Wartburg College
AC-10: Support for Research

Wartburg College provides six sources of funding to promote undergraduate research and helps students connect with 16 external sources. As growth continues in our Environmental Science and Studies major we expect to see more applications for these funds to support sustainability. In the past two years over $2,000 for come from the Student Travel Grant to send students to AASHE conferences.

The Strategic Initiative Fund supports innovative projects that will advance the goals and objectives of the Wartburg College Strategic Plan entitled Living Our Learning; Claiming Our Calling; Transforming Tomorrow. Sustainability related goals are identified in various areas of the strategic plan, most notably Goal 4, Objective 1.3, and our Value of Promoting Stewardship. This fund has already spawned collaborations that promote and encourage further education in sustainability. This fund, established by Michael J. McCoy and his wife Marge, provides financial support above and beyond the current operating budget to specifically encourage achievement of the goals of the plan. Grants are for projects spanning up to a two-year period; the suggested maximum award is $5,000. All projects must: Clearly explain how the project will support a specific goal and/or objective of the strategic plan; Be particularly comprehensive, involving or impacting as many individuals as possible; Demonstrate creative thinking to enhance learning, programs, processes, and/or decision-making.

Yes, Wartburg College does give positive recognition to interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research during faculty promotion and tenure decisions. However, equal positive recognition is given to single disciplinary research as well. All research is given annual recognition through the "Faculty Scholarship, Achievements, and Service" report produced by the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning includes research guides, materials selection policies and practices, curriculum development efforts, sustainability literacy promotion, and e-learning objects focused on sustainability. Vogel Library at Wartburg College embraces the mission of educating information-literate lifelong learners. This is true for every aspect of campus curriculum, including sustainability research and learning opportunities. Environmental Studies and Sciences is a recent addition to the college’s degree programs, and a guide called Research in Environmental Studies & Sciences is currently under development by the scientific information literacy librarian who supports that program as a library liaison for collection and instructional needs. A wide variety of interdisciplinary inquiry studies courses have addressed sustainability in some manner (examples: “Choices for Sustainable Living” [http://knightguides.wartburg.edu/is101sustainability], “Sustainability,” “The Joys of Garbage,” etc.), and each has a course-specific guide to recommend resources and tools to further research for members of the Wartburg community. The library strives to provide a variety of up-to-date resources and tools on related topics with quality, scholarly and topical content in a wide variety of formats. These include books (which are searchable via the online catalog from Millenium), eBooks from EBSCOhost eBook Academic Collection, streaming media subscriptions such as Films on Demand, and indexes and databases such as GreenFILE and GREENR (Global Reference on the Environment, Energy & Natural Resources), which are specifically dedicated to sustainability, green technologies, ecology, and environmental issues and laws. There is also a science and technology online encyclopedia (AccessScience), newspapers from a wide variety of viewpoints such as Access World News, LexisNexis, and AltPress Watch, statistical data from DataPlanet Statistical Data Sets, and multiple biology and political science database subscriptions including Science Direct and Annual Reviews (which has a subscription segment which summarizes research on “Environment and Resources). There are thousands of eJournals and subscriptions to multidisciplinary collections like JSTOR and Project Muse available, access to more than 50,000 electronic journals via Serials Solutions, and a robust interlibrary loan process that allows student, faculty and staff access to any resources that are not available locally. In addition, the library shares a consortial discovery catalog and is working on a delivery service with area libraries such as the University of Northern Iowa, an Iowa Regent institution. Vogel Library’s Collection Development policy is available at http://library.wartburg.edu/acquisitions.aspx.