Sustainability Manager

Sustainability Manager
Whitman College

WHITMAN COLLEGE

Located in the historic community of Walla Walla, Whitman's vibrant and beautiful tree-lined campus is home to an intellectually diverse, dynamic, welcoming and supportive community of some 500 staff and faculty serving approximately 1,500 students from the local region and across the globe. With exceptional students, accomplished faculty and staff, and a fiercely loyal and growing number of engaged alumni, Whitman College continues to build on its national reputation for academic excellence as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.

Whitman College is cultivating a community built on inclusion and belonging. We recognize the value of those who can offer historically underrepresented perspectives and encourage applications from those whose background, knowledge, and insights from lived experience can add to the college's working and learning environment. Whitman College is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer (EEO) .

Facilities Services (FS), the division that provides college-wide support of equitable student success. As stewards of Whitman College's built and natural environment our services range from planning, design, construction projects, and agency interaction to maintenance, custodial, surplus, grounds and landscaping, trust - rental property maintenance, sustainability, recycling, conferences, scheduling, environmental management, occupational safety, and utility/energy efficiency. Serving 1,500 students, with 1.3 million gross square feet comprising of 54 facilities, 80 rental units and 112 acres of grounds, we service two campuses - Main and Johnston Wilderness, as well as two observatory locations.

Facilities Services includes several key departments: Administration, Conference, Events and Scheduling, Custodial, Energy Management, Environmental Health and Safety, Grounds, Maintenance, Planning, Design, and Construction, Rental Property Maintenance and Sustainability. The FS team includes more than 70 talented and engaged individuals who are dedicated to providing the most effective, safe, and customer-oriented service to the College community maintaining an educational environment in support of recruitment, retention, and Whitman's strategic priorities. Our staff includes a culturally diverse team of technical professionals, administrative support, skilled trades, management, and students that ensures the best learning environment on one of the most beautifully-built and operated nationally ranked liberal arts colleges.

POSITION PURPOSE

Reporting to the Director of Facilities Services, the Sustainability Manager works closely with students, staff, and faculty to further sustainability efforts across campus and manages the initiatives and operations of the Sustainability Department.

This position serves as the primary resource for all College sustainability initiatives and as assigned the College's sustainability liaison to external constituents. The manager assists departments in their efforts to implement sustainable practices and energy savings measures in their day-to-day operations. The manager collaborates with all campus constituents to implement and support the long-term sustainability and energy savings initiatives of Whitman College.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Develop, plan, and administer programs, initiatives and events related to sustainability in coordination with other community organizations, and college: divisions, departments, and student organizations.
• Supervise staff, student assistant and interns in Whitman College's Sustainability Department.
• Serve as staff liaison and advisor to student organizations ensuring effective communication and collaboration on sustainability initiatives, programs, activities, and projects.
• Manage the College recycling program and zero waste initiatives in collaboration with Facilities Services staff. Assist with the management of energy and sustainability projects and administration of campus energy management programs. Maintain College utility records and provide analysis and emissions reporting annually. Provide regular reporting as needed to ensure campus efficiency and problem detection. Collaborate and works with all utility service providers utilized by the College to optimize pricing plans and schedules to meet the College sustainability goals. Perform monthly monitoring of data recorded including the status of operating capacities, service demands, and fuel supplies. Works with Facilities Services management to reconcile and verify that all utility charges are accurate. Assist the Director with preparation of utility budgets by projecting future utility usages and forecasting utility rate increases.
• Manage the maintenance and development of all campus renewable energy systems and sub metering in collaboration with Facilities Services.
• Chair the President's Sustainability Advisory Committee (PSAC) and work closely with the committee to develop and advocate for college-wide sustainability goals and implementation of the Climate Action Plan.
• Manage the College's Bike Share and work to develop integrated multimodal transportation infrastructure and alternatives to encourage the use of, and access to transportation resources for staff, faculty, and students.
• Develop regular reports and educational material related to student, staff, and faculty commuting and transportation. Assess the college's transportation needs and emissions. Work with departments, the motor pool, and Facilities Services to address resource conservation in relation to transportation.
• Develop and implement new sustainability awareness and education programs for campus and community.
• Serve as assigned the College's sustainability representative to organizations, such as the Washington Higher Education Sustainability Coalition, the Sustainable Partnership of the Northern Rockies, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, and other higher education institutions and sustainability partnerships
• Manage all the College's sustainability reporting to organizations like the Second Nature, Princeton Review, AASHE STARS, EPA Green Power Partnership, the Smart Business Partnership, and Sierra Club. Maintain and collect all reporting data for institutional rankings and complete all reports as needed.
• Pursue grant and resource development opportunities in collaboration with Office of Foundation & Corporate Relations. Assist in the preparation of budgets and grants; monitor, verify, and reconcile expenditure of budgeted funds as appropriate.
• Collaborate and serve as sustainability advisor on all campus construction and life cycle projects. Assist and collaborate with project teams in order to meet the institutions Climate Action Plan.
• Coordinate the Sustainability Revolving Loan Fund (SRLF) and serve as program lead in collaboration with the SRLF committee.
• Develop project proposals for institutional utility savings and provide analysis in relation to utility usage. Coordinate with the Facilities Services in order to implement projects.

• Coordinate implementation of recommended strategies and action items in Whitman College's Climate Action Plan (CAP), and oversee any required reporting or revision of the CAP.
• Oversee publication of the Sustainability Department website and education materials, provide a periodic Sustainability Progress Report to the staff, faculty, students and administration. Maintain social media communications, as well as other informational and promotional materials related to campus sustainability activities, events, and education.
• Develop goals, performance metrics and a long-term plan for sustainability at Whitman College. Monitor and evaluate program effectiveness, document performance trends and recommends and implement programmatic changes and improvements.
• Independently research best practices and compile data to prepare reports that require thorough knowledge of policies, procedures, and activities.
• Serve as essential personnel, meaning duties are essential to the operations of the College and may require that the position report to campus for work even during full or partial closures.
• May be required to work occasional evenings and/or weekends.
• May be required to travel off-campus for events, meetings, and other activities.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Individuals must be able to explain and/or demonstrate that they possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities to safely perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Knowledge of:

1. Applicable local, state and federal laws, codes, rules, and regulations;
2. Advanced principles and practices in resource conservation and sustainability;
3. Supervisory principles;
4. Utilities, facilities maintenance and operations infrastructure;
5. LEED standards as related to new and renovation construction in facilities;
6. Budgeting principles and practices;
7. Analytical methods and techniques;
8. Higher Education and student services;
9. Strategic planning principles; and
10. Project management principles and practices.

Skill in:

1. Public speaking and presentation;
2. Utilizing computer technology for communication, data gathering and reporting activities;
3. Microsoft Office, web-development, and database management; and
4. Organizational skills.

Ability to:

1. Effectively communicate both verbally and in writing; use oral persuasion and written mediums allowing for open dialogue to occur;
2. Ability to positively and actively contribute to the College's core values of diversity, equity and inclusion;
3. Interpret, analyze and evaluate complex problems to successfully recognize and define solutions; and
4. Operate and utilize various social media platforms, and an ability to learn new software as necessary.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

1. Bachelor's degree in a sustainability-related discipline and a minimum of 2-3 years relevant experience.
2. Experience implementing sustainability initiatives at a college or university, business, governmental agency or similar public or private institution.
3. Experience preparing Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS) submittals, GHG inventories and related Carbon/Climate Commitment reports, or similar sustainability-related surveys and periodic reports. This may include regulatory reporting.
4. Administrative and organizational skills, and demonstrated experience supervising and mentoring.
5. Must possess a valid Washington driver's license.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

1. Master's degree in a related discipline and 4-5 years of relevant experience
2. Other relevant subject matter expertise, education, training or professional certifications in addition to the above-referenced degrees.
3. Web development experience and experience writing, producing and editing sustainability progress reports, newsletters, blogs and/or social media posts.
4. LEED Credentials.
5. Work experience in higher education.

WORK ENVIRONMENT AND PHYSICAL REQUIRMENTS

Work environment is primarily inside Whitman facilities and sometimes outside, both of which may include working in high places. This position may be exposed to dirt, dust and equipment use. Job requires moderate strength and agility and typically requires balancing, bending, kneeling, crouching, reaching, standing, walking, pushing, pulling, lifting, grasping and repetitive motions. Lifting and carrying materials weighing up to 25 pounds occurs with varied frequency.

BENEFITS

Whitman offers competitive employee benefits, including medical, dental, vision and life insurances, a generous 10% matching contribution to the Whitman College 403(b) Defined Contribution Retirement Plan, and paid time off including 13 paid holidays for full-time staff vacation and sick leave. Learn more about benefits eligibility here.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS

At Whitman College, we take seriously the safety of our community. Whitman is a fully vaccinated campus, requiring all employees and students to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations or have an approved exemption. More information can be found here.

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION FOR JOB CANDIDATES

Contact Human Resources regarding requests for disability accommodation in the employment application process.

APPLICATION REVIEW

Application review will begin April 29 and continue until the position is filled.

START DATE

May 23, 2022


For full application instructions and position description, visit https://whitman.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=180


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