Northern Michigan University has been recognized as a STARS Gold Institution by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. STARS is the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System. An institution's score is based on the percentage of applicable points earned across five main categories: academics; engagement; operations; planning and administration; and innovation and leadership.
Jes Thompson is NMU's assistant vice president for Sustainability, a position created early this year to collaborate with faculty, staff and students to significantly advance Northern's efforts in that arena.
“I'm ecstatic; it feels great to achieve solid gold for the first time. This leap up from silver can be attributed to institutional investment in sustainability and lining up university policies to match core values," she said.
"All of the things Northern has started to do since President Brock Tessman's arrival have contributed to the gold rating. It just shows that his vision is authentic and it's translating to action. We are walking the walk on sustainability. We got really close to gold a year ago, but transformative progress has taken place since then, which resulted in the most innovation points we've ever gotten through STARS. We had several pieces in motion that made it happen for us this time.”
Thompson said NMU's commitment to achieve industry standards for carbon neutrality by 2050 was a major factor in achieving gold, and the university is doing a better job of tracking its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She also pointed to the NMU Board of Trustees' decision to fully divest its endowment fund from the fossil fuel industry by 2028, while also boosting sustainability-related investments by up to 15%.
“Other ways we were also able to demonstrate authentic and transparent action internal to the institution's structure included the creation of my position and the appointment of Shawnrece Campbell as assistant vice president for Diversity and Inclusion, the university's commitment to the Okanagan Charter, and efforts to increase open education resource (OER) use across campus,” she said.
Thompson is also a member of the NMU Carbon Neutrality Task Force and director of the university's Sustainability Hub for Innovation and Environment (SHINE). In an appropriate nod to the official school colors, she added this sentiment in response to the sustainability efforts that elevated Northern's STARS rating, which is valid for three years: “Go green, get gold!” Northern's report is publicly available on the STARS website here.
With more than 1,200 participants in 52 countries, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education's STARS program is the most widely recognized framework in the world for publicly reporting comprehensive information related to a college or university's sustainability performance.
“STARS was developed by the campus sustainability community to provide high standards for recognizing campus sustainability efforts,” said AASHE Executive Director Meghan Fay Zahniser. “Northern Michigan University has demonstrated a substantial commitment to sustainability by achieving a STARS Gold rating and is to be congratulated for their efforts.”
Unlike other rating or ranking systems, this program is open to all institutions of higher education, 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.
AASHE is an association of colleges and universities that are working to create a sustainable future. Its mission is to empower higher education to lead the sustainability transformation by providing resources, professional development and a network of support to enable institutions of higher education to model and advance sustainability in everything they do. For more information, visit www.aashe.org.