Virginia Tech faculty and staff will be rewarded for the university’s strong performance in Gov. Tim Kaine’s Green Commonwealth Challenge.
Tech finished third among all state agencies in the challenge, which asked state agencies to take deliberate actions to reduce impact on the environment from June 15 - Nov. 15 of last year.
It was the only university listed among the top scoring participants.
An e-mail from President Charles Steger Thursday said all university employees who accrue annual leave will be eligible to take eight extra hours of “recognition leave” between Jan. 25, 2010, and Jan. 9, 2011.
Only the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Corrections bested Tech in the challenge.
Tech is also organizing a Green Campus Challenge, which is scheduled to begin in early February according to the letter.
Steger urged each staff member to “make special efforts to conserve, reduce energy consumption, go green, buy green, carpool, and recycle, among many possible responses, to reduce individual and collective environmental impacts.”