Susquehanna University
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

The course ENST-505 Community Project, a required capstone course for all Environmental Studies majors, requires students to complete applied sustainability research in our local community.

Summer student research funding provided by the Degenstein Foundation and the Richard King Mellon Foundation supports aquatic ecology research projects conducted in collaboration with SU faculty. This funding supports student wages and housing over 10 weeks during the summer on scientific, policy, and communications research projects that measure, improve, and communicate to the public the ecological health of the Susquehanna River watershed. Students in multiple majors, including Earth and Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Public Policy, Ecology, Biology, Communications, etc. participate in this program.

Scholarship and Creative Activities. Candidates for tenure are advised that their record of scholarship must indicate promise for ongoing and continuing scholarly activity of merit. It is primarily the candidate’s responsibility to document and present for review the evidence of scholarly accomplishments. Publication in recognized scholarly publications, advanced study, presenting professional papers, conducting funded projects, reports of professional consulting activity, public artistic performances or exhibits, program innovation, editorial work, and leadership in professional societies are among the forms that such documented evidence may take. Every candidate needs to place the evidence for their scholarship in the context of current practices in their field. This may include, but is not limited to, statements of professional/scholarly activity produced by appropriate professional organizations, and/or critiques by other professionals in their field. [NOTE: Since 1988 the practice of the University has been to request additional evaluation of scholarly work by external referees; candidates provide the names of such referees.]

Sustainability and related topics are supported by the library through materials selection, databases, and face-to-face interactions. At Susquehanna, sustainability topics appear in various places in the curriculum. Research guides supporting sustainability topics include: Ecology, Biology, earth and Earth and Environmental Sciences and Business. Librarians create course research guides upon consultation with faculty members (e.g., the Environmental Research Subject Guide).

The library has an endowed materials fund (the Skip Wieder Fund) to assist in the acquisition of materials related to environmental science and sustainability. In 2019-20, the Wieder Fund supported our subscription to these periodicals: Ecology, Journal of College Science Teaching, New Scientist, and Science.