Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 72.78
Liaison Nathan King
Submission Date Feb. 18, 2021

STARS v2.2

Virginia Tech
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00 Nathan King
Sustainability Manager
Facilities
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
A subset of the campus community or a sample that may not be representative of the entire community

Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
Longitudinally to measure change over time

A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:

The cultural assessment was developed by office of sustainability staff in tandem with the sustainability literacy assessment. It was deployed September 16, 2020 for use during the fall semester via Qualtrics. A follow up survey was sent out in early February 2021 in order to measure change over time.


A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:

See attached document.


A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:

The assessments were administered through Qualtrics and was made available to Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff by being posted on the office of sustainability website. Furthermore, it was distributed via email through our Green Office Certification program to representatives from several different departments across campus including business, engineering, natural resources, agriculture, student affairs, liberal arts, etc.


A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment:

The goal of this assessment was to determine the attitudes, values, and beliefs of the campus community in regards to climate and various sustainability initiatives. Virginia Tech has made tremendous advances in sustainability over the past decade, and we wanted to determine how effective we were in making sure the community was aware of this. We also encourage and seek their participation at the grass roots level. The intent is to use this approach in the future to assess changes over time.
Results of the survey show that 65% of respondents felt they were at least moderately familiar with Virginia Tech's sustainability policies, programs, and procedures. Most respondents believe climate change is real and that their personal choices/actions do matter. However, very few respondents (20%) were part of clubs or organizations that focus on advancing sustainability around campus.


Website URL where information about the assessment of sustainability culture is available:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

For the 11th consecutive year, Virginia Tech has been recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the top green colleges in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, coming in at No. 34. While this does not fit into the idea of a quantitative assessment or survey like what is required for this credit, it does reflect the culture of sustainability established at Virginia Tech. More information on our Princeton Review ranking can be found in this article: https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2020/12/sustainability-greencolleges20.html?utm_source=cmpgn_news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=vtUnirelNewsDailyCMP_120120-fs


For the 11th consecutive year, Virginia Tech has been recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the top green colleges in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, coming in at No. 34. While this does not fit into the idea of a quantitative assessment or survey like what is required for this credit, it does reflect the culture of sustainability established at Virginia Tech. More information on our Princeton Review ranking can be found in this article: https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2020/12/sustainability-greencolleges20.html?utm_source=cmpgn_news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=vtUnirelNewsDailyCMP_120120-fs

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