Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 72.78
Liaison Emily Vollmer
Submission Date Feb. 18, 2021

STARS v2.2

Virginia Tech
PA-4: Reporting Assurance

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Dennis Cochrane
Director, Office of Sustainability
Division of Campus Planning, Infrastructure and Facilities
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Please note that assured reports are still subject to review by AASHE staff prior to publication, which may require additional revisions. AASHE reserves the right to withhold points for this credit if it is determined that the assurance process was clearly unsuccessful in identifying and resolving inconsistencies or errors (e.g., when AASHE staff identify a significant number of issues that were either not mentioned in the completed review template or not resolved successfully).

Has the institution completed an assurance process that provides independent affirmation that the information in its current STARS report is reported in accordance with credit criteria?:
Yes

Did the assurance process include internal review, an external audit, or both?:
Internal review

The name, title, and organizational affiliation of each reviewer:
Michael Bell, Graduate Student, Graduate Assistant to the Virginia Tech Office of Sustainability

A brief description of the institution’s assurance process:
Emily Vollmer, Sustainability Coordinator for the Virginia Tech Office of Sustainability, reached out to Michael Bell, Graduate Assistant to the Office of Sustainability, in the summer of 2020 to begin the process of reviewing VT's 2021 STARS submission. As a precaution to ensure we would be able to use Michael Bell as our reviewer, our office reached out to Monika Urbanski, Data and Research Manager for AASHE. She confirmed that our use of a graduate assistant who had no part in the collection and input of data was allowed.

The purpose of PA-4 was explained to Michael, the review template was shared, and the document that the VT Office of Sustainability was using to keep track of credit progress was shared as well. Michael Bell then proceeded to check over completed credits listed in the Office's personal tracking spreadsheet by looking over the Review Template and the STARS submission/Reporting Tool with his Observer status.

Michael Bell returned his first round of reviews to the institution around December 1. Emily Vollmer then made any necessary changes and sent the review template back to Michael Bell. The back and forth process was repeated until all completed credits were thoroughly reviewed at least two times by early January. This review was done with the intent on ensuring that all reported data is correct and consistent between credits. Performing this review allows our office to more confidently submit our data and minimize potential risks with inconsistencies in our reporting.

Affirmation from the reviewer(s) that the report has been reviewed in full and that all identified inconsistencies and errors have been successfully addressed prior to submitting it to AASH​E:
PA4_OfficialLetterhead_Signed.pdf

Completed STARS Review Template:
STARS2.2Review_FinalRevision.xlsx

Optional

Affirmation from the reviewer(s) that the report has been reviewed in full and that all identified inconsistencies and errors have been successfully addressed prior to ​submitting it to AASHE (2nd review):
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Completed STARS Review Template (2nd review):
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Affirmation from the reviewer(s) that the report has been reviewed in full and that all identified inconsistencies and errors have been successfully addressed prior to ​submitting it to AASHE​ (3rd review):
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Copy of completed STARS Review Template (3rd review):
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Website URL where information about the institution’s reporting assurance 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.