Campus Wide Sustainability Certificate

Program

What is Sustainability?

Sustainable SocietyLiving and operating so that future generations inherit a habitable planet able to support prosperous human activity indefinitely

Enterprise Sustainability“a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks that derive from economic, environmental, and social developments.”

- Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes

Why is Sustainability Important?

Companies are realizing the benefits of sustainabilityCompanies who invest in sustainability initiatives outperform those who merely follow regulations

Ohio State is strategically investing in sustainabilityFrom operations, curriculum, to research, OSU is heavily invested in sustainability

Students are being recruited for their knowledge of sustainabilityMore and more recruiters are asking about students

knowledge of sustainability and how it can help their organization

Sustainability Touches Every Discipline

No one organization or department owns sustainabilitySustainability is inherently interdisciplinary. It is an aspect of almost all majors and all organizations in some way

Many courses offered in sustainability are elective

Skills needed are diverse and come from a range of experiences

Many of the courses dealing with sustainability aren’t part of the required curriculum, so students don’t get credit for taking these courses

It is difficult to communicate the various experiences one needs to be a leader in sustainability, so often those experiences go misunderstood by recruiters

What are Employers Looking For?

Me

Net Impact Board Member

“What kind of extra curricular experience do you look for when hiring an recent graduate for a sustainability related job?”

“I look for skill. I don't care if you were the president of this club or that. Show me what you did, what you know, and how it will add value to my organization”.

The Question:How do we give students an experience which provides meaningful, quantifiable, and rigorous skills in the area of sustainability?

Campus Wide Sustainability Certificate

Quantify, manage, and communicate sustainability skillsThis program will be a way to package all

campus related sustainability experience into one aspect

Radical partnershipsAll projects, events, workshops, and courses offered at OSU and elsewhere relating to sustainability will count toward the certificate. What can your organization contribute?

Open to all OSU students Applications will open in April and close late May applicants will be accepted depending on interest and qualification

Student Led, Student DrivenEntire certificate program will be administered and ran by student leaders. Student leaders may receive a stipend or conference sponsorship (depending on funding)

Sustainability Certificate Components

Theory Practitioner

Project LeadershipGiving students

the background knowledge to understand

concepts and issues related

to sustainability

through individual and

multidisciplinary perspectives

Having students

experience real examples of

sustainability related

initiatives in industry,

government, and other entities

Giving students the opportunity to work on and

complete a sustainability

related project in order to gain practical hands on experience

in sustainability

Having students lead organizations, plan events, and manage projects in

order to build the leadership

skills necessary to scale their

impact

The Certificate will have four major components students will have to complete:

Sustainability Certificate Program

Theory Practitioner

Project Leadership• Sustainabilit

y course work

• Academic speakers

• Academic research

• Self study

• Sustainability related site visits

• Corporate sustainability speakers

• Industry related conferences

• Internships

• On campus sustainability related project

• Service projects

• Sustainability related projects for local businesses

• Case competitions

• Be on event planning team

• Be an officer of sustainability related club

• Project manager on sustainability project

Students will attend, complete, and enroll in approved courses, events, projects, and workshops in order to earn enough points

toward their certification:

Example CertificateCategory Activity PointsTheory

Engineering 694R - Resilience Engineering 4Honors Thesis on Fraccing's Effect on the Environment 7Book Report on "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" 2International Poverty Solutions Workshop 1

14Practitioner

Site Visit to Alcoa Plant 3Site Visit to Quasar Energy 1APTE Conference 2Net Impact Green Supply Chain Symposium 2Green Building Expo at 4-H Center 2Net Impact Central Yearly Conference (3-day) 5Interview with Josef Fiksel on Resilience 1

16Project

Living Labs Recycling on Campus Project 6ESS Energy Audit Workshop 35 Campus Energy Audits 5Seeds for Social Change Workshop 5Part Time Internship with Algae Ventures 7Member of Solar Decathlon 7

33Leadership

VP of Marketing for Students for Recycling 5Planning Team for Sustainability Summit 4Project Manager for Living Labs Recycling Project 4

13

Total Points 62Silver Level of Award

This is an example of a Silver Level Certificate

There are 4 Levels:Certified: 40 PointsSilver: 60 PointsGold: 90 PointsPlatinum: 140 Points

Organizational Structure

Theory VP Practitioner VP

Leadership VP

Project VP

President

Students in Program

Organizations, Colleges, Departments and other entities send President sustainability related events, projects, and educational opportunities.

President then funnels opportunities to various VPs

VPs will get more info on the event, assign points to the opportunity, create a quiz on Carmen, write a brief of the event, and post it onto Carmen. All opportunities will be aggregated and sent out each week in a weekly digest email.

Point Allocation Process

Students will complete the various point opportunities presented by leadership. They will then go to Carmen and submit a quiz. Students can check progress within the grade function of Carmen.