Furman University
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

The Shi Center for Sustainability Staff oversees a Green Office Certification Program. The program outlines 39 sustainable practices worth a total of 60 possible points. Innovation credits encourage creative problem solving and allow points for practices that may be outside the scope of the standard program. Departments must achieve a minimum of 30 points to be "green office certified." All departments are encouraged to submit their score, even if it does not meet the minimum, and work with Shi Center staff to find opportunities for improvement. Department Chairs, Assistants, or other designated sustainability champion are responsible for modeling sustainable practices and encouraging others in their department to adopt a green office protocol.

One staff or faculty member in each department (typically the department chair or department assistant) volunteers to serve as main contact and educator for their department. We rely on the main contact to be a liaison between the Shi Center and their department, provide feedback about the program, and implement and encourage practices in their department.

Shi Center staff meet with either the department liaison or the entire department to provide an initial overview of the program, educate the department employees about sustainable practices, and answer questions. All departments are encouraged to submit their score, even if it does not meet the minimum, and work with Shi Center staff to find opportunities for improvement.

Operating the Green Office Program is part of one staff member's paid job. Additionally, one paid Shi Center Student Fellow also works with the Shi Center staff person to implement the program, correspond with department liaisons, suggest room for improvement, design awards and coordinate award ceremonies.

FRAT is a subcommittee of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Chaired by faculty members. FRAT Hiring Workshops take a Power Point Presentation developed by the FRAT sub-committee to all departments involved in a job search. The presentation seeks primarily to do three things: alert departments of the university’s commitment to hiring and retaining a diverse faculty; help departments plan a strategy for creating a diverse pool of applicants with the aim of thereby improving our chances to retain a diverse faculty; and advise departments on how to navigate difficulties with making final decisions in connection with the university’s diversity goals. So far, FRAT has also trained at least 26 Faculty members on how to present this workshop to their peers AND on how to conduct an interview with incoming job candidates.

The FRAT Committee is appointed by the President. FRAT volunteers (those trained to present workshops and conduct interviews) are volunteers drawn from the faculty who have attended a number of training sessions conducted by the FRAT subcommittee members.

Once educators have attended a number of training sessions, they are given access to FRAT power point presentations as well as access to research material that lies behind the presentation.

The Administration has provided FRAT with funds for various faculty advancement initiatives—such as providing entertainment at social events designed for under-represented faculty so that they might meet one another and meet members of the FRAT volunteer staff who are concerned with their needs and perceptions. The administration also supports the initiatives proposed by FRAT and has given FRAT access to administrative support help via the Diversity and Inclusion office.