Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 74.09
Liaison Merry Rankin
Submission Date Aug. 30, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Iowa State University
EN-9: Staff Professional Development

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Merry Rankin
ISU Director of Sustainability
Facilities Planning & Management
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution make available professional development and training opportunities in sustainability to all staff at least once per year?:
Yes

Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (the rate of employee participation in sustainability professional development and training)?:
Yes

Estimated percentage of regular staff (full-time and part-time) that participates annually in sustainability professional development and training that is either provided or supported by the institution (0, 1-24%, 25-49%, 50-74%, 75% or more):
75% or more

A brief description of any internal sustainability professional development and training opportunities that the institution makes available to staff:

Procurement Process Certification Training
High volume p-card users are required to attend “Procurement Process Certification Training” which is an 8 hour course on the procurement process. The training is open to any university employee.

The ISU Purchasing Department delegates purchasing authority to departments, which, in turn, select their employees to make purchases on the departments’ behalf. Employees with this authority are recommended to take this training before spending departmental funds.

The Procurement Process Certification Training includes a session on green procurement. This covers Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Guidelines, reducing unnecessary waste, purchasing recycled content products, and ways that energy and water savings can be realized through purchasing. In addition, educators learn how to minimize the use of toxins and the generation of pollution by purchasing degradable products, and how to use environmentally preferable paper and wood products. Educators are also taught about various key terms in green procurement, including Energy Star products, life cycle analysis, post-consumer content, and recyclable versus reusable products. After the training, employees can share this knowledge with other coworkers who can purchase within their respective departments.

The program is sponsored by the Iowa State University Purchasing department, which provides staff for the training. Training materials are also given to the educators on the Purchasing department's behalf.

The Spark
The Spark is a weekly email series provided by the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs that serves as ongoing training for Iowa State University faculty and staff on working with multicultural students. Participants read anecdotes from multicultural students about their experience at ISU, relevant operations and academic data, as well as tips and guidance for strengthening multicultural competence and skills in building an inclusive campus environment. Participants are encouraged to create/join faculty/staff discussion groups regarding The Spark findings. Participants were also invited to a workshop led by Multicultural Student Affairs staff in order to detail first-year findings, and strategize future initiatives.
https://www.multicultural.dso.iastate.edu/facstaff/spark

Learn@ISU
Learn@ISU serves as an online hub for professional development courses available to ISU staff. The website offers several modules and courses from a variety of departments covering all three facets of sustainability, including: risk management, environmental health and safety, health and wellness, recycling and waste management, personal finance, leadership, energy conservation, and ethics.
www.learn.iastate.edu


A brief description of any external professional development and training opportunities in sustainability that are supported by the institution(e.g. through payment, reimbursement, or subsidy):

Iowa State proudly supported staff and faculty attendance at several external sustainability professional development opportunities during the 2018-2019 year, including:

The Big 12 Directors & Housing Operations Conference
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
The Association of College & University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I) Annual Conference
The APPA and ACUHO-I Facilities Conference
The United States Green Building Council IMPACT Conference
The Big Ten and Friends Parking and Transportation Conference
The Iowa Recycling and Solid Waste Management Conference


Estimated percentage of regular staff (full-time and part-time) for which sustainability is included in performance reviews (0, 1-24%, 25-49%, 50-74%, 75% or more) :
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.