The report is out! Bellevue College already at bronze and poised for silver. Bellevue College just completed an evaluation through the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) by a former UW graduate student, Suzanne Zitzer, who also worked on UW’s rating.
STARS is a tool produced by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) that looks at sustainability holistically, measuring the environmental, economic, and social aspects of sustainability on campuses via three categories: Education and Research (ER), Operations (OP), and Planning, Administration, and Engagement (PAE).
Key findings include:
- Sustainability at Bellevue College ranks among regional college leaders, but not yet among national leaders.
- The estimated STARS rank of bronze could easily be raised to a silver before submission by addressing a few categories where Bellevue College is poised for success. Making BC the first community college in Washington to achieve this rank.
- Recommendations to raise Bellevue College score include:
- Increasing sustainability related courses through faculty adoption and getting all departments to offer at least one sustainability related course.
- Creating a student sustainability educators program
- Adopting EPEAT green purchasing standard for certified electronics
- Engaging in sustainability policy advocacy
Last Updated December 11, 2013