Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 67.61
Liaison Margaret Lo
Submission Date Sept. 28, 2012
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

Ball State University
ER-15: Sustainability Research Identification

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Augusta Isley
Senior Proposal Manager
Sponsored Projects Administration
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution developed a definition of sustainability research?:
Yes

A copy of the institution's definition of sustainability research:

The BSU Council on the Environment (COTE) developed "A Statement on Sustainability" which susequently was vetted by the full university community as noted on these dates:

25 March 2002: Adopted by COTE
15 April 2002: Endorsed by - Senior Staff
17 April 2002: Endorsed by - Academic Deans
25 April 2002: Endorsed by - University Senate
7 February 2003: Accepted by - Board of Trustees

In part, the statement reads:

“All students, faculty and employees are provided opportunities to become literate in the environmental, social and economic interactions of human and biophysical systems. Such opportunities are made available through strong undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional-specialization, faculty development and staff training offerings that provide diverse opportunities for learning. Collaborative faculty and student research on related issues is encouraged and supported.”

This latter sentence embeds the integration of sustainability considerations into our research mission.

The full statement can be found here:
http://cms.bsu.edu/Academics/CentersandInstitutes/COTE/Sustainability/Statement.aspx


Has the institution identified its sustainability research activities and initiatives?:
Yes

A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the inventory:

_____A:
As part of our "Mapping Sustainability" efforts using the STARS Framework, we report out research activity in every building on campus; see related web site for details.

_____B:
Our Sponsored Programs Office (SPO) facilitates sustainability-related research routinely; as of this reporting they note that some 33/50 of the university units (departments, centers, institutes) filing the unit-level sustainability plans report that their faculty - at least one or more from the department - is engaged in sustainability research.

Since sustainability transcends traditional academic divisions, having multiple departments involved in research indicates that the institution has a broad perspective on sustainability and can help ensure that multiple perspectives are considered.

Moreover, SPO counts that some 200 of the total 500 research faculty members are engaged in sustainability research; see related web site for details.

_____C:
Faculty associated with the Center for Energy Research/Education/Service (CERES) have engaged in research ranging in scale from community planning to materials technology. The primary emphasis of the CERES research is the interrelation of disciplines in energy-related methods of analysis, performance evaluation, and decision-making;
see related web site for details.


Does the institution make its sustainability research inventory publicly available online?:
Yes

The website URL where the sustainability research inventory is posted (required if claiming Part 3 of the credit):
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.