plan body final

Running head: GVSU LIVES SUSTAINABLY 1

GVSU Lives Sustainably Public Relations Plan

Derek Arguello

Grand Valley State University

GVSU LIVES SUSTAINABLY 2

Research

Secondary Research

In 2006 Grand Valley State University (GVSU) introduced The Sustainable Community

Development Initiative. Its mission as an organization is to provide the university a means of

promoting a sustainable and healthy lifestyle for the campus. The office focuses its work in to

provide the necessary skills, analytical tools, and resources to address global, national, regional,

and local sustainability issues (Office of Sustainability Practices, 2014). After receiving multiple

awards of recognition, the organization has since changed its name to the Office of Sustainability

Practices (OOSP) in order to continue the growth of its mission.

The Office of Sustainability Practices looks to provide the GVSU community with the

necessary skills and tools to be a responsible member of a global society (Grand Valley State

University, 2009). Not only does the OOSP offer Grand Valley a program to live an

environmentally sustainable lifestyle; it encourage financial, social, knowledgeable, and cultural

sustainable living as well.

As a result, this campaign will address two challenges of which the OOSP must

overcome in order to continue its success: (1) the assurance that the Office of Sustainability

Practices will not hinder in growth as a result of its name change; and (2) encourage the GVSU

students and faculty to recognize the program as a part of living a sustainable lifestyle as a

whole, not just environmentally.

Method

The target population was provided by the OOSP in the client write-up, of which stated,

“We are hoping to specifically target current students,” (Jakobcic, 2014). Although specified, the

target population must be better understood to continue. Hence, demographics of the average


GVSU student must be defined. Accordingly, student demographics were found through Grand

Valley’s Office of Institutional Analysis. Furthermore, the Grand Valley Lanthorn, the

universities’ newspaper, published an article on September 11, 2014 titled, By the Numbers.

Information within the article included an in-depth statistical analysis in regards to the freshman

class of 2018.

With the vision of helping students understand the many aspects and practices of living a

sustainable life while at Grand Valley; the term “sustainability” must be understood and its

meaning agreed upon for this campaign plan. Defining sustainability through this research will

avoid confusion and provide an objective term that all understand; this avoids the subjective

nature of the term. The OOSP provides this information, which may be found in its

Sustainability Guide. However, in order for this definition to be objective, comparison from

outside organizations shall be examined as well. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

and LandLearn NSW both provide thorough information on defining sustainability, as well as

what it means to live a sustainable life. These three explanations will be compared in order to

provide a mutually acceptable definition.

Although Grand Valley and the Office of Sustainable Practices has accumulated many

accolades for its push in a sustainable lifestyle; there are also many other universities and

colleges across the nation that excel in these practices as well. The client acknowledged

Middlebury College, and Duke University as leaders in sustainability. These institutions will

serve as a point of reference in understanding what is being done at other establishments to

promote the topic. By evaluating these practices, the OOSP may come to light different

perspectives from across the nation on effectively promoting sustainable living. It is hoped that


these unique perspectives may offer Grand Valley and the OOSP valuable insight that may have

not been considered when exercising its own practices.

Results

After further analyzing the target audience, the following demographic information about

Grand Valley students was found (Office of Institutional Analysis, 2014):

There are a total of 14,955 female students (59.6%) compared to 10,133 (40.4%)

male students.

81.5% of students are full time while 18.5% are part-time.

Ethnically, 91.1% of GVSU students are white, 6.9% African American, 3.6%

Asian or Pacific Islander, 1.9% American Indian, 4.5% Hispanic, and 5.8%

multiethnic

Moreover, it was found that the 2018 GVSU freshman class is the largest to enter the university

to this date, with a total of 4,124 new students (Gamble, 2014).

Next, the issue of defining the topic of sustainability becomes necessary. The OOSP

defines sustainability as, “meeting the needs of today without compromising the ability of future

generations to meet their needs,” (Office of Sustainability Practices, 2010). The Office of

Sustainability Practices also highlights major points of maintaining a sustainable lifestyle, of

which includes; maintaining environmental stewardship, improving the quality of life for future

generations, and achieving fiscal and financial sustainability.

Furthermore, this definition of sustainability will be compared with the EPA and the

LandLearn NWS definitions to determine a mutually acceptable meaning. The Environmental

Protection Agency definition: “Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which

humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic,


and other requirements of present and future generations.” Comparitivly, the LandLearn NWS

definition: “Sustainability could be defined as an ability or capacity of something to be

maintained or to sustain itself. It’s about taking what we need to live now, without jeopardizing

the potential for people in the future to meet their needs.” With these results, it may be suggested

that sustainability is the ideal of living a lifestyle which does not endanger the future; whether it

be fiscally, environmentally, or culturally: a self maintaining society.

To address sustainability practices at other educational institutions, the OOSP may wish

to incorporate practices from Duke University and Middlebuty College. Firstly, Middlebury

College, an institution of which achieved a 2014 Gold rating in the Association for the

Advancement of Sustainability in higher education places a high emphasis on alternative

transportation (Middlebury College office of Sustainability Integration, 2014). Students are

highly encouraged to bike to their classes or use public transportation. In addition, the college

even operates its own bike shop on campus. Duke University has chosen to push achieving

climate neutrality by the year 2024 (Sustainable Duke, 2014). Although costly, Duke University

will need to offset approximately 185,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent-emissions per year.

To do so, Duke is slowly progressing to the consumption of entirely renewable energy.

Discussion

With so many sustainable programs across the nation, it becomes difficult to determine

the most effective practices. Although Middlebury College and Duke University provide

exceptional programs, there are many others of which could be compared to the practices of the

OOSP. Furthermore, not all programs that work at other institutions will work here at Grand

Valley. Each university is different in student body and faculty; hence, it cannot be exactly

determined how the Laker community would receive these new practices.


In order to proceed with this public relations campaign plan, it is essential to determine

how students at Grand Valley understand sustainability. In addition to this, further research must

address how students recognize the Office of Sustainability Practices. Hence, the questions that

are derived from this secondary research are two-fold. First, how does the GVSU student body

perceive the Office of Sustainability Practices? This question proves prominent in order to help

the organization not hinder its current growth due to its name change. Secondly do Grand Valley

students understand sustainability and live a sustainable lifestyle? By researching students’

understanding of the topic, the OOSP will be able to measure its success in promoting

sustainability. Hence, the organization will be able to determine its focus when communication

the message of this campaign plan.

(See Appendix A for Secondary Research References)


Primary Research

Focus Group Report

Q1. What is sustainability?

- The general consensus among the focus group determined that most students likely do

not understand sustainability or do not know the meaning of sustainability in its entirety.

Only one member of the focus group addressed fiscal responsibility in their answer.

Several group members related sustainability to environmental conservation. Quotes from

the focus group include:

“Prolonging something or keeping something for a long time.”

“Slowing the process of erosion.”

“How long something can last over a length of time.”

Q2. How often do you make an effort to recycle?

- A majority of the focus group claim that they make an effort to recycle trash on campus

in the campus dining facilities. However the group determined that many Grand Valley

students, including themselves, are not certain as to what trash belongs in what recycling

bin. Most out of home efforts to recycle come in the form of can and bottle return.

Q3. What are some practices of living a sustainable life?

- The group determined that most efforts of living a sustainable life practiced by students

are as followed:

Using water bottles to fill up in the drinking fountain instead of bottles.

Reusing or recycling class folders and binders at the end of each semester.

Recycling food waste on campus after eating.

Practicing environmental consciences practices such as not littering.


Q4. Sustainability programs the focus group sees on campus.

- No members of the focus group knew what the Office of Sustainability Practices was or

the efforts of the organization.

- Participants mentioned that they would like to see more emphasis in the campus-wide

cell phone donation and recycling program.

- Some possible recycling techniques that members of the group acknowledged in

practicing sustainability are the encouragement of professors to utilize electronic forms of

publication for classroom textbooks. This program would provide all course materials

electronically instead of using paper to print class documents. Furthermore, the discussed

idea included an electronic textbook rental or purchasing technique that would decrease

the amount of paper used for books as well as save students money.

Q5. How could we better promote sustainability at GVSU?

- The focus group agreed that the OOSP needs to promote its practices better to students,

they understand all the practices; however, noted that these practices are provided by the

Office of Sustainability Practices in an effort to have a sustainable campus. Brand

recognition was mentioned, the OOSP must be an identity to all students. Members also

stated that the office must also better teach the full meaning of living a sustainable life.

Ideas to accomplish these tasks included:

Promoting the OOSP at recycling centers in campus dining areas. Better illustrations

to students demonstrating what waste goes where – social media was mentioned as a

way to teach correct recycling practices.

Grow the organization’s social media followers and accumulate a better reach on

campus.


Use social media to promote events coming up for the OOSP, on going programs, as

well as teaching the meaning of sustainability. A suggested promotion technique was

teaching incoming freshman at Transitions.

Q6. Other suggested programs the OOSP could introduce to GVSU

Participants mentioned an alternative transportation day; the students would be more

likely to bike if Grand Valley offered more bike paths on and off campus.

The focus group also mentioned partnering with Goodwill that promoted a campus-

wide clothing drive in the winter months to help provide clothing to families that are

financially in need of help. This program would be backed by incentives to help get

students participating in the program. An example given was a $5.00 coupon to the

university bookstore for donating clothing.

Analysis: Themes & Meta-Themes

Meta-Theme: The Grand Valley Office of Sustainability practices is not promoting its name

sufficiently enough for students to recognize what the office is and what it does.

Theme 1: To more efficiently promote the OOSP, the office should consider increasing its social

media presence. The organization should make students aware of upcoming presentations,

events, programs, and awareness through the forms of Twitter and Facebook.

Evidence: The Office of Sustainability Practices has a significantly lower twitter following than

other GVSU programs. In the focus group, participants specifically said one way the OOSP

could more successfully build its identity is through the means of social media.

Theme 2: The Office of Sustainability Practices needs to emphasize more on advertising brand

awareness with the GVSU students.


Evidence: When the focus group was asked if they know what the Office of Sustainability

Practices is, and what it does, no participants could give a response. One suggestion from

participants was that the OOSP needs to build brand awareness. In order to achieve this, the

office needs to promote its name in freshman living centers, heavy trafficked campus

buildings, as well as at campus dining recycling centers.

Theme 3: To increase awareness for the OOSP and what sustainability means; the office may

want to give presentations to incoming freshman to teach sustainability, introduce the OOSP,

and make aware its programs that are taking place on campus.

Evidence: When the focus group was asked how the OOSP may better increase awareness, all

participants agreed that it should have a presentation in freshman transitions, especially

because sustainability is a mission of GVSU. It was cautioned, however, that a peer should

give that presentation. These peers should be an older student as to not have the freshman

feels like they are being lectured by adults to increase engagement.

Meta-Theme: The OOSP is not doing all it can to promote sustainability and needs to increase

student engagement within its programs as well as introduce new programs.

Theme 1: The OOSP may want to collaborate with professors to encourage the use of electronic

textbooks instead of using paperback copies.

Evidence: When the focus group was asked what are some programs they would like to see from

the OOSP, they suggested higher use of electronic books. This has many advantages for

students: (1) more cost efficient, allowing students to be more fiscally sustainable, (2)

environmentally friendly, less paperback textbooks means less paper used.

Theme 2: The Office of Sustainability Practices could do more to promote alternative

transportation.


Evidence: When the focus group was asked about increasing the use of biking, it was said that

some do bike, however it becomes difficult for those to bike who live off campus due to the

fact that GVSU does not have many bike routes.

Theme 3: The OOSP should do more programs that encourage students to donate old

possessions.

Evidence: Participants of the focus group suggested a cell phone donation program to recycle old

cell phones or give phones to students who do not have one. It was stated that this might have

been a program; however, if it was there was only one box to donate and it was not a

promoted practice. In addition, the focus group suggested partnering with Goodwill to have a

campus-wide clothing drive. The focus group thought that many students have old clothes

they no longer wear, but do not have the transportation or time to go to the actual store to

donate items.

Theme 3: The OOSP needs to better increase awareness of programs that are already ongoing.

Evidence: When asked about the “zero waste” football games, no participants knew the program

was currently being practiced. In addition, participants stated that although they do use the

recycling centers at campus dining locations, they do not know who is encouraging this

practice. Many other practices the OOSP conducts were not recognized.

(See Appendix B for Moderator’s Guide)


Survey Report

The survey for the campaign was administered via a physical copy that was given out to

participants. Multiple Greek organizations were asked to complete the survey as well as many

non-Greek affiliated students as well. The results of the campaign survey conclude that a large

proportion of students at Grand Valley do not know what the Office of Sustainability Practices is

or what the organization does. This claim is supported by students’ answers when asked how

familiar they are with the Office of Sustainability Practices; of which, two-thirds of the

participants said they were “Not Familiar.” Furthermore, 60% of participants stated that the

average student at GVSU would not know what the OOSP is either. Lastly, 40 participants out of

106 said they would not feel comfortable in explaining what sustainability means to a group of

their peers.

The issue of brand familiarity was priory addressed in the focus group that was

conducted; after polling a larger amount of the student body, the claim that not many students

know of the Office of Sustainability Practices or what the organization does is supported by

quantitative data gathered from the survey. This data has lead to the conclusion that the Office of

Sustainability Practices needs to raise campus awareness for who they are, and what the office

does. With this conclusion, the issue of not losing any support for the organization takes on a

new form: that is, the OOSP should not focus on maintaining already established support, but

instead look to increase the organization’s identity among students.

As a result of this newly determined issue, the focus of the campaign plan slightly shifts

in an effort to raise student awareness and involvement for the Office of Sustainability Practices.

In addition, the organization must also focus on what it is trying to teach to the GVSU

community. Not only does the OOSP need to establish an identity as a prominent figure on


campus, it must also aid students in a better understanding of sustainability. This issue of not

fully understanding the topic was illustrated both in the focus group and the survey conducted.

Given the qualitative issues provided by the focus group and supported by quantitative

data suggested by the survey, the OOSP must begin demonstrating practices that cater to

encouraging student involvement. Students are not aware of the organization because it does not

relate its name to its practices. Although students recognize efforts in sustainability, they do not

know who is encouraging this. As a result of this lack of brand promotion, the Office of

Sustainability does not see a large amount of student support. The issue of understanding

sustainability directly correlates to this lack of identity. Students cannot understand a topic if it is

not being presented to them in the first place. Students do not understand sustainability because it

is not being presented as an issue to them; this result is prevalent because there is no one to teach

them to practice alternative means. Simply put, one cannot fully learn a new lifestyle if there is

no one to teach them.

To create an identity with students, the Office of Sustainability Practices may want to

consider strengthening its social media presence. Observed by the focus group, the OOSP has

significantly less social media followers than other organizations at Grand Valley. Increasing

social media presence as a means of creating a higher awareness for the organization is

supported by data suggested by the survey. Data collected by the survey suggest that social

media is the most powerful tool that an organization can use to increase awareness and

involvement. The Internet followed as the second most influential form of promotion.

When addressing current practices of sustainability issued by the Office of Sustainability,

the recycling centers at campus dining locations seems to be the most used by students. This is

supported by survey data that shows that 77% of all participants say that they either “Strongly


Agree” or “Agree” that they make a continuous effort to use the recycling bins. However the

issue of not knowing which waste belongs in what bin proves an issue addressed by the focus

group. To resolve this, the Office of Sustainability may look to social media and the Internet as a

form of teaching students how to correctly recycle since it was illustrated as the most influential

means of promotion.

Furthermore, the use of electronic textbooks and construction of a bike path connecting

off-campus housing to campus may prove beneficial as beneficial strategies to practice a

sustainable lifestyle. When asked if students would use a bike path, 61% of participants said they

would as alternate transportation and two-thirds claimed that they would prefer the use of

electronic textbooks in the classroom.

Analysis

The issue of having a weak identity for the organization among students proves most

prevalent to address as a result of data provided by the survey. By not having a strong awareness

with the students of Grand Valley, the Office of Sustainability Practices cannot teach what it

means to live a sustainable lifestyle or help student understand what sustainability means in its

entirety. The lack of identity for the OOSP is the underlying problem suggested by the survey

data. Another issue that arises is the problem of students’ understanding of sustainability.

Although most recognize that sustainability is the practice of environmental stewardship,

students neglect the fact that sustainability addresses fiscal, societal, and healthy means of living

as well.

With the data collected, this campaign will begin to firstly focus on creating an identity

for the Office of Sustainability Practices. This issue is a priority because the OOSP provides a

means of living a sustainable lifestyle; however, if students are unaware of the organization in


the first place, they do not have any help in attaining a new knowledge. The Office of

Sustainability Practices must be the establishment students know they can look to if they hope to

learn new information on how to live a healthier, sustainable life.

Once the OOSP has begun to create this new awareness with the Grand Valley

community, it then can begin to address the second issue which becomes apparent through the

analysis of the survey date: lack of understanding sustainability. Once the organization has

grown its reach among campus, it must provide a means to demonstrate sustainable living.

Moreover, the Office of Sustainability Practices must provide this new means of knowledge in a

way that promotes the organization’s identity in an effort to gain further support. Once students

begin to support the practices of the organization, new support will follow. Analysis of the data

suggest that although students use practices of sustainability provided by the OOSP, they do not

know who is encouraging this effort. As a result, this plan will make students aware that the

practices demonstrated are a direct effort of the Office of Sustainability Practices.

Lastly, social media and the Internet prove a promising form of communication to reach

out to students. Survey data suggest that social media promotion is the most influential form an

organization may use on campus. For this reason, this campaign plan will look to use websites

such as Twitter and Facebook to grow the following and support for the OOSP to create a

stronger identity. These social media efforts will not slow however, once heightened awareness

is reached. The Office of Sustainability Practices will use this base of support to demonstrate to

students what sustainability means in its entirety. Even more, the OOSP will also primarily rely

on this Internet presence to promote upcoming events and new practices being established by the

organization.


To summarize, the Office of Sustainability Practices will look to first expand its presence

on social media websites to gain higher awareness with Grand Valley Students. In this stage, the

organization must focus on getting students interested in the OOSP and living a sustainable

lifestyle. Once that interest is sparked and awareness increased, the plan will begin to focus on

teaching all aspects of living a sustainable lifestyle. This will be done through many means,

demonstrating both new and already established practices. To continue the growth of student

awareness, the Office of Sustainability Practices must be sure to correlate its name to the

practices that are being provided to the students.

(See Appendix C for Survey)

(See Appendix D for Survey Invitation)


Action Plan

Situation and Audience

The Office of Sustainability Practices at Grand Valley State University has changed its

name; the organization was previously known as the Sustainable Community Development

Initiative. In the process of its name change, the Office of Sustainability Practices hopes that it

will not lose any of its current recognition with Grand Valley students. The organization also

hopes to further increase its campus awareness to the point that the OOSP becomes a widely

known identity on campus.

Furthermore, the Office of Sustainability Practices hopes to teach students what it means

to live a sustainable lifestyle during their time at Grand Valley. The OOSP encourages students

that sustainability is not only recycling, but is a means of meeting the needs of today without

compromising the needs of the future. It is the organization’s hope that students will understand

all aspects of sustainability and take with them what they have learned after graduation.

After surveying current Grand Valley students it became apparent that the Office of

Sustainability Practices must do more in order to increase awareness about the organization

itself, as well as what the office advocates. When surveyed, two-thirds of all participants stated

that they are not familiar with the Office of Sustainability Practices and what the organization

supports. Moreover, 26% of participants stated that they are only slightly familiar with the

organization, while only 8% of students were very familiar with the OOSP. This data collected

from the survey suggest that there is not much recognition for the Office of Sustainability

Practices among GVSU students.

Students that participated in the survey were also asked to address topics regarding

sustainability and what it means to live a sustainable lifestyle. Of which, the survey results


inferred that 23% of participants were unsure what it meant to live a sustainable lifestyle. Only

49% of those surveyed stated that they agreed that they were living a sustainable life. Lastly

students were asked to rate how confident they would feel explaining sustainability to a group of

their peers while providing them with a correct answer. Only 28% of those surveyed fell within

the 8-10 level confidence to explain sustainability correctly. Participants who fell within the 4-7

range of confidence composed 34%, while 38% of those surveyed fell within the 1-3 range of

confidence. It can be suggested from these findings that students only vaguely understand

sustainability and do not understand the term in its entirety.

The target audience for the Office of Sustainability Practices is composed of Grand

Valley students. Demographically, the audience is targeted to college students that fall within the

18-24 year old age group. The student population for GVSU is 25,088 of which 59.6%, are

female while 40.4% are male. Further data collected from the survey and focus group suggest

that this college demographic mostly uses some form of social media. In addition, this

demographic suggests that promotion through social media and the Internet prove to be more

influential than other forms of communication.

The client’s primary hope for this campaign was to not lose any following due to the

organization’s name change. However, this issue has slightly shifted in focus after data collected

from secondary research, focus group information, and survey statistics. Instead of focusing on

not losing any already established recognition for the Office of Sustainability Practices, this

campaign will instead emphasize building awareness for the organization’s new identity. This

newly established emphasis is because primary and secondary data suggest that there was very

little prior awareness for the organization among students at Grand Valley. Hence, this campaign


plan will be more beneficial by working to create awareness for the new identity, the Office of

Sustainability Practices.

In addition to creating a greater awareness for the OOSP, the organization must also

strive to better teach students what it means to live sustainably. By creating a stronger identity

for the Office of Sustainability Practices, it will then be able to demonstrate such means. As

suggested by the research data, most Grand Valley students do not completely understand

sustainability. By increasing awareness for the OOSP, the organization will demonstrate to

students that it can provide the means to teach them what living a sustainable lifestyle entails and

help them understand it more effectively. More importantly, the OOSP must directly correlate its

name to the practices that it is providing to students. As a result, the Office of Sustainability

Practices must take a public relations approach that looks to greatly increase awareness for the

organization, and then provide a means to live sustainably to the students of Grand Valley.

Objectives

Firstly, the Office of Sustainability Practices must increase campus recognition with

Grand Valley students. This increase of student awareness is an informational objective; it is

designed to promote what the Office of Sustainability is. Although informational objectives are

difficult to measure, this objective proves vital for continued growth of the organization. In order

for students to begin showing support, they must know what they are supporting, that is, the

Office of Sustainability Practices.

Accordingly, the OOSP must also help students better understand sustainability in all

aspects, as well as what it means to live a sustainable lifestyle. As a result, the second objective

of this public relations plan will be to increase the number of students who can confidently

explain sustainability to a group of peers, in addition to what it means to live sustainably. After


increasing recognition for the organization itself, it is essential that the OOSP better define

sustainability in its entirety to the Grand Valley community. This objective is motivational in

nature and serves to reinforce the organization’s message.

Strategies and Themes

Given the objectives of: (1) increasing campus recognition for the Office of Sustainability

Practices as well as its efforts, and (2) helping students better understand all aspects of

sustainability, it then becomes necessary to develop strategies that will aid to the completion of

each respective goal. These strategies will serve as guidelines, as well as provide themes, to

adhere by for the success of this public relations plan. The following strategies will be addressed

respectively for each objective.

Increasing recognition. Grand Valley State University (2014) lists sustainability as a

core value within its mission statement, “We are committed to working with our community

partners to create a sustainable future for our university, community, and region.” As a result, the

first strategy this plan will utilize is emphasizing the role that the Office of Sustainability plays

for Grand Valley in adhering to the university’s mission. It is hoped that an increase in

recognition will be given to the OOSP by directly correlating its work to the mission of Grand

Valley. Ultimately, the organization will be given more recognition by the university, which will

result in a greater exposure for the Office of Sustainability Practices to students. Abiding by this

strategy will then create the first theme of the campaign: “GVSU Lives Sustainably – A Message

from the Office of Sustainability.” It is vital for the OOSP to include its name on all campus

promotions to push the identity of the organization to students. By relating its name to GVSU,

students become aware that the OOSP is an organization affiliated with the university.


Accordingly, the second strategy being established by this action plan will address

students and their increasing efforts to live a healthy lifestyle. Grace Communications

Foundation (2014), a leading organization in the sustainability states that, “Sustainable

agriculture is a way of producing food that’s healthy to eat, doesn’t harm the environment, is

humane, and provides a fair wage to farmers which supports local communities.” Sustainable

dieting will prove appealing to students who choose to select healthier foods as well as support

the local community of Allendale.

Hence, the second strategy to increase awareness about the Office of Sustainability

Practices will relate living a healthy lifestyle with eating foods that have been sustainably

produced. This strategy will encourage students to partake in a campus-wide effort to diet better

by selecting sustainable meals. As a result, students will be also supporting local agriculture to

help encourage a sustainable community as well. The second theme is then derived by this

strategy: “A Sustainable You Living a Healthier Future – A Message from the Office of

Sustainability.” This theme will encourage students to select sustainable meal options in an effort

to choose a healthier lifestyle. Again, the Office of Sustainability Practices must correlate its

name alongside the message being delivered to students to push the identity of the office.

Understanding sustainability. The next objective of helping students better understand

all aspects of sustainability will employ different strategies than the first objective. The two

objectives are different in nature and serve a different purposes, hence, the following strategies

will serve most beneficial when demonstrating sustainability in an effort to teach students the full

nature of the term. These strategies focus on student involvement and strive to encourage the

Grand Valley community to partake in sustainable practices.


The first strategy to help students understand sustainability will be to teach incoming

Grand Valley students it means to live a sustainable life: financially, environmentally, socially,

and by living healthy. Incoming students are very influenced by their environment when first

coming to Grand Valley. The Office of Sustainability Practices will target freshman and illustrate

to them what sustainability represents in its entirety. It is hoped that by reaching out to new

students early on in their college term, the message will be more influential and accepted.

Ultimately, the new students will embrace sustainability and pass down its meaning and lifestyle

to classes below them. This strategy leverages human nature of learning by seeing and being

actively involved. Through a continued effort each new academic year, this strategy will increase

students’ knowledge of sustainability on GVSU’s campus.

Lastly, the Office of Sustainability Practices must address students that are already

familiar with Grand Valley. Said students may prove harder to engage; as a result, strategies

involving presentations or lectures will likely not prove beneficial. Accordingly, student

involvement strategies will likely yield better results to encourage participation in the practice of

sustainability. The final strategy for this action plan will be employing a campus-wide

sustainability week that encourages the Laker community to practice sustainable options in their

everyday life. This sustainability week will not only encourage efforts such as recycling and

eating healthy, but will encourage sustainable transportation, social engagement, fiscal

responsibility, and more. Not only will students be reminded of recycling and eating healthy,

they will also be exposed to the other aspects of sustainability which may be less practiced. As a

result, the OOSP is then able to begin teaching students that sustainability is not only related to

environmental consciousness.


Tactics

Tactics serve as means of communication that will serve to the completion of the

suggested strategies and objectives of the public relations campaign. These tactics serve the

campaign plan a means to of which actually deliver the message to the targeted audience. These

practices are the underlying root of the campaign. Typically, if an issue arises where the OOSP

does not notice progress towards the desired objectives, the tactics are the reason as to why it is

not successful. Like the strategies stated, the following tactics will be presented respectively for

the objectives and strategies to which they serve. Considering there are two distinctly different

objectives with strategies that are even more different, the tactics would not prove effective if

issued all together.

Increasing recognition. The tactics chosen for the first objective strategies that follow

were selected in an effort to better communicate the Office of Sustainability Practices’ identity

and increase campus awareness for the organization with GVSU students. The tactics are listed

as the following:

Grand Valley will hold a campus-wide banquet for staff, faculty, students, alumni, and

donors. The Office of Sustainability Practices will co-sponsor the event with GVSU and

name the banquet, “A Sustainable You Living a Healthier Future.” Meal options will

very, however, only foods produces sustainably will be served to guest. To lessen the

cost, community businesses and GV supporters will be encouraged to “buy” an exclusive

table for their friends, family, and guest. President Thomas Haas and Executive Director

for the OOSP will be presented as the speakers for the banquet. The presentation topic

will be the importance of sustainability as well as to highlight the efforts that the Office

of Sustainability Practices has taken to help Grand Valley excel in its mission of


sustainable future. President Haas will conclude his presentation announcing the

upcoming sustainability events titling the campaign, “GVSU Lives Sustainably.”

In order to promote the upcoming banquet, Grand Valley and the OOSP will issue a news

release to the Lanthorn and local newspapers. Accompanied with the news release will be

a media alert for the banquet as well as a media packet. The media packet will include;

features of the banquet and upcoming sustainability events, a fact sheet regarding

sustainability and the partnership between the OOSP and GVSU, campus accolades for

its partnered efforts, pictures of Leed’s awarded buildings, and lastly contact information

for the OOSP.

Lastly, Grand Valley and the Office of Sustainability Practices will take to social media

and the Internet to help promote the event. Both parties will link the news report to their

accounts via Facebook post and tweets on Twitter. Furthermore, both accounts will post a

countdown highlighting Grand Valley’s awards for sustainability as well as hold a social

media competition awarding a free ticket to the banquet. Lastly, Grand Valley will

change its homepage banner image to a creative promoting the event and the Office of

Sustainability Practices.

Each tactic corresponds closely together in an effort to heighten anticipation for the “A

Sustainable You Living a Healthier Future Banquet.” It is important that the OOSP closely

relates itself with Grand Valley throughout the duration of the time leading up to the event.

Students and the GVSU community will see the partnership between the two parties: in turn,

they will begin to correlate the OOSP as an organization of significant importance to the mission

of Grand Valley.


Understanding sustainability. The “A Sustainable You Living a Healthier Future

Banquet,” will lay the precedence for the tactics that accompany the second objective and

likewise strategies. President Haas and the Office of Sustainability Practices will announce the

upcoming “Sustainability Awareness Week” campaign at the banquet. The awareness week will

teach students what it means to live a sustainable lifestyle through interactive forms of

promotional tactics, of which include:

The “Sustainability Awareness Week” will be established during Grand Valley’s

welcome week in an effort to encourage students to learn new sustainable techniques. It

is hoped that students will embrace the new sustainable lifestyle and continue to practice

what they have learned throughout the year. During the awareness week, students will be

given a wider selection of sustainably produced foods to eat at campus dining locations.

Not only are students offered the opportunity to live a healthier life by eating

sustainably; they will also be supporting local agriculture produces as well. The OOSP

will also encourage students to practice alternative transportation and carpool to and

from campus for older students. A local bicycle shop will be asked to become a sponsor

for the event on campus during the week to help students repair their old bikes or

purchase a new one for an affordable price. In addition, professors will be encouraged to

give their students access to electronic textbooks for their courses in an effort to

conserve paper and aid students in living a fiscally sustainable life. Throughout the

week, Grand Valley business professors will give presentations regarding fiscal

responsibility to teach students financial sustainability. Lastly, the Office of

Sustainability Practices will partner with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This

partnership will strive in an effort to engage students with their community through


service events as well as bring speakers of different heritages and cultures to present at

GVSU during the week. These presentations should be activities that get students

involved, not just being lectured to.

Furthermore, the Office of Sustainability Practices will engage with the incoming

freshman students of GVSU. During freshman transitions, a student representative from

the OOSP will present explaining sustainability, what it means to Grand Valley, the

community, and how to live a sustainable lifestyle. It is important that the speaker is

another student of GVSU, in doing so they will not feel the presentation as a “lecture”

and be more likely to accept the message that is being delivered. During this

presentation, students will be made aware of the Sustainability Awareness Week and

encouraged to participate in the events that are being held.

Lastly, Grand Valley and the Office of Sustainability Practices will partake in a

simultaneous social media and Internet form of promotion. Both respective parties will

encourage students to partake in the Sustainability Awareness Week by coordinating a

hash-tag giveaway. Students will be asked to tweet or post a picture of them practicing

sustainability on Grand Valley’s campus. The post must be accompanied with

#SustainabilityWeek within their post while tagging Grand Valley and the OOSP. A

random participant will be selected and given a bicycle from the above mention sponsor.

Smaller prizes such as t-shirts will also be given away to students each day throughout

the week. Furthermore, the Grand Valley homepage will change its banner image to how

the university defines sustainability accompanied with artwork. A photo stream and

hashtag live feed will run also be running on the home page at the same time.


These forms of tactics ask students to become involved with learning sustainability. The

sustainability week takes students from their standard lecture style of learning and lets them

participate in events, which are more engaging and fun. Ultimately, those that participate

become actively involved as to what it means to live a sustainable lifestyle, achieving a better

understanding and will more likely demonstrate such practices in their every day life.

Correlation of tactics. It is essential for the Office of Sustainability Practices to promote

the organization’s name throughout the entire duration of the campaign. In example, banners for

the OOSP may be seen at recycling stations, the bike sponsor shops, banquet, and all events that

are being demonstrated. Students must come to understand that the Office of Sustainability is

providing means to students a way to practice a sustainable lifestyle. The Grand Valley

community will ultimately become more familiar with the organization and its efforts by

consistently seeing its name at all events provided. Through constant effort, students and the

community will see that the Office of Sustainability Practices is a leading organization on

campus; its efforts provide students a means to live a healthier and more prosperous life.

Overall, the Grand Valley community will begin to grow even greater as a leader in practicing

sustainability.

Although the above-mentioned tactics adhere to separate strategies and objectives, the

two different forms of practice coincide together. Without one objective and the strategies and

tactics that fall respectively to it, the other objective will not be seen as effective. It is important

that the OOSP executes both objectives and the strategies and tactics thereof. To illustrate this

matter; consider that without a brand identity, students will not have a means to learn what it

means to be sustainable. Correspondingly, if students do not understand sustainability, they will


not seek to live a sustainable lifestyle and continued lack of awareness for the Office of

Sustainability will exist.

Timetable

Timing for the execution of each tactic is essential in order to allow the campaign to build

off each step. With the completion of each tactic, anticipation slowly builds greater and greater

for the campaign. Firstly, the date for the A Sustainable You Living a Healthier Future Banquet

must be set. Given that the sustainability week will occur during the welcome week of the new

academic year, the banquet must be prior to this. Acknowledging that a majority of the students

go home for the summer, the banquet should be set during the winter semester; however,

planning the banquet too early in the semester may cause anticipation to die out. Accordingly,

the banquet will be set in the last month of the semester before summer. Two weeks prior to the

banquet, a news release will be sent out to local and campus newspapers.

Evaluation

Evaluation of the action plan is significant for the Office of Sustainability to determine

the overall success of the campaign. Each objective, strategy, and tactic has its own means of

evaluation. Assessment for each individual segment varies; however, means of re-surveying the

student population and collaborating with more focus groups following the end of the campaign

will prove most cost effective. Timing of evaluation also varies; a brand identity will not notice

significant increase at the conclusion of the campaign plan. The Office of Sustainability Practices

must look both short term and long term when assessing the successfulness of this campaign. A

more detailed means of assessment will be provided in the evaluation section of this campaign

plan. In addition to this, this plan will also illustrate to the OOSP how exactly to seek this

evaluation.


(See Table 1 for Campaign Plan Budget)


Communication

The communication portion of this campaign plan will emphasize the tactics that are to

be carried out by the Office of Sustainability Practices. The three of which to be demonstrated in

this plan book will be in the forms of a news release, website takeover, and sustainability poster.

These three tactics provided demonstrate consistency adhering to the theme: GVSU Lives

Sustainably. The same style is kept throughout all three pieces and should be kept by all tactics

that would be further released by the OOSP. By correlating the theme of all tactics to be issued,

the campaign will keep consistency in order to not confuse the target audience of what

organization is releasing these communicational messages.

These forms of communicational media must also illustrate the key aspect of the message

that is being delivered, that is, promotion of the upcoming Sustainability Awareness Week.

Primary focus should resolve around the theme and title of the campaign: GVSU Lives

Sustainably. Second should follow the message being delivered, the Sustainability Awareness

Week. Information to follow varies depending what message is being communicated but it is

suggested to also illustrate the upcoming events, meaning of sustainability, as well as contact

information for the OOSP.

Again, it is of the upmost importance for the Office of Sustainability Practices to be sure

that all tactics being released deliver the organization’s name. The audience must know where

the message is coming from as to ensure constant reminder of the identity of the organization.

Furthermore, communicational methods should also coincide with Grand Valley to remind

students that the OOSP is in fact, an organization directly residing with the university. This will

assure the audience that what is being portrayed to them is in fact truthful, informative, and a

message of importance.


News Release

The first tactic given in this campaign plan is the news release that is to be issued to

media coverage organizations in the area of Grand Rapids, see Appendix E for News Release.

The news release will be the first media vehicle that will be delivered announcing the upcoming

A Sustainable You Living a Healthier Future Banquet. The banquet is to be the start of the

campaign, it has been issued to create immediate interest among the community and create

anticipation for the Sustainability Awareness Week. As a result, the news release will ensure that

local media covers the event. The Office of Sustainability should look into issuing the news

release to the Grand Valley Lanthorn and other Grand Rapids newspapers. It contains

information regarding the event, as well as to why the event is occurring. By having local media

cover the banquet, it will be assured that the event will create the initial spark of interest for the

rest of the campaign.

Sustainability Poster

The sustainability poster will be placed in heavy traffic buildings throughout Grand

Valley’s campuses, see Appendix F for Sustainability Poster. This media vehicle is to be released

following the announcement of the Sustainability Awareness Week at the banquet; it will

continue to stay throughout the remainder of the campaign until completion. The sustainability

poster will serve as a constant reminder to students of the upcoming Sustainability Awareness

Week. Furthermore, this form of communication will set the basis of which to follow for other

physical forms of media that the OOSP wishes to release. It is suggested that other forms of

physical promotions such as banners, flyers, signage, or any others are to be used to reinforce the

message of the posters. Event information that will take place throughout the Sustainability

Awareness Week may also be added to these forms of media.


Although the primary focus of this campaign will look to social media and the Internet as

a means to promote this campaign, physical copies are necessary to serve as a reminder of the

message that the OOSP wishes to deliver. Without any physical form of communication,

students may downplay the anticipation for the Sustainability Awareness Week and be less likely

to become involved. As a result, forms of communication, both physical and non-physical, must

work together to promote the entirety of the campaign plan. By the audience receiving the

message regarding the Sustainability Awareness Week in different forms of media vehicles, they

will remember what is being directed to them and ultimately, be more likely to participate.

Website Takeover

Lastly, the website takeover will serve as the means to communicate the Sustainability

Awareness Week over the Internet, see Appendix G for Website Takeover. Not only does the

Grand Valley homepage takeover reinforce the theme being delivered throughout the

communication segment, it also emphasizes the connection between Grand Valley and the Office

of Sustainability Practices. Within the website takeover, there will be a Twitter live feed, which

will stay updated with all the hashtags being posted by students. Furthermore, it will also have

the university’s definition of sustainability for all students to see. This webpage takeover is one

of the most influential forms of the communications within the campaign. All of the Grand

Valley community will see the webpage and comprehend the importance of the upcoming

Sustainability Awareness. It serves as the most direct, and influence form of communication that

will ultimately be centerpiece of all tactics that correlate with the campaign.


Evaluation

The final segment of this plan will focus on the evaluation of the successfulness of the

campaign. The Office of Sustainability Practices will not know if their promotional techniques

are achieving its objectives if they do not have a means to measure if the message is being

delivered and accepted. By assessing the campaign, the OOSP will be able to understand if their

objectives are being reached. Moreover, if the campaign objectives are not being reached,

assessment of the campaign will be able to determine as to why. Often times if the campaign is

not achieving the objectives, the problem relies in the strategies or tactics there of. However, the

Office of Sustainability must consider the time it takes to reach the campaign’s objectives.

Assessment of success for the campaign will most effectively be conducted through the

means of again surveying students and conducting focus groups. Surveys provide quantitative

data, which provides figures, to examine and focus groups provide more qualitative date

regarding the campaign. Furthermore, by surveying the student body and conducting further

focus groups, the OOSP will be able to evaluate the success of the campaign in a less financially

hindering than hiring an outside source of assessment.

Surveys conducted should pose students to answer similar questions that were asked in

the initial survey to see if they have an increased understanding of sustainability and

familiarization with the Office of Sustainability Practices. Furthermore, the survey should ask

questions regarding the campaign to determine if the students participated in the Sustainability

Awareness Week or even knew it was taking place. This data will reveal if increased

promotional techniques are necessary in order to achieve the objectives. Timing of the survey

should happen in two steps. The first survey should be conduced once following the conclusion

of the campaign, and again at the end of the year to determine of the message stuck with the


students. Information received from the data will allow the OOSP to know if the message of

sustainability was received by the student body and if the organization has increased its presence

on campus.

Focus groups will provide more qualitative data regarding the campaign itself. It is only

necessary to conduct the focus group once following the end of the campaign. The OOSP should

ask students to evaluate the practices provided throughout the duration of the plan. This

information will guide the Office of Sustainability Practices in determining what worked and

what didn’t work throughout the duration of the campaign. As a result, if the campaign proves

unsuccessful, the OOSP will be provided information as to while. Accordingly, if the campaign

proves to reach the objectives, this data will show what aspects of the campaign made it

achievable. Ultimately, the focus group provides a means to determine if tactics need to be

altered and what tactics proved most successful.


Table 1

Campaign Plan Budget


Appendix A

Secondary Research References

(following 1 page)


Environmental Protection Agency. (2014). Sustainability. What is sustainability, what the EPA is

doing, how can I help? Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm

Gamble, A. (2014, September 11) By the numbers: introducing the class of 2018. Grand Valley

Lanthorn. p. A1.

Grand Valley State University. (2009). Making it Happen: Applied Sustainability at GVSU.

Sustainable Community Development Initiative. Allendale, MI.

Jakobcic, J. (2014). Office of Sustainability Practices. Client write up. Allendale, MI. Lake

Ontario Hall. Office 211.

LandLearn NSW. (2014). Sustainability. What is sustainability? Retrieved from

http://www.landlearnnsw.org.au/sustainability/what-is-sustainability

Middlebury College office of Sustainability Integration. (2014). Sustainability. Recognitions &

awards. Retrieved from

http://www.middlebury.edu/sustainability/news-events/recognition

Middlebury College office of Sustainability Integration. (2014). Sustainability. Transportation

Office. Retrieved from http://www.middlebury.edu/sustainability/transportation

Office of Institutional Analysis. (2014, September 9). Grand Valley State University. Quick

facts: current. Retrieved from http://www.gvsu.edu/ia/quick-facts-current-49.htm

Office of Sustainability Practices. (2014, September 10). OOSP. About us. Retrieved from

http://www.gvsu.edu/sustainability/oosp-289.htm

Office of Sustainability Practices. (2010). Sustainability Guide. Grand Valley State University.

Allendale, MI.

Sustainable Duke. (20140). The Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative. Duke University. Retrieved from

http://sustainability.duke.edu/carbon_offsets/index.php

http://www.gvsu.edu/sustainability/oosp-289.htm

http://www.gvsu.edu/ia/quick-facts-current-49.htm

http://www.middlebury.edu/sustainability/transportation

http://www.middlebury.edu/sustainability/news-events/recognition

http://www.landlearnnsw.org.au/sustainability/what-is-sustainability

http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm


Appendix B

Moderator’s Guide

(following 3 pages)


Introduction

My name is _________________, and I will be your moderator today to guide the conversation.

The purpose of this discussion is to introduce sustainability, what it means, as well as programs

of which Grand Valley is currently practicing to promote sustainability.

This focus group is being conducted with the intent to gain valuable insight and will be used as

research for Grand Valley State University’s Introduction to Public Relations class. At no time

will your name be stated within our findings.

Please take a moment to look over the rules as well as your rights as a participant in this focus

group.

Ground Rules

Just a general reminder, this session will last for about an hour.

Also, please be sure to not talk over each other, everyone’s insight is respected so please refrain

from speaking over another.

Does anyone have any questions before proceed?

Personal Introduction

Please introduce yourself with your name, major, and class standing and just some background

information about yourself.

Take a few moments to get to know each other and discuss amongst your group about anything

you may want.

Open discussion for 3-5 minutes

Now, one thing I would like to ask everyone to discuss is what your views of sustainability are?

Open discussion for 3-5 minutes

Prior Knowledge of Sustainability


How often does everyone make an effort to recycle? Either on or off campus.

What do you think it means to live a sustainable life or lifestyle? Take this further and describe

how one may ideally live a fully sustainable life.

Would anyone consider him or herself as a fairly self-sustaining individual? Please elaborate on

this and share some of your habits of sustainability with the group.

Are there any programs you see at Grand Valley that promotes sustainability, if so please

discuss?

Do you think sustainability may cover multiple aspects of life? Ie) not only recycling

Client Specific

Has anyone heard of the Office of Sustainability Practices on campus and what its program

supports?

Does anyone recognize the Grand Valley Sustainability Initiative?

Collaborate as a group to determine three aspects of sustainability the Office of Sustainability

Practices strives to achieve.

As a group, please come up with a couple ideas that would encourage Grand Valley students to

take a more active role in support of sustainability.

Sustainability Promotion on Campus Specific

Please come up with a couple promotional campaigns you’ve seen on campus that encourage

sustainability. Do these promotions work in encouraging living sustainably?

-As a group, try and come up with a few more ideas that the Office of Sustainability Practices

could possibly use to reach students.

New Knowledge

Read Office of Sustainability Practices definition of sustainability


With this knowledge, do you think GVSU is doing all it can to promote sustainability? Are some

areas promoted stronger than others?

Please discuss some ideas on how GVSU could better promote their sustainability program.

Discuss sustainability practices at other campuses

Do you think any of these practices would be well received on the GVSU campus?

Can the group come up with any other practices that may receive positive recognition?

Conclusion

We are about to finalize our focus group today.

I am going to summarize a few key points of which we touched on today, feel free to agree or

disagree and tell me why.

Is there anything left that any members of the group would like to say before dismissing?

That is all, thank you for coming!


Appendix C

Survey

(following 2 pages)


1. On average, how often do you make an effort to recycle each week? (Whether it be on or off campus)a) 0 time per weekb) Once or twice a weekc) Three to five times a weekd) Six to ten times a weeke) I make an effort to always recycle

2. Do you agree with the following sentence? I consider myself as living a sustainable lifestyle.a) Strongly Agreeb) Agree c) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Unsure

3. Do you live in off-campus housing, on-campus housing, or commute?a) On-Campusb) Off-Campusc) Commuter

4. How familar are you with the Grand Valley Office of Sustainability Practices and what they do?a) Very familiarb) Slightly familarc) Not familar

5. Would the average Grand Valley student recgonize the Office of Sustainability Practices and what they do?a) Yesb) Noc) I have not heard of the Office of Sustainability Practices

6. If Grand Valley introduced new bike trails to and from off-campus apartments, would you consider using them? (1= not at all, 10= yes, 100%)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7. If Grand Valley introduced a new sustainability campaign that encouraged professors to utilize electronic textbooks, would you consider using them? (1= not at all, 10= yes, 100%)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8. If asked to explain what sustainability is to a group of your peers, would you feel confident that you are providing them with the right answer? (1= not at all, 10= yes, 100%)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9. Do you agree with the following setence?

I utilize the recycling bins in the campus dining facilities.a) Strongly Agreeb) Agree c) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Unsure


10. Based on your own personal opinion, please rank the following forms of advertising on what you feel would be most effective on GVSU’s campus. (Place a “1” next to the form that is most effective, a “2” next to the form that is next-most effective and so on)____ Social Media Advertising____ Banner/Flyer Advertising____ Internet Advertising____ Print Advertising ie) Lanthorn, 11. Are you a student at Grand Valley State University?

a) Yes, I am a full-time studentb) Yes, I am a part-time studentc) No, I am not a student

12. What is your current class standing?a) Freshmanb) Sophomorec) Juniord) Seniore) Other


Appendix D

Survey Invitation

We are conducting a survey regarding the Office of Sustainability Practices at Grand

Valley State University for CAP 220: Fundamentals of Public Relations. Please take the time to

fill out our questionnaire and return it. The survey consists of twelve questions and takes no

longer than ten minutes. All information received within the survey will remain confidential;

names or organization’s names will not be mentioned in our findings.

This survey is being conducted in order to gain more insight about the Office of

Sustainability Practices, and what students know about living a sustainable life. If you do not

wish to participate in the survey please let the survey conductor know and there will be no

repercussions. If you wish to skip a question because you feel that it is inappropriate or irrelevant

then you may do so. Thank you for your time and the information received today is extremely

valuable to our campaign.


Appendix E

News Release

For Immediate ReleaseNovember 18, 2014

Contact: Yumiko Jakobcic, Campus Sustainability Coordinator, (616) 331-8729

President of GVSU will host sustainability banquet

ALLENDALE, Mich. — The Office of Sustainability Practices of Grand Valley State University will host a community wide banquet to promote living a sustainable lifestyle. The Sustainable You Living a Healthier Future Banquet, will be hosted by Thomas Haas, GVSU’s president, in an effort to promote campus and community involvement to support sustainability.

The banquet will be held at the Devos Place in downtown Grand Rapids and will invite Grand Valley students, faculty, donors, alumni, and the rest of the local area to take part in a night of dinner and dancing. All meal options served will be produced sustainability and provided by local producers. The purpose of the event will be to promote GVSU’s new Sustainability Awareness Week that will take place the first week of the 2015-2016 academic year.

A Sustainable You Living a Healthier Future BanquetMarch 27, 20157 p.m.Devos Place – Grand Rapids, MI

Grand Valley saves 1.1 million dollars annually by supporting energy efficient and campus sustainability practices. The Office of Sustainability Practices and GVSU are working to further increase campus awareness regarding the importance of living a sustainable lifestyle. The university hopes its newly established Sustainability Awareness Week will encourage such practices in student’s everyday life.

Ticket prices for the event will vary; students will be given discounted prices. In an effort to maintain affordability, alumni and donor will be asked to purchase their own private table for family, guest, and friends.

For more information regarding the banquet, ticket prices, the Office of Sustainability Practices, and GVSU’s upcoming Sustainability Awareness Week, contact Yumiko Jakobcic at (616) 331-8729


Appendix F

Sustainability Poster

(following 1 page)


Appendix G

Website Takeover

(following 1 page)

plan body final

Documents

office of sustainable

gvsu lives

term sustainability

gvsu students

sustainable lifestyle

grand valley lanthorn

gvsu community

sustainability guide