Luther College
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

A brief description of the student sustainability research program:

Luther’s Center for Sustainable Communities has dedicated funding to support student research in sustainability. The Center communicates with faculty and students about this sustainability research fund, but the overall program is included within the Summer Student/Faculty Collaborative Research program administered by the Provost’s office. Grants are available to students in any major and proposals are welcome in all disciplines. While some students choose to apply for general funding from the Provost’s office, special funding is available for sustainability research. Over the last three years, students and faculty have received stipends for collaborative research projects related to sustainability each year.

Faculty can apply for financial support for community-based research on topics related to sustainability. The awards are available to support a variety of faculty research activity and student-faculty collaborative projects and can be used to provide stipends for student-faculty research on community-based projects, supplies for field-based research, and travel support for presenting the results of their research at professional meetings and conferences. Sustainability research performed in the last three years has included projects focused on flood resilience, water quality, and renewable energy.

Guidelines for tenure and promotion are all provided at the departmental level at Luther College. A list of all departmental guidelines for promotion and tenure are available on the Provost’s website:

https://www.luther.edu/academics/provost/faculty/resources/scholarship/

These statements are used by departments, the Appointment, Tenure, and Promotion Committee, and the Provost in evaluating individuals for promotion and tenure.

The following paragraphs that highlight sustainability and community-based research are excerpted from different Department Statements at the college as examples of ways that this is included in promotion and tenure guidelines.

Biology:
Scholarship that engages the community. Scholarship in this form seeks to engage the community in discussions about biology. This may include designing outreach programs for area schools, or leading community-based discussions on biological technologies or phenomena and how they impact the environment with respect to public policy, social concerns, and economic impact. It also involves stewardship of Luther-owned land and promoting the institution’s goals of sustainability. While these activities are often designated as service to the college, they are important missions of the biology department and should be considered as scholarship when the activity leads to the outcomes described above (e.g., peer-reviewed publications, presentations at scientific conferences or legislative forums, performances, extramural funding pursuits).

Chemistry:
Luther College and the Chemistry Department at Luther College believe that in order to achieve the learning environment we wish for our students, our faculty must be effective teachers, and they must be active scholars, and they must be active in activities that help sustain the community of this place. The word “and” is important. No matter how active a faculty member is in supporting the general program of the college, general community service cannot substitute for scholarly activity if that person is to be an effective model for our students. By the same token, scholarly activity, even if exemplary, cannot make up for poor teaching. Each of the three activities is important; each requires ongoing attention, time, and commitment; and balancing all three is recognized as challenging.

Philosophy:
Original research is the activity of asking and answering significant philosophical, pedagogical, or interdisciplinary questions. Its results are typically expressed in peer-reviewed written works such as scholarly monographs, journal articles, book chapters, encyclopedia articles, translations, edited volumes, and critical editions. They are also expressed in competitively selected presentation of papers at professional conferences, in invited papers and presentations, and in service as respondent or referee for professional conferences, journals, and publishers.

Religion:
On-going projects that result in course development, collaborative research, or interdisciplinary experiences for students.

English:
The department affirms scholarship as equal in importance to college governance and administration, and the year-by-year shaping of interdisciplinary programs such as Paideia, Women’s Studies, Africana Studies, and others though both scholarship and service are secondary to our central commitment to teaching.

A prime example of multidisciplinary research can be seen in Luther College's project, Body of Water. The Body of Water Project reveals the sacredness of water—this essential molecule and elixir of life—while acknowledging challenges and solutions surrounding water usage and quality on a local, regional, and global scale. Science and the arts are intentionally interwoven to more powerfully inform, connect, and inspire human bodies of water to cherish and protect this precious and damaged natural resource. Biology, Visual and Performing Arts, and Music professors all collaborated on this project with additional contributions from students from different disciplines. https://www.luther.edu/body-of-water/

Luther College's Preus Library provides a wide depth and breadth of resources to support interdisciplinary sustainability research on campus. In the past three years, we have added several resources specifically to support sustainability and the Environmental Studies program, including the databases GREENR & GreenFILE. In addition, we are one of the few colleges of our size that subscribes to E&E News (Environmental and Energy Publishing), which is a premier publication in the industry. In addition to these specialized databases, Preus Library subscribes to a wide variety of resources for closely related disciplines and multidisciplinary database resources (such as BioOne, JSTOR, and AGRICOLA) and current scholarly and trade e-book collections (including JSTOR Books and Ebook Central).

The Library has a dedicated liaison to the Environmental Studies program, and designates a portion of its materials budget to selecting and maintaining resources that support research and the curriculum in that area. Additionally, librarians provide specialized research instruction and guidance for Environmental Studies students and faculty.

The URL above links to the research portion of our Climate Action Plan.

As a residential liberal arts college, Luther places its primary emphasis on teaching, not research. Thus climate change and sustainability research has not been a primary emphasis in our climate action planning. We do, however, place significant emphasis on involving undergraduates in research and must work to increase opportunities for student and faculty research related to sustainability. What follows are several ways Luther College will promote more research related to sustainability and climate change:

1. Grants: The College must use internal and external resources to increase support for sustainability research. Specifically, Luther should support at least two summer research projects related to environmental sustainability, as was done in the past. Past research projects have contributed to at least two books and multiple articles, posters, and scholarly presentations. Luther will also aggressively seek external grants to support faculty pursuing research in this area.

2. Faculty Development: In addition to promoting greater integration of sustainability within the curriculum, faculty development should also stimulate interest in new research opportunities. For example, The Oneota Project, a summer faculty development program focused on place and sustainability, should serve as a catalyst for promoting sustainability research as well as new approaches to teaching.

3. Environmental Studies: More than 20 faculty from across the disciplines are affiliated with Luther’s interdisciplinary environmental studies program. Many of these faculty are actively engaged in research related to climate change and sustainability. The College will continue to investigate ways to encourage and support research in environmental studies, including following through on plans to fund an endowed chair in environmental studies.

4. Center for Sustainable Communities: This Center will promote opportunities for faculty in business, political science, economics, and other disciplines to engage in research focused on fostering a move toward sustainability within our region. The Center will nurture partnerships between students and faculty on campus and organizations in the region to encourage applied sustainability research with direct relevance to our region.

5. Natural Lands: Luther’s 1,000 acre campus includes hundreds of acres of natural lands that provide a plethora of research opportunities for students and faculty in biology, environmental studies, and other disciplines. The College recently placed 130 acres of floodplain land along the Upper Iowa River into a permanent conservation easement. This move not only preserves this key habitat but also provides unique opportunities for research on ecological restoration and carbon sequestration.