STARS A Tool for Sustainable Progress at Richland College

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STARS A Tool for Sustainable Progressat
Richland College

• David D. Henry
• Chief Sustainability Officer
• 972-238-6394
• ddhenry_at_dcccd.edu

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STARS

• Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating
  System
• Developed by AASHE
• Piloted throughout 2008, to go live in 2009
• Institutions achieve sustainability scores using
  self-reported credits from three categories
  Education and Research, Operations,
  Administration and Finance

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STARS Goals

• Provide a guide for advancing sustainability in
  all sectors of higher education
• Enable meaningful comparisons across and within
  institutions
• Create incentives for continual improvement
• Facilitate information sharing
• Build a stronger, more diverse campus
  sustainability community

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STARS Summary Scorecard
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Richland College

• 1 of 7 Dallas County Community Colleges
• 16,000 credit students 5,000 non-credit
• Includes Richland Collegiate High School
• Winner of Malcolm Baldrige Award
• Committed to building sustainable local and
  world community
• President Mittelstet a signer of ACUPCC
• Participant in STARS pilot

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Where we were a year ago

• GREENRichland quasi-official group of employees
  and students
• Some programming for students Focus the Nation,
  Earth Day, other speakers
• Recycling program primarily office-focused,
  with no hallway stations
• Some energy and waste data gathered
• Plenty of desire, little focus or organization

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Whats happened in a year

• Creation of Chief Sustainability Officer role
• Addition of STARS score to strategic plan
• Expansion/deployment of GREENRichland using STARS
  structure
• Completion of greenhouse gas inventory for ACUPCC
• Formation of DCCCDGreen, adoption of STARS as
  framework for its work

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GREENRichland teams/tasks

• Curriculum ID of credit/non-credit courses
  creation of integrated models
• Student/Staff Development orientation
  content/format staff development options
• Community Connections commuting support
  recognition of achievements
• Operations new class scheduling model better
  data tracking comfort v. energy use planning
• Administration STARS monitoring office audits
  development of climate action plan

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Whats next

• Expansion of STARS-related elements in strategic
  plan
• Development of sustainability plan using STARS
  structure
• Improvement in overall sustainability through
  progressive incorporation of STARS credits by
  GREENRichland teams
• Development of climate and energy plans

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Resources

• STARS
• www.aashe.org/stars
• GREENRichland (Richland sustainability)
• www.richlandcollege.edu/greenrichland