Agnes Scott College
EN-3: Staff Engagement and Training

The ASC Green Team focuses on campus sustainability through directed projects, awareness campaigns and peer-to-peer education. This committee is open to faculty, staff and students and was established in 2008. The Green Team has consistently had interest in waste diversion, campus engagement and education. Their efforts led to the Center for Sustainability producing a campus-wide Zero Waste Strategic Plan (ZWSP) that included focus group feedback from campus divisions, guidance from ASC Cabinet members, and framework building from the ASC Green Team. The ZWSP includes recommendations of next steps for the campus to prioritize equitable and just waste reduction and diversion efforts that the Green Team will play a large role in supporting and implementing.

Agnes Scott has at least one staff network and engagement program focused on a topic other than sustainability that is advancing racial equity and social justice. The Gay Johnson McDougall Center for Global Diversity and Inclusion coordinates heritage/history month festivities from September to May. These festivities celebrate our rich campus diversity. The Center intentionally puts out a call for planning committee members, including staff members, to inform and organize art exhibits, literature events, guest speakers, theater performances, film screenings and hot-topic workshops. 

https://www.agnesscott.edu/center-for-diversity-and-inclusion/programming/history-month-celebrations.html

Agnes Scott makes available sustainability-focused training opportunities to non-academic employees on an annual basis. The college’s annual Women’s Global Leadership Conference is an encouraged opportunity for staff members to engage in on-campus professional development through the lens of sustainability and environmental justice. The topics covered in the three years of this STARS submission include Fall 2021 - Building a Better World: Women and Climate Justice, Fall 2022 - Leading Inclusively: Transformative Change Across the Globe, and Fall 2023 - Visibility, Social Mobility, Success. Each conference included aspects of climate action, justice and sustainability as key themes, questions, concepts and actionable items. 

https://conferences.agnesscott.org/

Based on the active employee participation and the peer-to-peer exchanges at the departmental level, we estimate a total of 62.8% employee participation in the institution’s sustainability activities. The college’s Green Team, Arboretum Advisory Committee, Green Revolving Fund and Climate Resilience Plan Task Force have representatives from the majority of the institution’s departments. Through formal and informal peer-to-peer engagement, our employees are well-versed and knowledgeable of the college’s climate action, justice and sustainability initiatives and commitments.