| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 53.91 |
| Liaison | Tom Hartzell |
| Submission Date | Dec. 21, 2022 |
Calvin University
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
David
Wunder Dean for Faculty Development Engineering |
Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
A brief description of the student sustainability research program:
The Calvin Environmental Assessment Program (CEAP) is a collaborative effort of faculty across Calvin’s campus, mainly in the sciences, whose focus is the understanding of the campus and local ecosystem. The goal is to impact the college and local municipalities as well as individual behavior. Faculty dedicate a regular lab session or project to collecting data that contributes to an overall assessment of the environment of the campus and surrounding area. Students then present posters of their findings every semester.
Calvin also funds summer undergraduate research programs through the Science division and the McGregor Fellowships, which often includes sustainability related research. The Engineering department has secured funding for collaborative sustainability related research for students working alongside professors. Students participate in an all science division poster session where they present findings. Some students continued on further in their research to present their research in academic journals.
From the "Summer science research at Calvin
(https://calvin.edu/academics/stem-division/)
"Paid research fellowships are available each summer. In 2021:
1. 100 students worked with 36 Calvin professors from eight departments.
2. 49 research projects explored a wide variety of projects. Some examples: studying which mechanisms contribute to some autoimmune diseases, testing techniques to locate songbird nests, determining the effect certain proteins have on cellular activity, studying the malignant transformation of kidney tubule cells, monitoring social media using machine learning, evaluating a drinking water treatment method for Ethiopia, mapping and data analysis on the cleanup of contaminated sites across Michigan, evaluating activities designed to improve reproductive health management. See a complete list of the 2019 summer research projects.
3. Students received a $4200 stipend for 10 weeks of research.
4. 40% of the projects were externally funded by grants from outside Calvin University
5. 45% more were funded by private donors
Does the institution have a program to encourage academic staff from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
A brief description of the faculty sustainability research program:
The CEAP program outlined above also encourages faculty members to take part in sustainability related research.
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?:
A copy of the promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
The promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
Section 2: Research and scholarship
• displaying leadership in mentoring colleagues and students in work that helps
launch their scholarly trajectories; or
• demonstrating leadership in research and scholarship by means of sustained
dissemination of scholarly products or creative work in appropriate venues and
active support of the scholarship of others engaged in similar areas of scholarship;
or
• being recognized by peers/experts outside of the university for significant
contributions that advance the discipline; or
• being recognized by peers/experts outside of the university for significant
contributions that advance understanding of the integration of faith and an
academic discipline or field of study; or
• sustaining/advancing significant institutional or professional networks, shows
leadership in collaboration, and serves as exemplar of the university’s scholarly
commitments; or
• receiving significant funding or support (e.g., grants, travel funding, honoraria,
stipends, consulting fees) for scholarship, consistent with department expectations;
or
• being recognized by peers/experts outside the university for significant
contributions to projects that are cross-disciplinary or transdisciplinary.
Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research:
Calvin facilitates peer-to-peer collaboration to support curriculum development around sustainability. The library staff are very responsive to the resource needs for faculty, including those pursuing sustainability research.
There is a library guide on Sustainability Studies found here: http://libguides.calvin.edu/sustainability/home
In 2017 Calvin purchased a new encyclopedia on sustainability, find it here: https://library.calvin.edu/content/blog/9140 This is a major 10-volume work that is available electronically. On the subject of Sustainable Development, to name one related subject area, the library has more than 300 books with a publication date of 2015 to the present.
The library makes available research databases on the environmental sciences, fin a list here: https://library.calvin.edu/dbs_by_subject?c=77&core=on The library contact for further research on sustainability and the environment is Kathy De Mey.
Website URL where information about the institution’s support for sustainability research is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
This data was collected by Eleanor Ludwig from Professor David Wunder, Dean for Faculty Development.
Supplemental information about library resources related to sustainability provided by Calvin University Librarian Kathy De Mey (LJS 01/27/2020) and David Malone (2021-2022).
This data was collected by Eleanor Ludwig from Professor David Wunder, Dean for Faculty Development.
Supplemental information about library resources related to sustainability provided by Calvin University Librarian Kathy De Mey (LJS 01/27/2020) and David Malone (2021-2022).
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.