Join the Council
Applications for at-large members for the 2024-2025 academic year were due on March 17, 2024. See below for more information on how to apply in the future.
The SSC is composed of at-large seats and seats filled by representatives from participating student organizations. There are two ways to become a voting member of the Student Sustainability Council: at-large and as an organizational representative. Elections are held each semester for at-large seats the following semester or year. Organizations are accepted each Spring. Find more about the application process for both below, and keep an eye out on social media (@ukyssc) for live updates on elections!
- At-Large Seats
- Apply to be an at-large member. Please send a resume and cover letter as separate PDFs titled "yourlastname.resume and yourlastname.coverletter" to UKStudentSustainabilityCouncil@gmail.com with the subject "SSC At Large Application". Your resume should succinctly outline your education, service, and work background and include awards and recognition. Your cover letter should detail your interest and experience regarding sustainability and clearly explain why you are interested in an at-large seat on the Council.
- Student Organization Representative
- Represent your student organization on the council. In an effort to promote broad and diverse participation in the distribution of the environmental stewardship fee, the SSC includes seats dedicated to representatives from registered student organizations. Each spring groups that would like to have a seat on the council can apply. Download the application.
About the Student Sustainability Council
The initiative to create an environmental stewardship fee, or ‘green fee’, at the University of Kentucky began in the spring of 2004 at the Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference, held jointly by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Duke University and North Carolina State University. Drawing on the work already done by students at other state universities around the southeastern US, members of the UK Greenthumb Environmental Club borrowed their model in the hopes of making the University of Kentucky campus more sustainable.
Student Government elections in 2006 featured a ballot initiative asking students if they would be willing to pay a $6-8 per semester fee in order to support the development of renewable energy on campus. The referendum passed with approximately 67% of the vote. After failing to be included in the revised student fees package for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 academic years, the green fee was re-introduced to the Board of Trustees by President Lee Todd, Provost Kumble Subbaswamy and Vice President of Facilities Bob Wiseman in February 2009. Beginning in the fall of 2009, full-time students were charged $0.75 per semester in order to promote not just renewable energy, but a variety of short and long-term sustainability projects around campus. The fee was increased to $1.50 per semester in the fall of 2010, $3 per semester in the fall of 2011 and $3.50 per semester in the fall of 2014.
In order to mimic the governance structures of other student-run organizations receiving fees, the Student Sustainability Council was established in order to represent a diverse cross-section of the university’s student population in governing the fee. The money generated by the student fee goes to a number of initiatives, including the ongoing Sustainability Lecture Series, as well as internships designed to give students hands-on learning opportunities while making the campus more sustainable, as well as various other campus initiatives in need of funding.
You can learn more about the council by reviewing the SSC Constitution.
