Oregon State University
EN-9: Staff Professional Development

Campus Recycling offers training to OSU faculty and staff several times each year, and by request. The most significant training event is Training Days, a two-day-long set of workshop sessions that deal with a variety of university issues. Past sustainability-related sessions have included 1) Greening Your Events: Practical tips and samples; 2) Sustainability for Campus Communicators Additional training opportunities are often made available during OSU's annual Earth Week celebration in April. Several times each year, the Sustainability Office provides department-specific trainings and/or orientations for employees, typically working with the requestor to tailor content to the department's needs at the time. Through OSU's Sustainability Advocate program, faculty and staff pledge to act as sustainability contacts within their campus unit by sharing information and training opportunities, networking with fellow Advocates, and promoting sustainability-related events within their unit. Advocates also receive training themselves both from the Sustainability Office and from speakers who regularly attend their meetings to discuss on campus programs, events, or initiatives with sustainable focuses.

OSU staff periodically organize Northwest Earth Institute discussion courses centered on sustainability. The Sustainability Advocates also deliver information about training opportunities to contacts in the departments the Advocates representatives. Additionally faculty and staff regularly attend conferences with sustainability focuses, which the University supports either through direct payment or reimbursement. For example, every year several staff members attend either OHESC or WAHESC (Oregon or Washington Higher Education Sustainability Conference). The conference is an opportunity for those teaching, working, or studying within higher education to come together and learn about sustainability in academics, operations, and research. Participants will explore ways to advance campus sustainability through the sharing of best practices, presentations on creative solutions to common challenges, and the development of regional collaborative networks. A few OSU students, faculty and staff typically also attend AASHE conferences most years.