Rowan University
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Environmental Humanities @Rowan

Rapid growth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics ('STEM') programs has revolutionized Rowan University. While STEM research and pedagogy is critically important for devising technical solutions to environmental problems, STEM fields are not necessarily oriented towards understanding the cultural, ideological, and historical contexts in which environmental problems ‘come to be’ in the first place. For that, we must turn to the tools, approaches, and sensibilities of the environmental humanities ('EH').

In 2017, Dept. of Geography, Planning & Sustainability professor Jordan P. Howell and Dept. of English professor Dustin Crowley were awarded a highly competitive Humanities Connections grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Their project, "Cultivating the Environmental Humanities", has three major components aimed at developing more holistic and comprehensive approaches to environmental problem-solving. First, the development of curricular structures (courses, experiential learning opportunities, learning modules, and an undergraduate certificate program in Environmental Humanities); second, a public research colloquium series highlighting intersections of STEM and EH work; and third, a faculty fellows group aimed at building a culture of collaborative research between STEM, the humanities, and social sciences.

The School of Earth & Environment is proud to be the home of this innovative interdisciplinary venture that engages both humanistic and scientific methodologies for examining the interwoven nature of environments and societies. Check back often for updates and announcements about the growth of EH at Rowan, and explore the links to the left for additional resources.

A summary paper about our project and experience is available here

Sustainable Facilities Center

The Sustainable Facilities Center (SFC) is part of the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering at Rowan University (RU). The center helps public and private entities sustainably manage facilities by reducing the environmental, economic, and social impacts of buildings. The faculty associated with the SFC have worked on sustainable facilities projects since before 2004. These efforts resulted in the founding of the SFC in 2018.

Assistance offered by SFC includes:

• BUILDER SMS implementation;
• Building energy & water audits;
• 3D laser scans of building interiors & exteriors;
• Building information modeling using Autodesk Revit;
• Facility management using FacilityDude;
• Energy outreach and planning;
• Installation Status Reports;
• Solar and wind assessments.

Graduate and undergraduate students are crucial to the success of the SFC. Graduate students work on center-related theses and dissertations. Undergraduate students participate through summer internships and engineering clinic coursework.

Cambell Library offers research guidance for the following: Geography, Planning and Sustainability (https://libguides.rowan.edu/geography), Climate Change (https://libguides.rowan.edu/climate_change), Environmental Science (https://libguides.rowan.edu/environmental-science#s-lg-box-26999996), and Responsible Business (https://libguides.rowan.edu/responsible_business)