Since 2010 the UVM Office of Sustainability has internally piloted the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education's Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating System (referred to as AASHE STARS). This system is similar to LEED for green buildings, with Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels.

Although UVM has not registered for STARS as of this date, the Office of Sustainability uses STARS as a framework to track our progress related to best practices in sustainability.

The Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution in support of STARS in 2010.

What is STARS?

STARS is a new internal rating framework from AASHE, the premier national organization for promoting sustainability at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. It is conceptually similar to the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Environment and Energy Design rating system (LEED) for green buildings, with a checklist and defined parameters. STARS differs from other "green" surveys in that it is much more generic, comprehensive, and expands the definition of "sustainability" to not only include environmental considerations, but also economic and social dimensions. More specifically, the STARS categories are: Education and Research; Operations; and Planning, Administration, and Engagement.

Piloting STARS

During the spring 2010 semester, the UVM Office of Sustainability researched and assembled STARS documentation in collaboration with ENVS 195 (Campus Sustainability) and CDAE 295 (Sustainable Development Policy). We worked with students to complete several of the STARS categories and analyze UVM's performance internally as well as in relation to peer institutions, business and sustainable development frameworks, and other international standards. This analysis allows us at UVM to track our institution's progress, assess its performance over time, and compare with other institutions. We believe that STARS will demand a new level of accountability and that UVM is prepared to meet this challenge.

Completing an internal pilot of STARS will give us a good estimate of how much effort and collaboration is involved in participating in the program. More importantly, we hope that STARS will help us identify areas for improvement at UVM and compare UVM's progress in subsequent years in order to see if improvement has been made. We will also communicate with McGill University, Middlebury College, Syracuse University, and Yale about the usefulness of STARS, particularly about specific categories, and provide AASHE feedback on how the program can be improved.

Pilot Timeline

In spring 2011 both of the classes and the Office of Sustainability undertook specific roles in completing sections of STARS. Those included the following:

1. The Office of Sustainability prepared resources for the students to consult as well as created structure for gathering and organizing data and information. The students prepared for interviews by conducting preliminary research on UVM’s website, consulting AASHE resources and other references the Office of Sustainability provided and wrote specific questions to ask interviewees.
2. The Office of Sustainability reviewed the students' research summaries and questions and set up interviews with the appropriate contact person.
3. The students came prepared to the interviews with background knowledge and a set of questions to conduct the interviews. After additional research, the students then wrote up the credit.
4. The senior leaders or departmental contact provided data and information, and verifed that the information is accurate through interviews and email.

After the initial data collection and assessment of the credits that the two classes completed by April 2010, the Office of Sustainability reviewed the prepared documents and discussed the outcome with departmental contacts and senior leaders between May and July 2010. In 2011-12 the Office will focus on the Education section.

Doing a trial run of STARS was an important part of evaluating how well the program meets the needs for UVM and for setting up the reporting infrastructure. Stay tuned on our progress and check back for additional information as we complete sections of STARS credits.

The following figure illustrates, based on preliminary calculations, the score that UVM may get in each of the 3 sections of STARS: Operations (OP); Planning, Administration, & Engagement (PAE); and Education & Research (ER).

The Office of Sustainability is currently working on the ER section of STARS.