Boise State University
AC-9: Research and Scholarship

Boise State employs 599 people on campus which includes research and clinical faculty, part-time TT faculty, and lecturers Please see attached Excel document for full reporting on the names and departments of the faculty and staff engaged in sustainability research.

Data was gathered for the 2019 calendar year for any entry in the scholarship portion of the Faculty180 tool. This is likely to be a conservative approximation of research on campus as it only tracks completed works within an ongoing academic year. This resulted in 3,337 unique entries across the university. This initial data set was searched for the keywords outlined below in both the title of the work and the outlet of the work (conference name, journal name, etc) to highlight potential work meeting the AASHE sustainability research definitions below. The positive results from the keyword search were then manually reviewed to confirm. The list was provided to the full Academic and Research Subcommittee of the Sustainability Governance Council and then sent to the Provost’s Office for review. Any entries with open questions about the classification were sent to Department Chairs for final clarification. Based on the feedback, the uncertain courses were reclassified as either sustainability-focused, sustainability-related or neither.
Following these layers of reviews, the number of unique researchers for sustainability research was counted. The same procedure is done for departments and departments completing sustainability research.
Results
Using the methodology outlined above, resulted in the following:
# of employees engaged in sustainability research = 63 (based on unique names in data)
# of employees that conduct research = 599 (based on unique names in data)
# of departments that conduct sustainability research = 17
# of departments that conduct research = 56 (Based on unique names of departments)

Definitions
Sustainability research: Sustainability research is research and scholarship that explicitly addresses the concept of sustainability, furthers our understanding of the interdependence of ecological and social/economic systems, or has a primary and explicit focus on a major sustainability challenge.
Sustainability challenges: AASHE defines sustainability in a pluralistic and inclusive way, encompassing human and ecological health, social justice, secure livelihoods, and a better world for all generations. Major sustainability challenges include (but are not limited to) climate change, global poverty and inequality, natural resource depletion, and environmental degradation. To identify additional sustainability challenges, it may be helpful to reference the principles outlined in the Earth Charter and/or the targets embedded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Keyword search:
“sustainab*”, “climate”, “solar”, “wind”, “renewable”, “hydro”, “geothermal”, “nuclear”, “equity”, “pollution”, “poverty”, “depletion”

The Excel document that was created from this research is meant to be an evolving document that can be updated each year. The intention is to make access to these findings more accessible and user-friendly. Eventually, it would be helpful to students and staff if this information was made public--maybe it could be placed on the college's website or students could have access in some other manner.