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SKC Member Survey Results

By Jason Fitzer

Several weeks ago, all members of the SKC were asked to provide thoughts and opinions about the SKC, including communication preferences and areas of interest within sustainability and student affairs. As one of the newer knowledge communities, the SKC continues to develop. We are interested in addressing the needs and interests of our members in this process.  The insight gained from those individuals who responded to the questionnaire is greatly appreciated. It will aid the SKC in creating and delivering future publications, resources and programs.

Overview

The Sustainability Knowledge Community (SKC), as the newest of NASPA's Knowledge Communities, is still forming and developing its scope and purpose. A questionnaire (survey) was created to aid in the continued growth and development of the SKC; the questionnaire  disseminated to the KC's membership base electronically using Google's survey function.. The questionnaire was designed to collect information in three areas: communications between members and the KC, demographic information of SKC members and general comments for the SKC.  The report provides preliminary information gathered from the questionnaire. The data provided in this report is divided into various sections to highlight data collected from the member questionnaire.

The Sustainability Knowledge Community

Communication with KC member

Communication between the SKC and our members is vital to the success and continued development. The member survey provided individuals with several communication options to inform the SKC on their preferred means of receiving information.  As seen in the graph below, information collected from the questionnaire indicates the majority of individuals who responded to the survey prefer e-mail as the primary method of communication. The Sustainability KC newsletter was ranked as the second method of preferred communication. Members of the SKC (as indicated by this questionnaire) are not interested in receiving information from other electronic or social media applications.

SKC Newsletter

Members of the leadership team have put forth significant time in designing a quarterly newsletter for the SKC, in-line with informational publications put forth by other KCs. The SKC newsletter provides a means of communication and a venue to provide resources and information. The questionnaire asked members to provide their perspectives regarding topics of interest and input for future newsletter publications. When asked to provide topics for future SKC quarterly newsletter publications, the members responded with several topics, including the following:

″   Sustainability and social justice

″   Student government and environmental organization collaborations

″   Greening orientation

″   Green Teams - Campus partnerships

″   Sustainability, health and wellness

Members of the SKC responded as being most interested about reading articles and receiving information addressing sustainability and student affairs programming and promoting sustainable practices amongst students organizations and programs.

The SKC as a resource

A primary goals of the member survey was to understand the needs of the KC's membership base. Members were asked to provide information on ways the SKC could serve as a resource to its members and their institutions. Collected data revealed that our members would like the SKC to provide information concerning new sustainability initiatives on campuses. Members of the SKC are interested in learning how other institutions are approaching issues of sustainability, more specifically how institutions are involving members of the campus community (students, faculty, administrators, etc.) and what best practices are emerging within sustainability and student affairs practice.  

The area of sustainability is quickly becoming flooded with programs, research and information; our members would like the SKC to help filter that information and help create a network amongst student affairs professionals that fosters the exchange of ideas and resources. One of the questions within the questionnaire asked whether our members' home institutions were members of AASHE or other sustainable organizations. Results revealed that many institutions are members of the AASHE organization. Given the solid percentage of AASHE members within our membership base, future partnerships between with this professional organization seem to be a likely means to provide resources.

% of Respondents whose institutions are members of AASHE:

 Demographic Information

            As part the member survey, members were asked to provide demographic information that will allow members of the leadership team to better understand the distribution of current members within the SKC and how to design and implement programs, resources and initiatives to best serve them. Members were asked to identify their NASPA region, their current professional status and affiliations, institutional size and awareness of sustainability related issues. 

NASPA Region Membership

Institutional Size

The majority of members, responding to the survey are associated with a public institution (15 respondents). Private institutions accounted for the second most highly represented group (7 respondents).

Current Professional Status

Campus Initiatives

            Sustainability is a growing area of importance to institutions of higher education with most responses indicating an institutional priority to sustainability and issues pertaining to sustainability. Members indicated a variety of initiatives on their campuses relating to sustainability, including the design and construction of new campus facilities as LEED certified. Other campuses provide pre and post consumer waste composting in food and dinning services and other campus presidents have signed the President Campus Climate agreement.

            The chart below provides a graphic representation of the current sustainability initiatives that are in place on our members' campuses. Institutions are providing recycling programs to handle paper and other waste materials, providing students with educational programs and initiatives that address the importance of sustainability within the global environment and providing organic and sustainable food options to the campus community. Additionally, campuses are offering a growing number of sustainable courses and creating full-time staff positions to address sustainability.

Areas of interest within Sustainability

            The member survey provided individuals with the ability to select for several topics of interest within sustainability, including: sustainability and student affairs collaborations, curriculum design, sustainable building practices, sustainability education, global sustainability, economic policy, ecology, conservation, resource management and sustainable/organic food production. SKC Members also provided additional topics of interest in response to the survey. Members of the SKC are interested in ties between sustainability and social justice, specifically helping students to see the intersection between caring for the environment and the world's marginalized populations. Sustainability, health and wellness. Assessment and evaluation was also suggested as an area of interest concerning strategic planning, reporting and the AASHE's STARS program.

            As part of the survey, individuals were presented with a list of sustainability related topics. In responding, each individual indicated their interest within the provided topic, the results are as follows:

Graph Key:

 Implications

            The low level of responses to the member survey suggests that the SKC needs to address issues of communication with our membership base.  As the SKC solidifies our direction, it is important to communicate our efforts to member through this communication method and to involve our members in the design, evolution and growth of the SKC. With the low response rate, the information from this questionnaire cannot be used to represent the needs and perspectives of all members. A challenge will be to use the data gained to craft future projects and interactions with our members. Given the challenge in garnering respondents to the questionnaire, the SKC should work to develop a communications strategy to ensure that future communications, e-mails and newsletters are informative and concise. 

            The SKC has members who are interested in writing for our newsletter, but also providing direction for what types of resource should be a part of the SKC and how we deliver them. Leadership with the SKC will need to develop strategies and opportunities to engage members who are interested in contributing to the quarterly newsletter as well as helping with the growth and future direction of the SKC.

Recommendations for future planning for the SKC

            As previously mentioned, one of the goals of the survey was to gain an understanding of the membership base within the SKC. One of the survey questions asked members to self identify their current knowledge of sustainability and sustainability related issues. The majority of responses provided rated themselves at an intermediate level of knowledge and awareness about sustainability. All individuals who responded to the survey possess some knowledge about sustainability with 0 respondents rating themselves as unknowledgeable. With the continued growth and evolvement of the SKC, it will be important to create and provide resources to its members to effectively integrate sustainable practices within student affairs. As part of the SKC quarterly newsletter, institutions should be featured for their current commitments and sustainability initiatives in a campus spotlight series section. The newsletter could also feature institutional staff members who are working to bridge the gap between student affairs and sustainability.

            Moving forward, it will be important for the SKC to develop its strategic priorities and directions. Development of a solidified direction will allow the SKC to identify means to engage members of the SKC while providing information and resources regarding sustainability within student affairs. The SKC must focus on building relationships with our members, their institutions and other sustainability organizations to pool knowledge and informational resources to best serve student affairs professionals and the field of student affairs.

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