Bernadette Mondy appointed interim assistant vice president for Environmental Health and Safety
Constituent engagement remains critical to advancing an integrative safety culture at Virginia Tech
Bernadette Mondy has been named interim assistant vice president for Environmental Health and Safety at Virginia Tech.
Environmental Health and Safety supports and advances teaching, learning, and research activities at Virginia Tech through regulatory compliance oversight and promotion of a safe and healthy environment at all university locations.
An alumna of Virginia Tech, Mondy has served the university for over 30 years. Most recently, she was assistant director for laboratory safety, where she strengthened programming and compliance activities around laboratory safety, hazardous materials management, and environmental oversight.
Mondy’s appointment follows the departure of Lance Franklin, who previously served in the role. Plans for a permanent search will be communicated in the future.
“A Hokie through and through, Bernadette’s steadfast dedication to service and safety and extensive expertise make her well-suited to lead the Environmental Health and Safety team. Bernadette shares in the sentiment that a top-notch university safety culture can only exist with strong participation from the Virginia Tech community and in strong collaboration with our state and federal partners,” said Lynsay Belshe, vice president for enterprise administrative and business services.
“Engagement is at the heart of Environmental Health and Safety’s mission. To foster a safety culture, we leverage a variety of touchpoints — training and education, service delivery, inspections, and so much more — to engage the university community and stakeholders across the commonwealth. We believe ensuring safety compliance as integrative and least burdensome as possible is essential,” said Mondy.
Environmental Health and Safety partners closely with designated safety officers within Virginia Tech’s academic and administrative enterprises, the Office of Research and Innovation, Student Affairs, and other units. The department oversees the university’s Environmental Health and Safety, Chemical Safety, and Occupational Safety and Health committees and participates in the Institutional Biosafety Committee, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Institutional Review Board, and Radiation Safety Committee.
Environmental Health and Safety’s robust training program is another critical engagement platform. In 2020, nearly 55,000 training registrations were processed. Participants included researchers, lab personnel, farmers, students, and facilities, and trade workers. The training curriculum covers a host of safety topics. General lab safety, electrical safety in research, first aid and CPR, and specialized farm safety training for wineries, breweries, and cideries are all examples of available training.
Many stakeholders connect with Environmental Health and Safety through the department’s web-based safety management system, which facilitates health, safety, and environmental compliance for principal investigators and other research leads. Users can conduct a multitude of compliance functions through the portal. Among them are training management, chemical registration, requesting hazardous waste disposal services, document management, and scheduling personal protective equipment fittings. The safety management system serves an estimated 1,700 laboratories and nearly 20,000 university constituents.
Conducting regulatory audits, fire inspections for special events, fire drills, laboratory inspections, and health and safety consultations are among the many additional initiatives led by Environmental Health and Safety.
Environmental Health and Safety Resources
