The University of Minnesota Crookston has earned its Gold star rating after completing the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) reporting process. This accomplishment follows a year of action after the campus’ first submission to which it received a Silver rating.
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) commended U of M Crookston for its dedication to advancing sustainability on campus. “To achieve a Gold rating took a village,” Sustainability Director and Associate Professor Katy Chapman, Ph.D., acknowledged. “Nearly everyone on campus provided data, improved processes, and created programs.”
The Center for Sustainability led several projects across the campus community to achieve the Gold star rating. Those projects included:
- A sustainability literacy assessment of the student body to understand competencies across the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by grade level and major
- Student Educators Program setup to promote peer-to-peer education around green living
- Online sustainability tour of campus to broaden the reach of the campus’ outreach materials and publications
- Planned events for staff professional development and training
- Documenting the flora and fauna through a biodiversity assessment to determine areas of ecological importance and the presence of endangered or critical species
“We’ve made significant progress towards being a sustainable campus,” said Chancellor Mary Holz-Clause. “Since the initial report, we have also completed our first Climate Action Plan and have begun work on implementation. We look forward to expanding and strengthening our endeavors with the STARS report as a guide for future work.”
“This achievement is truly the result of working together across campus to achieve our goals,” Chapman added. “We hope to have a celebration in the near future and invite all who have helped us to achieve a Gold rating!”
About STARS and its rating scale
STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. Any college in the world can register to track its sustainability efforts and the framework encompasses long-term sustainability goals, as well as entry points of recognition for institutions that are taking first steps toward sustainability.