Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 71.29
Liaison Holly Andersen
Submission Date March 30, 2022

STARS v2.2

Bennington College
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the student sustainability research program:

Students at Bennington control their own destiny. Through the plan process, they perform study and work through their classes to research such complex problems as climate change, plastics pollution, and much more. With the plan process, students at Bennington can study sustainability as to relates to all the aspects of the curriculum.


Does the institution have a program to encourage academic staff from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the faculty sustainability research program:

It changes with each term and each faculty member. It varies from term to term based on the students plan. This year it was:

John Hultgren (fall grant): research materials on the American anti-environment movement (for a paper/book he is writing) - $310
Yoko Inoue (fall grant) - presenting a project at a Food Futures Contemporary Art Symposium in October - $1200
Kerry Woods - publishing costs for his Ecosphere paper (in the Ecological Society of America journal) - $1200
Don Sherefkin (spring grant) - to attend "Better Buildings By Design - Efficiency Vermont" conference in the spring - $600


Has the institution published written policies and procedures that give positive recognition to interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research during faculty promotion and/or tenure decisions?:
Yes

A copy of the promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
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The promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:

SUPPORT FOR SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH POLICY
Since its founding, Bennington has been committed to the belief that a dynamic, relevant education is best achieved through active participation is interdisciplinary education. Bennington College gives positive recognition to excellent research, including that of interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research during promotion and contract negotiations.


Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research:

We have over 4,000 print and ebooks on sustainability. Through our databases we have access to over 700 journals in Environmental Studies. Librarians are available to work with faculty and students on research projects. Recent examples of senior theses and projects related to sustainability include: Sustainability Tracking Software Review for Bennington College; Sustainable Agricultural Education and the Liberal Arts; Agri vs. Culture : Why Fix Just One When It's All Broken? and Paran Creek Watershed Project


Website URL where information about the institution’s support for sustainability research is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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