Hampshire College
AC-10: Support for Research

Roddenberry Foundation: A $200,000 grant from the Roddenberry Foundation challenges Hampshire faculty and students to find interdisciplinary solutions to climate change, sustainability, and social justice through new courses, project grants, events, summer internships, even a Solve-a-Thon team contest across all five schools of the college. https://www.hampshire.edu/news/2016/02/02/roddenberry-foundation-funds-sustainability-solve-a-thon The Dana Meadows Sustainability Award Endowment Fund supports Division II (two-year study) and Division III (one-year capstone) student research in agricultural sustainability, particularly projects directly related to the Hampshire Community-Supported Agriculture program. https://www.hampshire.edu/natural-science/ns-student-fund-awards Recent projects that are funded include: — Documenting the impacts of solar arrays on soil microbial activity — The Cultivation and Medicinal Properties of Humulus Lupulus — Comunicación Campesina y Cooperativismo Cafetalero (Rural Women Communication and Coffee Cooperativism) —Limitations to Hayfield Growth and Recommendations for Improvement Samuel Morris Sustainability Endowment Fund: This supports Division II (two-year study) and Division III (one-year capstone) student research in environmental and agricultural sustainability. https://www.hampshire.edu/natural-science/ns-student-fund-awards Recent projects that are funded include: — The Effects of Weather and Occupancy on Nitrogen Cycling in the Greywater Treatment System at the R.W. Kern Center — Heritage Dairy Education — Green Chemistry: Optimized Product Yield of Diels-Alder Reaction in Water — Dealing with Climate Change in Agriculture: Identifying Problems, Solutions, and Adaptations in New England Small Scale Farms Smith-Barr Internship Award: This supports an internship with an organization focused on the environment, environmental sustainability, or indigenous communities in either the United States or developing world. Special consideration is given to applicants working with Native American communities in Alaska. The internship must be related to the student's academic work and career interests. https://www.hampshire.edu/corc/social-justice-summer-grants

Roddenberry Foundation: See description above. Henry Luce Foundation, Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment (LIASE): This $400,000 grant provides new opportunities for Hampshire faculty and students to build cultural connections and pursue sustainable environmental and agricultural research in China and Thailand. This multi-year implementation grant builds on a $50,000 LIASE exploration grant awarded to Hampshire in 2011, and makes up the bulk of a total of $616,000 that the College allocates for the initiative over the next four years. It funds faculty exchanges, course development, language learning, and student projects. Scholars from China and Thailand spend several weeks at Hampshire interacting with the Hampshire Farm and other regional organizations, and students from those countries attend the summer Food, Farm and Sustainability Institute at Hampshire College. Hampshire students travel to China and Thailand to learn about agriculture through the Anhui Agricultural University and JOKO Community Learning Center in Nan Province, Thailand. Professors Kay Johnson, Kim Chang, and Sue Darlington from the School of Critical Social Inquiry are working collaboratively with Professors Dula Amarasiriwardena and Brian Schultz from the School of Natural Science to lead four interrelated projects associated with this grant. USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program Farmer Grant: A 2015 proposal entitled “Pigs on Pasture: An assessment of Pasture Health, Pork Quality, and Ecosystem Rebound after Rotational Grazing,” resulted in an award of $15,000 to the Hampshire Farm Center. In order for farmers to contribute to sustainable solutions for producing protein regionally, particularly in light of the New England Food Vision that calls for 60% of food to be produced in New England by 2060, we need to address multiple avenues for innovative pork production. In addition to examining cost and meat quality, we will assess environmental factors and soil and pasture health to better understand the benefits of pastured-pork production. Results from our work will be presented through a variety of farmer networks and conferences, as well as through demonstration days. https://projects.sare.org/sare_project/fne16-859/ Henry P. Kendall Foundation, “Bolstering the 100% Local Food Challenge through Targeted Investment”: This $250,000 grant awarded in 2014 structures and strengthens a local procurement effort that has drawn high levels of attention from both students and alumni. Our strategies to increase our local food consumption include augmenting the participation in meal plans while decreasing protein consumption, and undertaking infrastructure improvements that include physical renovations. We also work to link our initiatives with organizational leaders to expand agriculture infrastructure in the region. The project was originally funded for two years but has been extended through end of 2018. Lydia B. Stokes Foundation: This $240,000 grant, awarded in 2014, established the Center for New England Food and Agriculture, a major piece of Hampshire's Sustainability Initiative and advances our goal to source nearly 100 percent of food on campus from within 150 miles. Under the leadership of President Jonathan Lash, and building on a strong tradition of forward-thinking and decision making, Hampshire is commitment to environmental sustainability, energy reduction, and water conservation. The College’s Sustainability Initiative focuses on transitions in healthy food systems, campus operations, creative curriculum, and campus culture. The Center for New England Food and Agriculture incorporates all four of those key elements.

Hampshire's pedagogy was founded on interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research. The absence of discipline-based departments and the grouping of faculty into five broad "schools" is designed to advance interdisciplinarity. The Faculty Handbook, which sets the criteria for faculty reappointment and promotion, emphasizes that "Scholarship/Art" should be "interdisciplinary" and "expand traditional conventions." From the Faculty Handbook: "Hampshire encourages a range of scholarly/artistic publication that is wider than conventional disciplinary research or creative endeavor. Faculty members are encouraged to work on new questions, to use unconventional methods, to undertake interdisciplinary projects, and to expand traditional conventions. Scholarship at Hampshire includes the publication of curricular materials, such as textbooks or readers, and contributions to the scholarly literatures on pedagogy and student assessment. Publication in civic or popular forums that grows from the faculty member's intellectual work is encouraged. In addition to publication, significant components of a faculty member's scholarly record can include securing grants, professional activities in scholarly organizations, or work in the wider public community when appropriately documented and evaluated ... Faculty members are encouraged to document the relationship between their scholarship and teaching. Scholarly work that enriches a person's teaching or expands learning opportunities for students is particularly valued at Hampshire."

The Harold F. Johnson Library supports sustainability research and learning by facilitating access to resources about the social, economic, and environmental issues that our world faces today. Library acquisitions continuously evolve to support the current curriculum. Recent areas of acquisition include climate change mitigation and planning, energy-efficient buildings, lower-impact materials for packaging and construction, and soil remediation for contaminated sites. In addition to books and journals, the Library manages the Seed Lending Library, which was started as a senior project. It promotes an understanding of food systems among faculty, staff, and students. The Library developed programming around the seed library to deepen understanding of growing and harvesting food. The number of seed packages checked out has been fairly consistent, with an uptick in the most recent year. The librarians have created a number of research guides, including one for sustainability studies, and others to support the sciences around sustainability, such as chemistry, biology, and geology. Supported by a $1.2 million Mellon Foundation grant to bring academic resources together, the Library renovated study and maker space. The majority of Library furniture was manufactured by Krueger International, an award-winning organization with a commitment to producing furniture sustainability. https://www.hampshire.edu/library/harold-f-johnson-library http://resourceguides.hampshire.edu/friendly.php?s=seedlendinglibrary