Student Action: Sustainability Jobs, Campus Groups, Volunteer Opportunities
Job Openings
A sampling of jobs available through iSEE, the iCAP topical teams, and more …
Facilities & Services Sustainability Intern (Apply by Jan. 4, 2025)
Facilities & Services is seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented undergraduate student intern to support the Associate Director of F&S for Sustainability with implementation of the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP). This includes iCAP initiatives, iCAP Portal management, LEED project documentation, Certified Green Office Program processing, and more. Responsibilities include tracking projects, compiling report information, arranging meetings/taking meeting notes, posting information online, and other duties as assigned.
The intention is to hire one additional undergraduate student to work 10-15 hours per week this spring, and similarly in future academic semesters. The successful candidate needs to be detail oriented and self-motivated. Start date will be concurrent with the start of the spring 2025 semester. Pay rate is $15/hour.
Interested applicants should send 1) resume, 2) statement of interest, and 3) spring semester availability (hourly schedule of potential work hours) to mbwhite@illinois.edu. Please submit applications via email by Jan. 4, 2025. Interviews will be scheduled to occur online during the week of Jan. 13 to Jan. 17, 2025.
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.
Campus Sustainability Menu
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
- Illinois Solar Decathlon
- Planners Network at UIUC — urban planning for just communities
- US Green Building Council Illinois student chapter
- ECO-MMUNITY — greener lifestyles in University Housing
- VermiCUlture — providing free vermicomposting kits to students, faculty, staff, and communities
- Eco-Olympics — energy and water reduction dorm competition
Business and Law
- ActGreen
- Business in Environmental Responsibility (BER)
- Energy & Environment Law Society
- Students for Environmental Concerns — sustainable businesses project group
- Illinois Enactus — International Social Entrepreneurship Organization
Eco Cars and Transportation
- Eco Illini Supermileage Car
- Illini Algae Group — green fuels
- Illini EV Concept — hydrogen fuel cell car
- Illini Solar Car
- Illinois Biodiesel Initiative (see iSEE’s IBI feature)
- Student Sustainability Committee
Energy
- Eco-Olympics — energy and water reduction dorm competition
- Energy & Environment Law Society
- Illini Algae Group
- Illinois Biodiesel Initiative (see iSEE’s IBI feature)
- Illinois Solar Decathlon
- Institute for Solar Photovoltaic Innovation, Research, and Edu-training (InSPIRE)
- Students for Environmental Concerns — Beyond Coal Campaign project group
- Student Sustainability Committee
Engineering
- Engineers Without Borders
- Illini Solar Car
- Illinois Solar Decathlon
- Institute for Solar Photovoltaic Innovation, Research, and Edu-training (InSPIRE)
- International Water Resources Association (IWRA) & the International Association of Hydro-environment Engineering and Research (IAHR)
Natural Resources
- Beekeepers Club — helping establish and maintain pollinators (feature story here)
- Illini Foresters
- American Fisheries Society UIUC chapter
- Red Bison
- Wildlife Society, Illinois student chapter
Professional Development
- ActGreen — sustainable business
- Energy & Environment Law Society
- U.S. Green Building Council Students — Illinois student chapter
- Planners Network at UIUC — urban planning for just communities
- Student Sustainability Committee
- Student Sustainability Leadership Council (more info on this page, keep scrolling!)
- The Green Observer Magazine
Sustainable Agriculture, Food, Landscapes
- Beekeepers Club — helping establish and maintain pollinators (feature story here)
- VermiCUlture — providing free vermicomposting kits to students, faculty, staff, and communities
- Red Bison — prairie restoration
- Students for Environmental Concerns — sustainable landscapes and food project group
- Student Sustainable Farm — volunteer opportunities
- Planners Network UIUC — urban planning for just communities
- Project for Less — cutting dining hall food waste
- Student Sustainability Committee
Volunteering
- Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity (open to all genders)
- Brands Give Back
- Engineers Without Borders
- Illini Lights Out
- Red Bison
- Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS) — Earth Week and Education project groups
- Student Sustainable Farm
Water
- American Fisheries Society UIUC chapter
- Eco-Olympics — energy and water reduction dorm competition
- International Water Resources Association (IWRA) & International Association of Hydro-environment Engineering and Research (IAHR)
- Student Sustainability Committee
- Water Environment Federation – American Water Works Association (WEF-AWWA) student chapter
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.