84 Business View Magazine - June 2016
and program needs a major consideration in all de-
cisions concerning our facility, grounds, and use of
resources. In Facilities Services, our new three-year
strategic plan includes three initiatives, one of which
is Environmental Stewardship with three action plans:
energy and water strategies, a climate action plan,
and the third is about educating our campus commu-
nity about sustainability initiatives.”
Verhoff’s Office was only created three years ago. “Fa-
cilities Services recognized the need of the office on
campus and the amazing things that we were already
doing inside our facilities – how we should promote
those and how we could do more,” he says. Facilities
Services at SLU oversees all campus construction,
maintenance, custodial, grounds, mail, real estate,
parking, transportation, and distribution services.
These units work together in creating a more sustain-
able University. “My Office is kind of a hybrid,” Verhoff
avers. “Not only am I overseeing sustainability on cam-
pus, but I oversee the benchmarking inside of Facilities
Services. And then, I also am responsible for strategic
planning for our division. Combined, this provides an
advantage to integrate these areas, together”
One of the Office’s many sustainable initiatives is the
Green Billiken Certification Program, which encourag-
es students, faculty, and staff to complete various ac-
tion items that promote sustainability. After complet-
ing the program, they earn points toward certification
by doing such things as using reusable water and food
containers, planning and delivering a class presenta-
tion on recycling, calculating their carbon footprint,
promoting a sustainability event on campus, etc. Priz-
es are awarded for each 50 point increment achieved.
