Program Coordinator II or III (Sustainability)

Utah State University•Logan, UT

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Incumbents in the Sustainability Program Coordinator (Program Coordinator III) provides strategic leadership, institutional oversight, and specialized environmental expertise for university-wide sustainability commitments, facilities planning, and cross-department operations. The responsibilities largely fall in three categories: Provide expertise in environmental sustainability best practices, helping to implement sustainable solutions for University Operations. Lead the Sustainability Council, to unite USU-wide sustainability efforts, commitments, and initiatives. Oversee updates to the USU Sustainability Plan, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) reporting, and yearly greenhouse gas emission reporting.

Requirements

Program Coordinator II (Salary Grade G): Requires a Bachelor’s degree plus 2 years of relevant experience [or a total equivalent of 6 years of education/experience]. This role focuses on day-to-day operational coordination, baseline data gathering, and functional program implementation. The incumbent will facilitate the Council (logistics/scheduling), track expenditures, handle digital communications, and assign daily tasks to interns. Familiarity with the systems will allow them to learn and scale into the technical details on the job under guidance.
Program Coordinator III (Salary Grade H): Requires a Bachelor’s degree plus 2 years of relevant experience [or a total equivalent of 6 years of education/experience]. This tier is distinguished by its focus on long-term strategy, master planning, and institutional compliance. The candidate must arrive as a principal expert with complete knowledge of reporting frameworks to chair the Council, consult on new facilities master plans, maintain complete oversight of the budget, write grant proposals, and take ultimate ownership of final products like the STARS submission.
Knowledge of principles and practices related to environmental sustainability, decarbonization planning, and the sustainable built environment.
Knowledge of research, high-level data collection, and information gathering methods and procedures.
Knowledge of grant development, implementation, budgeting, fiscal control, and compliance reporting.
Ability to make administrative/procedural decisions and judgments regarding university-wide sustainability initiatives.
Ability to coordinate and organize high-profile meetings, annual awards events, and special presentation forums.
Skilled in organizing resources, establishing priorities, and managing a $60,000 programmatic budget.
Skilled at comprehensive records maintenance and complex data synthesis.
Ability to lead, train, and professionally mentor student staff.
Ability to interact professionally with executive administration, faculty, staff, and students in a collaborative, team-focused environment.
Knowledge of communication principles, media, digital marketing, and website content management.
Ability to gather and analyze complex statistical data (including greenhouse gas inventories) and generate technical reports.
Ability to exercise a high level of creativity, decision-making, problem-solving, and discretion as institutional work is varied and often undefined.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., sustainability, environmental science, design, planning, or related discipline); or an equivalent combination of education plus experience is required.
5 or more years work-related experience.
Sustainable certifications: LEED, WELL, Living Building Challenge, etc.
Knowledge of GHG inventory and STARS reporting frameworks
Sustainable systems / sustainable built environment planning and design
Sustainable infrastructure systems (energy, water, transportation)
Decarbonization planning
Greenhouse gas data collection, reporting, and analysis
GIS and spatial analysis
Marketing and/or graphic design coursework

Responsibilities

Collaborates directly within Facilities Planning, Design, and Construction to strategically advance institutional sustainability goals for new master plans, infrastructure improvements, landscape design, building remodels, and new capital construction projects.
Serves as the university’s principal technical expert on sustainable building systems, ensuring all new construction projects strictly comply with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and the State of Utah’s High Performance Building requirements.
Partners with and leads diverse Facilities operations teams (including transportation, waste/recycling, landscape, and energy); chairs regular coordination meetings to exchange technical information, eliminate operational obstacles, and implement system-wide sustainability initiatives.
Serves as the Chair or co-Chair for the University Sustainability Council and actively leads one or more strategic sub-committees to unify faculty, staff, and students across all colleges and departments.
Directs and facilitates specialized outreach to USU Regional Campuses to foster system-wide sustainability alignment; provides coordination, resource sharing, and strategic guidance to local sustainability advocates and student-led initiatives.
Manages, analyzes data for, and finalizes major university compliance reporting, including the triennial AASHE STARS reporting, the 3-year USU Sustainability Plan updates, the triennial Bike Friendly University designation, and the annual Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions report and executive presentations.
Oversees the strategic messaging, development, and delivery of sustainability content across the Sustainability website, Facilities website, newsletters, and university social media channels to ensure cohesive communication with the broader campus community.
Maximizes funding capabilities by actively seeking out, writing, and submitting internal and external grant proposals; maintains complete oversight of the annual sustainability budget (~$60,000) and directs the administrative routing of the Carbon Offset Fund grant program.
Recruits, hires, trains, and supervises 2–4 student interns; manages intern payroll processing and provides direct professional mentorship to support ongoing sustainability initiatives.
Oversees major university-wide awareness campaigns, orientation presentations for incoming students and new employees, and logistical execution for institutional events, including the annual Sustainability Awards and tabling at Connections, Day on the Quad, and Employee Appreciation Day.
Serves as an official USU representative at annual national (AASHE), state, and local conferences; identifies professional benchmarks against peer institution programs to supplement internal knowledge and improve USU initiatives.
Seeks out presentation and publication opportunities with AASHE and other industry associations; accepts teaching or guest lecturing assignments for sustainability-related subjects, including managing a 1-to-2 credit academic course assignment.
Performs miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned.