Towson University
AC-6: Sustainability Research
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
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Reporter |
6.1 Percentage of academic departments engaged in sustainability research
Number of academic departments engaged in sustainability research:
Annotated list or inventory of the institution’s sustainability research by department:
Description of the process used to identify the institution’s sustainability research:
The Office of Sustainability analyzed each department and faculty member website. Only publications listed on the TU websites and published within the previous three years were considered. Sustainability research was determined based on the following key words: sustainable, environmental, pollution, conservation, social, ecology, environmnetal, justice, solar, energy, climate change, sustainability, eco, systems, wetland, restorative, regulations, change, local.
This exercise was completed in spring of 2024.
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following two figures:
Points earned for indicator AC 6.1:
6.2 Incentives for sustainability research
Description of the sustainability research incentives for academic staff:
The Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Office fosters the culture of undergraduate scholarship, the Office of Sponsorship Programs and Research provides comprehensive support to those in the TU community seeking internal and external funding for research projects, and the Faculty Academic Center for Excellence at Towson (FACET) sponsors a Sustainability Community of Practice to encourage and support research in sustainability.
The FACET Sustainability Community of Practice partnered with the School of Emerging Technologies, housed within Fisher College of Science and Mathematics, to provide funding for the development of additional sustainability courses.
Does the institution provide incentives for students to conduct sustainability research?:
Description of the sustainability research incentives for students:
All Environmental Science and Studies majors are required to complete a capstone/applications course to graduate. Environmental Research is one such way in which students can fulfill this requirement. Students can conduct research with a faculty member at Towson University or outside of the university and receive course credit for their work. In addition to completing their capstone project through research, students can also fulfill the capstone requirement by taking a senior seminar course where students must complete a class project relating to sustainability. This allows students to apply what they have learned in class to a real life situation in order to practice their problem solving skills in the sustainability field.
TU also offers course-based authentic research laboratory (CURE) classes. The goal is to provide all students with research exposure in a classroom setting that will better prepare them for careers in STEM disciplines and graduate education. CURE classes include several sustainability-focused courses.
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
Optional documentation
Additional documentation for this credit:
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.