Eastern Iowa Community College District
PAE-4: Sustainability Plan

The EICCD Sustainability Initiative was organized in the Fall of 2007 following our institution's signing of the ACUPCC. An open retreat on the topic of how EICCD could command a leadership role in and contribute to sustaianbility efforts was held for all interested EICCD faculty, staff and students. Based on the outcome of this retreat, District-wide teams were formed to address the identified priority issues and to develop and implement sustainability-related goals and projects through the strategic planning process. The teams were charged with developing action plans relating to Business Practices, Community Leadership, Curriculum, Measurement & Celebration, New & Existing Facilities, and Recycling. The resulting plans conatin bother short-term and long-term goals and actions and continue to evolve as projects are completed and new priorities emerge.

The EICCD Sustainability Plan contains both Immediate Steps and Long Term Action Projects for each team within the Sustainabiilty Initiative (Business Practices, Community Leadership, Curriculum, Facilities, Measurement & Celebration, and Recycling). Each Step or Action Project includes a Description, Measurement Criteria, and Status. The entire plan can be accessed at the institutional website provided below. Examples of measurable goals include: Action Project: Purchase Energy Star Products Measurement Criteria: Percentage of products purchased that are Energy Star Status: it is now policy to purchase Energy Star Products when available Action Project: Develop faculty and staff educational training on sustainability to be deliverd in person and on-line Measurement Crieteria: number of faculty and staff participating in the training Status: in process - Staff Development Day 2009 theme of Sustainability; on-line professional development course currently under development Action Project: Annually publish the District GHG Emissions Inventory for internal and external audiences Measurement Criteria: publication Status: Completed for FY2008, FY2010

The EICCD Sustainability Plan contains Measurement Criterion for each Action Project contained in the plan. The measurement may be as simple as "completed" or may require measurement of the number of participants in a sustainability event, a comparison of dollars spent on recycled content paper from current and past years, or creation of a prioritized list of utiity saving measures for each District campus. The plan is reviewed and updated annually; the most recent update occurred in October 2010. The EICCD Sustainability Initiative Team Leaders provide data and the plan is revised by Team Measurement & Celebration. New Action Projects may also be added at any time during the year.