business practices as they relate to energy management and reduction in GHG emissions, including facilities, campus utilities generation and distribution, solid waste, water, transportation and related infrastructure, fleet and equipment. The work will also include advising and partnering with the university community in achieving sustainable energy consumption and GHG emissions reductions based on climate action plans and related commitments.

Nature of the work: Reporting to the Manager, Capital Planning, this position plays the lead role in advancing initiatives that contribute to an environmentally responsible campus pertaining to all aspects of energy management and the reduction of GHG emissions.

The work will involve the complex integration of strategic assessments of energy usage and other contributors to GHG emissions, as well as leading the development and implementation of related strategies that will result in emissions reductions. The position will be responsible for ensuring continual improvement of relevant university operational and business practices and the development, monitoring and reporting of performance metrics. This will require in-depth understanding of existing systems and processes and the ability to ensure the seamless integration of energy conservation and efficiency and emissions reduction into key best practices. The position will also act as the primary energy manager for Kaizen, the University’s energy management and fault detection software. The nature of the work will be diverse ranging from working with the University’s existing software and control systems to monitor and improve energy use, to making numerous site visits monitoring various university facilities, infrastructure and initiatives as required.

Work in this role will have considerable bearing on the university’s achievement of energy reduction targets. Independent action and the ability to influence others and achieve results in a team environment are essential.

Job description (3rd position) 

Job title of the sustainability officer position (3rd position):
Community Engagement Coordinator

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

Job description for the sustainability officer position (3rd position):
Primary Purpose: To provide creative, effective and reliable community awareness and engagement and communications assistance for the Office of Sustainability in its mission to advance a culture of sustainability and help integrate sustainability into all areas of university activity – community engagement, education, research, operations and governance.

Nature of Work: Reporting to the Director of Planning and Development in the Facilities Management Division (FMD), the Coordinator, Sustainability Community Engagement works in a team environment with other Office of Sustainability staff, as well as independently, to deliver and oversee best-practice student, faculty and staff engagement programs, events and communications to accelerate the establishment of sustainability as an institutional value across all areas of campus life – operations, governance, research, education and community engagement. The work will involve a combination of office work and field work. Although the 37.5 work week will normally be based around normal office hours, some flexibility will be required to accommodate special events or meetings that occur outside of regular office hours. The position demands that the incumbent be able to conceptualize, organize, and direct multiple concurrent major projects and programs and to work with a wide diversity of people. Other than conferences, travel will be largely limited to campus and the Saskatoon area.

Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability coordination is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

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.