Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	67.59
Liaison	Susan Dorward
Submission Date	Aug. 4, 2022

STARS v2.2

Raritan Valley Community College
AC-9: Research and Scholarship

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	12.00 / 12.00	Susan Dorward Sustainability and Energy Coordinator Facilities and Grounds

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Part 1. Sustainability research

Total number of employees that conduct research:

Number of employees engaged in sustainability research:

Percentage of employees that conduct research that are engaged in sustainability research:

82.14

Part 2. Sustainability research by department

Total number of academic departments that include at least one employee who conducts research:

Number of academic departments that include at least one employee who conducts sustainability research:

Percentage of departments that conduct research that are engaged in sustainability research:

Research Inventory

A copy of the inventory of the institution’s sustainability research (upload):

stars_research_2.docx

Inventory of the institution’s sustainability research:

Sustainability-related research – 23 employees

Center for Environmental Studies, Science & Engineering: 19 employees (2 faculty, 1 staff, and 16 non-student interns)

Jay Kelly: forest ecology, organic gardening, rare plants, deer herbivory

Emilie Stander: water quality, harmful algal blooms

Jessica Ray (staff): forest ecology, deer herbivory

16 interns: campus sustainability (outreach and education, recycling, drinking water quality, ridesharing program)

Automotive, Science & Engineering: 1 faculty
Sara Heller researches emissions and hybrid/electric vehicles

English: 2 faculty
In fall 2021, Lisa Tucker wrote and presented a scholarly paper titled "The Impact of Global Warming in Imbolo Mbue's Eco-Justice Novel How Beautiful We Were" at the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA) virtual international conference.
Katherine Suk researched open educational resources (OER)

Library: 1 faculty
Megan Dempsey researched open educational resources (OER)

Research not related to sustainability – 5 employees
History: 1 faculty (Carl Lindskoog)
Library: 2 faculty (Alyssa Valenti, Janelle Bitter)
Nursing: 2 faculty (Joanie Roop, Aimee Smolensky)

A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the research inventory:

In May 2022, Sustainability & Energy Coordinator Sue Dorward sent two emails to fulltime faculty and select staff members requesting responses from all researchers. She sent a third email to all fulltime faculty, fulltime administrators, fulltime and part-time staff in September 2022. See the email copy below.
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This is my 2nd and final faculty request for renewing RVCC's AASHE STARS sustainability rating. This is the first year that we are seeking credits for research and scholarship, to recognize the work being done by the Center for Environmental Studies. This requires reporting the number of employees doing research/scholarship as well as the number doing sustainability-related research/scholarship.

The STARS program provides the following definitions:

AASHE defines sustainability in a pluralistic and inclusive way, encompassing human and ecological health, social justice, secure livelihoods, and a better world for all generations.

Sustainability research is research and scholarship that explicitly addresses the concept of sustainability, furthers our understanding of the interdependence of ecological and social/economic systems, or has a primary and explicit focus on a major sustainability challenge.
(They do not define research or scholarship.)

If you do research/scholarship as part of your work for RVCC, please respond to this email by 4/30 answering the following:

How many non-faculty RVCC employees do you work with on your research/scholarship? (Provide names if possible.)

Does any of your research/scholarship qualify as sustainability research as defined above?

If yes,
What department do you work in?

Provide your research interests/topics or a brief description of your sustainability research.

Thank you for your help. Any questions, just ask. Have a wonderful weekend.

Sue

Optional Fields

Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability research is available:

https://www.raritanval.edu/Environmental-Studies

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

As a two-year college, in general our faculty do not conduct research. The new Center for Environmental Studies has funding for research and hiring interns, so that dominates the numbers reported here.