Student Action: Sustainability Jobs, Campus Groups, Volunteer Opportunities

Job Openings

A sampling of jobs available through iSEE, the iCAP topical teams, and more …

2024-25 Illini Lights Out Intern (Apply by March 27, 2024)

This position leads the popular Illini Lights Out program led by the U of I’s Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE), with the potential to assist with other campus sustainability programming as needed. This position will report to the Campus Sustainability Programs Coordinator. Interns are expected to work 4-8 hours per week throughout the 2024-2025 school year, with training occurring at the end of the Spring 2024 semester (April-May). Wage is $14/hour. More details: https://secure.osfa.illinois.edu/vjb/detail.aspx?type=nonfws&postid=46980

Responsibilities:

  • Plan and lead Illini Lights Out events on approximately 5 Friday evenings throughout the semester
  • Communicate with volunteers before, during, and after events
  • Tally light audit data and find energy use and emissions data
  • Work with communications team and Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) to promote events
  • Develop, plan, and/or lead other campus sustainability programming (as needed)

Qualifications:

  • Ability to complete tasks in a timely, courteous, and efficient manner with only moderate supervision
  • Strong skills in written and verbal communication
  • Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with campus stakeholders (students, faculty, and staff)
  • Highly organized and a self-starter
  • Passion for sustainability and environmental stewardship
  • Undergraduate student during the 2024-25 school year

Apply:

  • Deadline Wednesday, March 27, 2024

  • Please send a resume, cover letter expressing your interest and qualifications, and any questions about the position to Sustainability Programs Coordinator Miriam Keep at keep2@illinois.edu.

Student Groups

We want to engage talented, passionate people to discuss, work together, and help solve challenges in sustainability, energy, and environment on campus. No matter your area of study, you have lots of opportunities to get involved in the campus sustainability sphere.

Directory of Student Organizations

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is home to more than 40,000 undergraduate students, many of whom are passionate about sustainability — as demonstrated by the numerous groups whose work revolves around sustaining our planet. Click through the categories below to discover a group that matches your interests.

Don’t see your group on the list? We want to know! Please email us at sustainability@illinois.edu with information about your organization.

Buildings, Cities, and Communities
Business and Law
Professional Development
Sustainable Agriculture, Food, Landscapes

Student Sustainability Leadership Council

The Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC) is iSEE’s finger on the pulse of student-led initiatives in sustainability. SSLC — made up of the leaders from numerous campus student organizations focused on sustainability and environment — is a place for student leaders to interact and collaborate. It is also the bridge between iSEE and the student body, serving as a two-way conduit of information and concerns about campus sustainability issues.

Our students want a voice in the decisions being made about how their campus reduces its environmental footprint. In the long run, the SSLC will foster deep collaboration between campus leadership and the student body.

SSLC has its own listserv, distributing information and opportunities quickly to students interested in sustainability. Student organizations also can market upcoming events and recruit volunteers for initiatives. Faculty and staff can offer opportunities to students as well. By improving communication between the different student organizations, SSLC extends its impact and ability to help campus reach its sustainability goals.

Participating SSLC organizations include Illinois Solar Decathlon; Eco-Olympics; ActGreen; Students for Environmental Concerns; the Student Sustainability Committee; Red Bison; the Sustainability Living-Learning Community; the Illinois Biodiesel Initiative; the Illinois Student Government Committee on Environmental Sustainability; Alpha Phi Omega; the Green Observer; and Beyond Coal.

You can follow SSLC on social media on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

 

Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

At Illinois, each student pays $14 in sustainability fees each semester, which translates into a pool of more than $1 million per year that is allocated annually to sustainable projects on campus. You could help decide how this money is used next! The fund is administered by the Student Sustainability Committee, 12 students appointed on a yearly basis and advised by faculty and staff members. Students can also be a part of the SSC’s working groups, which review the projects in depth.

The SSC website >>>

Volunteering

Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) Topical Teams

Seven topical sustainability teams examine broad themes of campus sustainability within the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) and recommend concrete steps the campus should take to meet its iCAP targets. Each year, iSEE seeks students to serve as team members (volunteers) or clerks (paid interns) for one-year terms beginning in the fall semester — though occasionally spots open midyear.

Learn more or volunteer: Email iSEE >>>

Illini Lights Out

Once a month during the school year, students gather on a Friday night to turn off lights in campus buildings for the weekend. In 2016-17, students turned off more than 11,000 lights, saving more than $3,000 in energy costs, and keeping several hundred tons of greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere.

Find the next event >>>

Dump & Run Sale

Volunteer with the community’s largest waste-diversion event of the year! Each year, more than six semi-trailers worth of furniture, clothing, and home goods are collected from Illinois students and Chambana residents and sold at the sale to support the programs of the University YMCA. Why not share our surplus, rather than trash it?

Get more info >>>

Sustainable Student Farm

The Sustainable Student Farm is a production farm that supplies our residence halls with locally grown, low-input sustainable food and provides practical, hands on experience in small-scale sustainable agriculture. Volunteers are needed throughout the year as they are involved in all aspects of production cycles, including: seed-starting, transplanting, cultivation, high tunnel work, and harvesting.

Visit the Farm website >>>

Campus Bike Center

The Campus Bike Center encourages people to ride bicycles, repair the bikes themselves with up-cycled parts, and provide low-cost bicycles to the community — creating an immediate impact by turning waste into emission free transportation. Volunteering at the Center means either getting your hands dirty working on bikes or meeting new people as register workers/greeters or a mix of both.

Info on volunteering at the Center >>>

Office of Volunteer Programs

The Office of Volunteer Programs (OVP) promotes service by encouraging students to donate their time and volunteer for the university and local communities. OVP pairs students with opportunities where they gain invaluable experience through public engagement.

Find a project or join the mailing list >>>

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