The University of Georgia Costa Rica 2014-2015 Sustainability Report UGA Costa Rica 2014 - 2015 Sustainability Report | Page 28

Education and Training
GOAL: By 2011, develop and implement a
sustainability training program for the UGA
Costa Rica campus staff.
Campus General Manager Fabricio Camacho leads the
employee sustainability training program by example.
Fabricio, who has a degree in Forestry and Natural
Resource Management and a degree in Environmental
Leadership and Management, has been General
Manager since 2005. Since then, he has developed a
comprehensive method of training employees in the art
of sustainability. In order to stay up to date on local and
national sustainability issues, Fabricio regularly attends
conferences and workshops at institutions such as
EARTH University and University of Costa Rica.
Each staff member on campus undergoes the
sustainability training program. Quarterly staff
meetings provide updates on new initiatives on
campus and reminders of ongoing policies regarding
water and energy consumption, equipment and waste
management, and the protection of biodiversity.
Furthermore, all staff members are encouraged to devise
their own sustainability related initiatives and projects,
providing an added sense of accountability amongst
the employees. An additional benefit of this is that
these ideas often spill over into the local community,
magnifying the impact of the campus training program.
The housekeeping, cooking, and maintenance
departments can all promote sustainability in different
ways, and need to be trained accordingly, with the
head of each department receiving specific training. For
example, the housekeeping department air dries sheets
instead of using a drying machine. The maintenance
department always attempts to reuse materials. The
cooking department takes a detailed approach to
cooking an appropriate amount of food based on the
number of individuals at a meal.

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UGA Costa Rica offers courses
representing 36 different disciplines
within the University of Georgia.

University of Georgia Costa Rica

GOAL: Develop talks, activities, and written
materials and make these accessible to
diverse audiences to teach about UGA Costa
Rica sustainability initiatives, challenges, and
opportunities for involvement
Information about the sustainability efforts on
campus is disseminated in a number of ways. Each
sustainability report is made available through the
UGA Costa Rica website, in addition to distributing
printed copies. Created in 2010, the UGACR blog,
www.ugacostarica.wordpress.com, includes a wide
variety of posts and educational videos incorporating
activities both on and around campus. Guests are
educated about campus sustainability initiatives
during orientation. Dr. Quint Newcomer, UGA Costa
Rica Director, regularly presents talks about campus
initiatives at conferences and serves as a guest lecturer
for both graduate and undergraduate courses, in
addition to other public forums. Additionally, every
student group and guest has the opportunity to
participate in a sustainability tour of the campus.
As an institution of higher education, UGA Costa
Rica’s primary focus is to provide students with an
enriching learning environment. UGA education
abroad programs are offered during the fall, spring,
Maymester, and summer sessions. The campus is
open to external programs as well. In the past two
years, students and faculty from institutions including
Belmont University, Hendrix College, Kyushu University
in Japan, Lynchburg College, Oregon State University,
Rivier University, in addition to Costa Rican schools,
have spent time at the UGA Costa Rica campus as part
of their own study abroad programs. Recently, UGA
Costa Rica began an initiative to develop programs
with colleges and universities in the University System
of Georgia as well as public and private middle and
high schools across the state of Georgia.

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Each year, over 270 students, faculty and
teaching assistants participate in UGACR
study abroad programs.