Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 43.94
Liaison Lisa Kawai
Submission Date June 5, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Soka University of America
AC-10: Support for Research

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 M. Robert Hamersley
PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology
Environmental Studies
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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:

The Pacific Basin Research Center (PBRC) provides partial funding for Soka students to be involved in summer activities such as internships, research, and volunteering that are consistent with the Soka and the PBRC mission to understand and promote humanistic development. Up to ten grants of up to $2000 to student projects which have the potential to enrich student knowledge and perhaps make some small, humble contributions to local societies are provided every year. In the previous three years, students have been involved in research on various political, social, economic, and environmental aspects of the Pacific Basin region.
http://www.soka.edu/about_soka/sustainability/Curriculum/student-research.aspx


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:

Starting in 2008, the Pacific Basin Research Center began offering two Summer Research Grants of $5,000 each for faculty interested in pursuing research on topics relevant to countries and people in and around the Pacific Basin.


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?:
Yes

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

Excerpt from Faculty Handbook:
Excellence in scholarship and creative achievement will be evaluated by examining the candidate's full record over the candidate's entire career and in light of the recommendations generated during prior reviews. Evidence of excellence should include a high level of continuing involvement in professional activity and may consist of one or a variety of the following-
Scholarly inquiry, investigations, creations or performances undertaken within the boundaries of a discipline, investigations at the interface between traditional disciplines and interdisciplinary inquiry by groups of faculty members;
Investigations into the teaching-learning process, evaluation, and assessment;
Scholarly inquiry, investigation or creations undertaken collaboratively with others'
Intellectually innovative work of any serious academic and /or creative nature


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 Daisaku & Kaneko Ikeda Library has library guides (libguides) available online to facilitate research on peace and war, ecology, LGBTQ studies, and climate change. The library also provides students free access to online databases related to environmental and social sustainability such as GreenFile, Access Science, and Annual World Report by Human Rights Watch among others.
http://libguides.soka.edu/


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