Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 54.99
Liaison Denice Koljonen
Submission Date Feb. 6, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Boston College
AC-10: Support for Research

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 4.00 Tara Pisani
Assistant Professor
Earth and Envronment
"---" 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 research in sustainability? :
No

A brief description of the student research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
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Does the institution have a program to encourage faculty from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct research in sustainability topics?:
No

A brief description of the faculty research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
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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 brief description of the institution’s support for interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research, including any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
Boston College’s new institute for integrated science will create a multi-disciplinary, collaborative research process to address critical societal issues in the areas of energy, health and the environment. The Schiller Institute fulfills one of BC's strategic directions: "Expand support for scholarship and research in keeping with Boston College’s mission to help address complex societal problems and contribute to the common good, with a particular focus on the sciences." https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/mcas/sites/schiller-institute.html

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, including any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
The Boston College Libraries support sustainability research in two ways: collection materials funding and assigned research librarian support. The library budget includes designated "Environmental Studies" funding to support purchasing of both monographs ($22,422.13 in FY 2018) and subscriptions ($11,881.62 in FY 2018) for the Environmental Studies Program. Since this academic program serves affiliated faculty across the academy, materials purchased in this way serve a wide array of disciplines and faculty researchers intersecting with environmental concerns. Also, two research librarians are assigned to Environmental Studies to provide support for faculty/student research, collection building and library instruction. Library instruction takes the form of classroom presentations, online instruction and development of online research guides. Additionally, outside of the formal library structure, the Libraries' "BC Greener Lib" group ( library staff with strong interest in environmental issues) provides educational opportunities for the wider campus including annual "green book" displays, film showings (including an annual "green" summer film fest), and periodic brownbag talks on environmental topics.

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
In future years, the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society may include sustainability research support.

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.