Virginia Commonwealth University
EN-9: Staff Professional Development and Training

Part 1. Availability of professional development and training in sustainability

Institution makes available professional development and training opportunities in sustainability to all non-academic staff at least once per year.

Part 2. Participation in professional development and training in sustainability

Institution’s regular (full-time and part-time) non-academic staff participate in sustainability professional development and training opportunities that are either provided or supported by the institution.

For both Part 1 and Part 2 of this credit, the opportunities may be provided internally (e.g., by departments or by the sustainability office) or externally as long as they are specific to sustainability. The opportunities include:

• Training to integrate sustainability knowledge and skills into the workplace;

• Lifelong learning and continuing education in sustainability; and/or

• Sustainability accreditation and credential maintenance (e.g., LEED AP/GA).

This credit focuses on formal professional development and training opportunities, for example as delivered by trainers, managers, sustainability staff, and external organizations. Peer-to-peer educator programs and employee outreach campaigns are recognized in the Employee Educators Program and Outreach Campaign credits respectively, and should only be reported in this credit if such programs are formally recognized by the institution as professional development and training, for example in employee performance reviews.

For an external professional development or training opportunity to count, the institution must offer financial or other support (e.g., payment, reimbursement, or subsidy).  

This credit applies to non-academic staff members only; it does not include academic staff, i.e., faculty members. Faculty professional development in sustainability is recognized in the Incentives for Developing Courses credit in Curriculum.

This credit applies to all institutions. 

Each part is scored independently.

Part 1

An institution earns 1 point by making available sustainability professional development and training opportunities to all non-academic staff members at least once a year. Partial points are not available for Part 1.

Part 2

An institution earns the maximum of 1 point available for Part 2 of this credit when 75 percent or more of regular (full-time and part-time) non-academic staff participate annually in sustainability professional development and  training that is either provided or supported by the institution. Partial points are available based on the percentage of regular employees that participates, as follows:

Timeframe

Report on current program status and offerings and professional development and training activities that occurred within the three years prior to the anticipated date of submission. An institution may choose to report professional development and training activities from one, two, or three years, as long as both the total number of staff and the number of staff participating are measured during the same period.

Sampling and Data Standards

Not applicable.