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Webinar: An Accessible Roadmap to Healthy Indoor Air Quality
November 16, 2022 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EST
FreeTwo years ago it was a struggle to generate interest in topics like ventilation and HVAC maintenance, but the COVID pandemic has highlighted just how much the air we breathe matters, especially in learning environments. Colleges and universities have returned to in-person learning forever more invested in the health and safety of indoor spaces, but without a definitive roadmap for understanding and addressing the complex factors that affect indoor air quality. At the same time, the American Rescue Plan and 2021 Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act provided tens of billions for American schools and universities, including funds that can be used for health- and sustainability focused facility upgrades. Following the release of the Healthy Green Schools & Colleges national standard for healthy indoor air quality, this session will provide guidance on specific measures that can make a significant difference in indoor air quality without major capital investments, including actions related to cleaning and disinfecting; sustainable purchasing, HVAC and electric maintenance, and indoor air quality testing and monitoring. It will include perspectives from an EPA expert in school indoor air quality, a Healthy Green Schools & Colleges program director, and on-the-ground accounts from university facilities managers who are implementing the healthy air standard.
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Presenters
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Sara Porter, Vice President of External Affairs, Healthy Schools Campaign Sara Porter serves a dual role as both the Vice President of External Affairs at Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC) and the director of Healthy Green Schools & Colleges, a partnership between HSC and Green Seal. Sara joined HSC in 2008 and has worked on the organization’s green cleaning efforts ever since. In her role as director of Healthy Green Schools & Colleges, Sara has led the team through the designing and building of this new program from stakeholder engagement and standard development to program design and corporate fundraising. In Sara’s vice president role, she leads HSC’s work on school food policy and Cooking up Change, a unique program that challenges high school culinary students to create healthy, appealing school meals. Sara builds and maintains relationships with many external partners, oversees corporate fundraising and serves on the HSC management team. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from DePaul University and lives in Wheaton with her husband and three children. |
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Kim Thomas, Senior Director of Services, Facilities Management, The University of Georgia Kimberly Thomas, Senior Director of Services, at the University of Georgia Facilities Management Division is responsible for Building Services, Fleet & Grounds, Sustainability, Warehouse Operations, and the Work Request Center. Prior to that, she spent six years as the Executive Director of Plant Operations at Clarke County School District (2011-2017) in charge of custodial operations, grounds, sustainability/recycling, the warehouse, and physical plant operations, winner of the Green Cleaning Award of Schools and Universities’ in 2015 and winner of an Honorable Mention Award in 2014. Her department also received recognition for its commitment to green cleaning and sustainability from the Healthy Schools Network, Environmental Protective Agency- Georgia state office, and US Green Building Council-Georgia division. Prior to her role at Clarke County, she was the Assistant Director of Services for the University of Georgia – Facilities Management Division, which won the Green Cleaning Award’s Grand Award in 2010 and numerous green cleaning and sustainability & recycling accolades from 2011-2017. |
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Tracy Enger, Program Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tracy Washington Enger has worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Office of Air since 1994. In her current position in the Indoor Environments Division, she develops, promotes and implements education and outreach programs that protect public health from indoor environmental pollutants. She has worked for 20 years on building capacity for school districts across the country to create greener, cleaner, heathier learning environments by implementing the EPA Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools (IAQ TfS) Action Kit. In addition to the IAQ TfS Action Kit itself, she has been instrumental in the development of a suite of products to assist schools in taking action to address IAQ issues, including newly developed guidance documents on preventative maintenance, websites, National and regional in-person training events, and series of professional training webinars. |