| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 68.64 |
| Liaison | Kimberly Post |
| Submission Date | Feb. 22, 2022 |
Saint Joseph's College - ME
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Greg
Teegarden Professor Natural Sciences |
Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
A brief description of the student sustainability research program:
Students enrolled in the Sustainability Minor and the Environmental Technology and Data Literacy Minor are required to complete the NS 405 Natural Science Internship course. Students majoring in Biology, Environmental Science, Marine Science, and Leadership for Sustainable Communities are strongly encouraged to take NS 405. Predominantly, students taking this internship course will be involved in sustainability research, usually with external community partner involvement. Students may use the Connections program to fund their research, which provides up to $1000 in support.
SJC has regular funding from the Maine Space Grant Consortium (MSGC) for four interns annually to conduct ecological research on local systems. Additional student research support comes from individual faculty, who support interns each summer in ecological/sustainability research (Drs. Green, Teegarden, Jury, Lesher, Dorland, Paruk).
The Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC), SJC's "sustainability office", conducts research on sustainability and pedagogy of sustainability, and employs 1-2 interns annually to conduct and assist with sustainability research (for example, performing a greenhouse gas inventory, or forest carbon storage and sequestration research).
Does the institution have a program to encourage academic staff from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
A brief description of the faculty sustainability research program:
Development of a Civic Sustainability Center
Through the deliberate infusion of Sustainability Education and in recognition of the College's Strategic Planning implementation of the Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC), the campus is developing a Civic Sustainability Lab to promote, enhance, and reward:
a. community-based learning and research
b. participatory group learning/transformative learning
c. critical thinking and reflective learning
d. student-centered learning/problem-based learning
e. experiential learning
This support has led to the development of the new program and major in Leadership for Sustainable Communities (LSC), a multi-disciplinary approach to holistic sustainability of natural communities and anthropogenic systems. SJC is adopting a Leadership for Sustainable Communities approach in revising our Strategic Plan, and revising our core curriculum, to incentivize faculty to research and promote both sustainability pedagogy and sustainability research. SJC will engage in strategic hiring to support the LSC approach, and to enhance our Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) focus, including a new director for a JEDI office.
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?:
A copy of the promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
The promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research:
The Wellehan Learning Commons (the SJC library) serves and supports all disciplines for research needs. The Learning Commons offers many database options for research, materials both printed and electronic, and several staff dedicated to assisting with student and faculty research. Included in the support for all disciplines is sustainability research-specific support for sciences, see e.g. the url listed in Optional Fields below.
Website URL where information about the institution’s support for sustainability research is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.