Sustainability Intern Application Posted!

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UMBC Sustainability Interns!

We will soon begin accepting applications for two Sustainability Intern positions for the Spring 2010 semester. See below for details. Email any questions to Catherine Pasqualoni at cpasqualoni@gmail.com.

The application will be posted soon! Keep checking back!

Overview

UMBC strives to be a leader in environmental sustainability in higher education. While many stakeholders on campus care deeply about environmental sustainability and awareness, students are often not fully engaged and various departments sponsor disjointed initiatives. By researching best practices in the field of environmental sustainability and higher education management and by partnering with various campus stakeholders, four Environmental Sustainability Interns will better coordinate and connect such efforts at UMBC.

Program Goals

1) Advocate for and implement energy reduction strategies in partnership with the Administration that engage students, with a particular emphasis on working with:

· Transit Services and Off-Campus Student Services to reduce emissions in transportation

· Residential Life to encourage more sustainable habits in the residential halls

· Facilities Management to garner support among students for projects

· Food Services (Chartwell’s) to reduce food waste and encourage healthy and sustainable food choices

· The Energy Performance Contractor to change the campus culture toward becoming more sustainable;

2) Educating students about environmental sustainability and climate change including components of science, social justice, and social responsibility, as well as UMBC’s commitment to becoming a leading campus in sustainability;

3) Assisting the Climate Change Task Force in facilitating behavior changes throughout the community to ensure UMBC is carbon-neutral by 2050, through participation in their working groups.

Position Description

These unique positions require a tremendous ability to be innovative, creative, and proactive. Interns will work on a daily basis with the Vice President of Administration and Finance and her designees to research and implement best practices on campus. They will also collaborate with UMBC’s Student Government Association, Climate Change Task Force, Students for Environmental Awareness, Residential Life, Student Events Board and other groups on campus in an effort to create a more sustainable campus.

These three interns will work closely together as a team towards a unified vision of a more sustainable campus. While each intern will have some different individual responsibilities, they will all work together as a team, holding weekly meetings and supporting one another. The interns should assist and serve as resources of information to SGA, SEA, and the CCTF, in addition to independently managing their own projects.

Qualified students will have:

- An interest in environmental sustainability

- Familiarity with the UMBC community, including culture, behavior, and policies

- Research skills

- Knowledge of themes in environmental sustainability

- A passion for progress in the area of environmental sustainability

- A “team” mindset

- Tact and professionalism to partner and work with administrators

- 3.0+ GPA

- Comfort working with and engaging in diverse groups of people; students, administrators, and other relevant groups on campus

- Must be able to work independently and be accountable

Expectations

Meetings

- All four interns will collaborate to ensure that at least one member attends:

o Climate Change Task Force meetings and respective CCTF working group meetings

o Students for Environmental Awareness meetings

o Student Government Association meetings

o ResLife Council and Resident Student Association meeting

- All four interns should also meet at least once a week to discuss progress, plan, and update each other on the actions the above organizations are taking.

Campus Outreach/Education

- Educational/outreach events

- Events in conjunction with an existing SEB event, that is open to the entire campus (i.e. hosting a Homecoming or Quadmania event geared toward environmental/sustainability education)

- Passive educational campaigns in each dorm, utilizing RA’s for maximum exposure (i.e. recycle-mania, lights out campaign, navy shower)

- Work with SEA and the Retriever Weekly to ensure that there is ONE article discussing environmental issues and/or sustainability tips in the Retriever Weekly each week (can be written by SEA member)

Research and Development

- Research what is already happening on the UMBC campus, working closely with ResLife, Facilities Management, and CCTF.

- Research what other universities are doing and see what can work for UMBC.

- Survey the student body about their involvement in environmental activities and views.

Time Commitment

- Interns will be expected to log on average 15 hours per week

- Inevitably, certain weeks will be more time-consuming than others, so this is an average commitment.

Phased-In Proposal

In an effort to maximize effectiveness of the proposal and address potential problems and concerns, a phased-in implementation plan has been developed for the Sustainability Interns proposal. For the Spring 2010 semester, 2 interns will be hired to begin engaging with campus stakeholders.

The timeline for implementation is as follows:

November 1^st – Positions advertised

November 30^th – Applications due

December 1^st - 7^th – Applications reviewed

December 8^th-18^th – Interviews

End of semester – Interns chosen and notified, planning begins