Everybody from the Princeton Review to the Sierra Club is rating colleges and universities on their own “green index.” But what’s been needed is a common standard rating system open to all college and university campuses in the US and Canada from community colleges to research institutions that is comprehensive and transparent. All of this is ideally administered by a group steeped in both academic and sustainable experiences. Enter AASHE, The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Already well known among academic institutions for the resources and knowledge they provide when it comes to sustainability, AASHE decided to launch a new program, STARS (Sustainability Tracking and Rating System) to help further the sustainability movement on campuses. Coates Kokes developed a logo for the new program, website design and helped with public relations efforts, which formally launches the program to the nation on tomorrow, January 19th.
In addition to the logo, our designers developed “seals” which recognize inpidual campuses on their level of achievement within the program (Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze). To date the STARS program has over 120 academic institutions (and counting) signed up to be STARS charter participants.
In addition, over 750 people have registered to participate in the interactive webinar launch event on January 19th. The newly designed website will be unveiled after the webinar for charter participants to start registering their institutions. The agency continues to work with nationally known publications to help spread the word that STARS is the premiere rating systems for sustainability activities on campus.
