Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 33.07
Liaison Laurie Kman
Submission Date March 6, 2020
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Lewis University
AC-10: Support for Research

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 4.00 Jerry Kavouras
Chair, Assoc Professor/Biology
Biology
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Student Sustainability Research Incentives 

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

A brief description of the student research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
Interested students are given the opportunity to participate in a 10-week SURE program to conduct undergraduate research under the mentorship of a faculty member in their discipline. Students present their work, including lab experiments and results, at a concluding symposium. This program allows students to pursue academic topics of interest in a summer program with faculty support. A Lewis University Academic conference Support Program is also available for students to help fund travel for presentations at juried disciplinary/research conferences during spring and summer semesters.

Faculty Sustainability Research Incentives 

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

A brief description of the faculty research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
Full time Lewis University faculty members are encouraged to apply for the Lewis University Faculty Scholar Award. Eligible scholarly work advances knowledge in one's discipline, has a theoretical component, a reasoned and logically coherent methodological approach, and a planned trajectory over time. The scholarship should result in a tangible outcome, which may be analytic, synthetic, or creative. Also available for full-time faculty members is the Caterpillar Scholar Award. This award provides one award up to $6,000 for research or scholarly work for one academic year in the STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). the funding could be used for supplies, equipment, research assistant salaries, and/or to cover reassigned time for one academic year. Finally funding is available to support Lasallian Research projects conducted by Lewis University regular appointment faculty who explore issues arising from areas of focus identified by the International Association of Lasallian Universities (IALU). Priority will go to projects that actively engage students in the research process, are collaborative, and involve interdisciplinary perspectives and external partners, particularly other Lasallian institutions. Lewis University Doherty Center funds research and scholarly initiatives; encourages partnerships among the University, its students and the community; provides opportunities for research experiences for students with faculty mentors. Investigators supported by the Doherty Center have focused on areas such as: cardiac therapy, wound management, flight deck laser illumination, the environment, diabetes, MRSA, and alternative fuels for aviation.

Recognition of Inter-, Trans- and Multi-Disciplinary 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?:
No

A brief description of the institution’s support for interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research, including any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
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Library Support

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 Lewis University library currently subscribes to a database called GreenFILE. This database is focused on sustainability-related topics and is available to all current students, faculty, and staff and can be accessed from on or off campus. The official description of the database is as follows: GreenFILE covers all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 384,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,700 records. The Lewis University collection also includes ebooks on sustainability topics. For instance, in the EBSCO eBook Academic Collection, a search for "sustainability" returns almost 1,000 titles. In addition, as members of CARLI, a consortium of academic libraries in Illinois, Lewis students, faculty and staff can borrow items from the collections of 86 member libraries, either by visiting the institution in person or by requesting an item via interlibrary loan.

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.