Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.31
Liaison Lisa Noriega
Submission Date Aug. 3, 2020

STARS v2.2

Yale University
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00 Scot Bearss
Sustainability Outreach Manager
Yale Office of Sustainability
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Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
A subset of the campus community or a sample that may not be representative of the entire community

Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
Longitudinally to measure change over time

A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:
Through a comprehensive literature review and multiple editing rounds by focus groups and experts, we worked to create an accessible, comprehensive, and useful survey. We looked to measure both sustainability knowledge and behavior. By keeping the audience of our survey in mind and thinking about the goals we wish to accomplish with this survey, we were able to balance both our needs and the needs of our survey respondents. The survey goes out to faculty and staff, and to a representative sample of undergraduate students. For students specifically, this survey was administered to the class of 2022 when they were freshmen, and will be administered again when they are juniors in order to understand how a Yale education influences sustainability literacy. Preliminary research began in January 2017; the survey was created in the Fall of 2017, edited/tested in the Spring of 2018, and first administered in the fall of 2018; and the survey will be administered bi-annually going forward (next distribution in October 2020).

A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:
See attached sample

A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
The survey uses a stratified random-sample methodology that follows a process developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is administered to a representative sample size of the following populations: first– and third–year Yale College students; Yale staff; and Yale faculty.

A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment:
There were 1628 total responses to the survey in 2018, and the survey will next be distributed in the fall of 2020, at which point we will compare changes and improvements. Findings from the 2018 survey showed that members of the Yale community would be more inclined to perform sustainability behaviors if they had clearer ways to measure them and see their impact, and that the level of awareness of sustainability activities and resources on campus was lacking with strong room for improvement.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the assessment of sustainability culture is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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