The Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT, http://www.umbc.edu/cwit) at UMBC is pleased to announce that the CWIT Student Council, a recognized student organization at UMBC, was recently awarded a $500 seed fund grant from The National Center for Women & Information Technology’s (NCWIT, http://www.ncwit.com ) Academic Alliance and ReturnPath (http://www.returnpath.net).  The purpose of the grant to student organizations is to promote an increased presence of women in computing and IT programs on Academic Alliance member campuses.

The CWIT Student Council is using the funds to co-host the first annual Women in Technology: Spring into Leadership event on Tuesday, April 5, from 6:30-8:00 pm in the University Ballroom. The program is focused on the importance of building relationships and developing one’s inner leader. Ms. Myra Norton, CEO of Community Analytics (http://www.communityanalytics.com) and a member of the College of Engineering and Information Technology’s Advisory Board, will be the featured speaker and facilitator.

This event is a collaboration between the CWIT Student Council, UMBC Student Chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the IS Council of Majors (ISCOM) and the Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT). All undergraduate and graduate women enrolled in engineering and IT majors at UMBC are invited to attend. All students are welcome. The event is free but registration is required by March 30^th at Spring into Leadership Event Registration Form. For more information about the event, contact Dr. Susan Martin, Associate Director, CWIT, at 410.455.3109 or by email, susan@umbc.edu.

STARS is an ever-evolving system which provides colleges and universities with a tool to track their progress toward sustainability and provides the public the opportunity to see what is happening in higher education with regard to sustainability. Built into STARS is a process for ongoing development so that the program is current and best meets the needs of STARS Participants and the public. Seventy Technical Advisors provide input and make recommendations for continuous improvement. These Technical Advisors, professionals from higher education institutions, businesses, and non-profit organizations, are organized into nineteen work groups, each work group having responsibility for one of the STARS subcategories, such as Curriculum, Energy, and Investment. These work groups provide input to the STARS staff and make recommendations for the STARS Steering Committee’s consideration and approval.

There are three levels of periodic changes in the STARS development process: Administrative Updates, Minor Substantive Changes, and Major Revisions. Administrative Updates are made no more often than quarterly and include changes such as making clarifications to credits and correcting typographical errors. Minor Substantive Changes are made no more often than once a year, and these may include changes to criteria and reporting fields which do not change the scoring of credits. STARS 1.1 was released in February 2011 and is the first set of Minor Substantive Changes made to STARS. Major Revisions are made no more often than once every two years, and these may include adding or removing credits, restructuring STARS, and changing scoring of credits. The STARS staff and Technical Advisors are currently developing STARS 2.0, which will be the first set of Major Revisions and will be released sometime after mid-2012.

Some of the priorities the STARS Steering Committee has identified for the development of STARS 2.0 include redefining “institutional boundary,” credit reallocation and point weighting, and making the Education and Research category more robust. The STARS technical development policy provides for a public comment period for Major Revisions. A public comment period on proposed changes for STARS 2.0 is planned for fall 2011.

Below is the third installment of a four-blog mini-series, reposted from the Sustainability Education blog of Living Routes Director Daniel Greenberg. Stay tuned for the final installment next week.

Behind every student studying abroad, there are dedicated staff from his or her home institution assisting with everything from program applications, financial aid, credit transfer, visas, medical preparations, cultural orientations, packing lists, and even (occasionally) luggage tags. So, when we consider ways to make education abroad more sustainable, let’s remember those who stay behind to help create these life-changing opportunities.

In this third installment of a four-part blog series, I will focus on sustainability standards for staff training and office management that were developed by a subcommittee of The Forum on Education Abroad and offered as revisions to their Standards of Good Practice and Code of Ethics documents.

The general question we tried to answer was:

How [can a study abroad] organization create and maintain policies and relationships that support environmentally responsible office and on-site program management?

We came up with three general suggestions and lots of ideas.

1. Maintain clear environmental standards (e.g. recycling, purchasing, travel, energy conservation and efficiency) and conduct regular staff trainings in order to monitor and best implement these standards.

Creating environmental office standards is not unique to study abroad and there are many excellent resources available. A good place to start is the World Resources Institute’s Working 9 to 5 on Climate Change: An Office Guide. In addition, while more focused on entire campuses, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) developed by AASHE also has a lot of great ideas. Two other resources of note are an Australian guide to buying and using environmentally friendly office equipment and the City of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development’s Green Office Guide. For a broader view on these issues, check out Wikipedia’s entry on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). I have yet to come across specific examples of environmental standards or staff trainings within study abroad offices, so please let me know if you find any (or are now inspired to create some!) and I will include them in a future blog entry.

2. Collaborate with sustainability initiatives (on- or off-campus) when appropriate.

According to AASHE’s just released 2010 Higher Education Sustainability Staffing Survey, there has been “an exponential growth of campus sustainability in recent years.” While this is wonderful news, it should be noted that most initiatives focus on campus facilities and operations. Off-campus student travel is largely off-the-map when it comes to greening colleges and universities. Collaborating with your school’s Sustainability Office or Coordinator (if there is one) helps fill a gap many didn’t even know exists and connects you to a local network of resources and support. Perhaps there are grant or carbon offsetting opportunities that would apply to students going abroad. If your school doesn’t have a Sustainability Office or Coordinator, reach out to eco-minded faculty or campus groups. Ask your students if you don’t know of any.

Thinking more broadly, I invite you to join the Sustainability Abroad Listserv, which currently has 431 subscribers who support each other in this nexus between sustainability and education abroad. I also encourage you to subscribe to the Global Editions of the AASHE Bulletin and the Chronicle of Higher Education. And of course, subscribing to this blog couldn’t hurt (hint, hint).

3. Work towards minimizing the environmental, economic and social impacts of office activities.

Many common suggestions (e.g. recycle, carpool, use CFLs and low-flow faucets) can be found in the above resources, but here are a few that are more unique or relevant:

• Form an office committee to research, lead and monitor your sustainable practices.

• Pose weekly or monthly “Green Challenges” to staff (and students abroad!) encouraging them to climb stairs instead of riding elevators, eat locally-produced food, or bring reusable rather than disposable containers to work.

• Communicate electronically when possible. For example, at Living Routes, the study abroad organization I direct, we encourage students to apply for programs and read PDFs of handbooks online.

• If you want to go even further, consider using a non-printable PDF format developed by World Wildlife Fund. We considered this at Living Routes, but there was concern that it would annoy students. I’d be interested in hearing experiences of others who have tried using this format.

• Solicit returning students to host talks or discussions on interesting environmental topics.

• Keep a donated bicycle at the office as alternative transportation.

• Set up staff volunteer days toward conservation activities, such as trail building or weed removal. For example, staff at Living Routes recently enjoyed helping develop a permaculture garden at UMass-Amherst.

Sustainability in study abroad is still a very young field, so new resources and ideas are showing up almost daily. Please add your thoughts, questions and any resources or practices you are aware of in the comments so we can continue to learn together.