Camarillo, CA. – CSU Channel Islands (CI) has announced its charter membership in a new national program to encourage sustainability in all aspects of higher education. The program, called Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), is administered by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

CI decided to participate in the initial launch of the program which started Jan. 10, 2010. Deborah Wylie, CI’s Associate Vice President for Operations, Planning & Construction, stated that environmental sustainability has always been a campus strategic initiative, but she was impressed with the STARS program’s broad approach to sustainability. “It offered the opportunity to report in the areas of education and research, operations and planning, and administration and engagement. We will be able to see where we are doing well and where we need to improve, based on a strong national model,” stated Wylie.

The program is designed specifically for universities and has currently registered 120 institutions of higher education. Unlike other rating or ranking systems, this program is open to all U.S. and Canadian institutions of higher education and the criteria that determine a STARS rating are transparent and accessible to anyone. It is the only program of its kind that involves publicly reporting comprehensive information related to an institution’s sustainability performance. Once CI establishes the initial data, this information will be available on the Web. Since the program is based on credits earned, it allows for both internal comparisons as well as comparisons with similar institutions.

“The rollout of this program will be gradual as we get into other challenging areas like curriculum. Do we want to add a course in sustainability for graduation and how do we want to integrate sustainability issues into our current course work? There will be many questions that we’ll deal with in this ongoing self-assessment,” noted Wylie. She stated that the comprehensive approach of the STARS program was a good match for CI’s educational mission.

Further information regarding CI’s membership in STARS can be obtained by contacting Deborah Wylie, Associate Vice President for Operations, Planning & Construction at CSU Channel Islands at 805-437-8461 or deborah.wylie@csuci.edu.

For media inquiries, contact Nancy Gill, Director of Communication & Marketing at CSU Channel Islands at 805-437-8456 or nancy.gill@csuci.edu.

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CSU Channel Islands is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

CSUCI Mission Statement

Placing students at the center of the educational experience, California State University Channel Islands provides undergraduate and graduate education that facilitates learning within and across disciplines through integrative approaches, emphasizes experiential and service learning, and graduates students with multicultural and international perspectives.