University receives STARS Silver rating for sustainability efforts

Wake Forest has received a STARS Silver rating in recognition of our sustainability achievements from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, is a new program that measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education.

“STARS reporting is a very transparent process,” Dedee DeLongpré Johnston, director of sustainability, said. “A lot of people across campus were engaged in collecting the information required for submission which makes it a great way to take a university-wide baseline measurement of our efforts.”

The university scored particularly well in submission areas that address the human dimension of sustainability. “This closely corresponds to the values of the university. For example, we have a strong commitment to public engagement and engaged learning and scored well in those areas. Commitments that are closely aligned with the Strategic Plan showed up in this indicator set,” she said.

AASHE’s STARS program is the only one of its kind that involves publicly reporting comprehensive information related to a college or university’s sustainability performance. Participants report achievements in three overall areas: 1) education & research, 2) operations, and 3) planning, administration & engagement.

“STARS was developed by the campus sustainability community to provide high standards for recognizing campus sustainability efforts,” said AASHE Executive Director Paul Rowland.

Unlike other rating or ranking systems, this program is open to all institutions of higher education in the U.S. and Canada, and the criteria that determine a STARS Rating are transparent and accessible to anyone. Because STARS is a program based on credits earned, it allows for both internal comparisons as well as comparisons with similar institutions.

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” DeLongpré Johnston said. “The format of STARS allows us to identify areas in need of improvement and areas where we can make investments so that we can work toward continuous improvement.”