Dear Staff and Faculty,

As you know, Humboldt State University is proud to exemplify, operationalize, and innovate in areas of social, economic, and environmental sustainability. These concepts are drivers in the success of our campus, largely in that many students, faculty, and staff are drawn to our campus because we are a leader in these areas. Furthermore, HSU has demonstrated our commitment to sustainability via our investment in and maintenance of numerous planning initiatives that underscore and include sustainability as key tenets, such as the 2015- 2020 Strategic Plan, our Climate Action Plan, our Second Nature Commitment, and the goals formulated by the Humboldt Advisory Committee on Sustainability.

In order to continue our progress as a campus leader in sustainability, it is time to resubmit information to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System, otherwise known as STARS. This tool is developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and it allows us to comprehensively compare our sustainability activities in all areas of the University to benchmarks set in prior years. HSU first participated in STARS during the 2012-2013 Academic Year (access the report here) and then again for the second time during the 2016-2017 Academic Year (access the report here). During the 2019-2020 academic year, we will resubmit data in order to accrue an updated STARS rating, with the hope of improving our most recent score of 69.28 (a gold rating) even further. More information about STARS can be found on the website.

Our participation in STARS requires the collection and collation of a substantial amount of information about our campus in four main categories, Academics, Engagement, Operations, and Planning & Administration, plus in some areas in which we may earn extra credit for innovation and exemplary practice. While the Office of Sustainability acts as a coordinating hub for this assessment and gathers an extensive amount of data themselves, many additional offices and departments will report on their respective operations and responsibilities. If you have not been contacted already, you will be contacted by the Office of Sustainability staff soon to help with this assessment. They will provide a comprehensive introduction to the assessment, will help you understand what information is needed about your area of campus, and will provide supplemental training on how to submit information. They will also assist offices and departments in resolving challenges and obstacles that are encountered during the data collection process and review the report for consistency and accuracy. Formal collection of information for STARS is expected to begin in September 2019 and conclude at the end of November 2019, with a validated rating expected by the end of the 2019-2020 Academic Year.

Your support and collaboration in making this assessment a successful, well-vetted, and accurate representation of our campus is appreciated. I know our campus has made great strides in becoming a center for sustainability leadership and innovation, and I look forward to seeing this reflected in our final STARS report at the end of the year. Thank you in advance for your sincere dedication to this effort.

Best,

Douglas V. Dawes
VP for Administration & Finance at HSU