Overview

UMBC strives to be a leader in environmental sustainability in higher education.  While many stakeholders on campus care deeply and act directly to attain environmental sustainability and awareness, students are often not fully aware or engaged.  By researching best practices in the field of environmental sustainability and higher education management and by partnering with various campus stakeholders, four 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 (Chartwells) to reduce food waste and encourage healthy and sustainable food choices;
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 weekly basis with each other and on a biweekly 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.

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 “team” mindset
-       Tact and professionalism to partner and work with administrators
-       2.5+ 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

-       Interns will collaborate to ensure that at least one member attends:
-       Climate Change Task Force meetings and respective CCTF working group meetings
-       Students for Environmental Awareness meetings
-       ResLife Council and Resident Student Association meeting
-       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.
-       Work together to address issues regarding food, transportation, energy, waste management, education, and outreach

Time Commitment

-       Interns will be expected to log on average 10 hours per week
-       Inevitably, certain weeks will be more time-consuming than others, so this is an average commitment.

Pay and Budget

Interns will be paid $750 per semester and will have a programming budget of $2500 for the year.