Unity Environmental University
AC-10: Support for Research

All graduate students must complete a capstone project to graduate. Unity hosts a Student Conference each semester to highlight student research, partnership, and creative work. The Sustainability Office awards the Sustainability Award at each conference. Nominations for the award are open to all students. Additionally, there is a strong focus on participation in "Research Experiences for Undergraduates" -- a program that places Unity students at top research institutions throughout the country for intensive summer research experience.

Unity's Faculty Scholarship Committee supports research efforts for Unity faculty There is a Professional Development Fund that helps faculty develop seed ideas or provides match. The institution has a return of IDC policy that provides an incentive to apply for grant money and the college has a grant writer to assist faculty and staff with applications.

The college encourages interdisciplinary research and considers faculty scholarship in review and promotion decisions. A past example of interdisciplinary research is the multi-year Hemlock Ecosystem Management study led by four faculty members in ecology, GIS, biology, and botany, using undergraduate student researchers from Unity and other colleges.

The library’s research guides provide access to the wide variety of resources that the library offers to support the curriculum and the underlying mission in sustainability. Though a guide might not specifically list resources with the word “sustainability” included, these collections are curated with this theme as one component. The library’s collection development policies guide the selection of materials. As such, the library’s first priority is to collect resources that support the curriculum and mission of the College. Format of the resource is also considered to ensure appropriate use (i.e. an electronic version will be purchased over a print version when use fits that need.) The librarians are frequently invited to speak with classes regarding the use of library resources for assignments. These instruction sessions are tailored to address the specific requirements of the assignment and, depending on the course, do touch on sustainability focused topics. Often, we have the benefit of student and faculty research aligning in such a way that we can make use of the same resources for both purposes.

Research guides: https://unity.libguides.com/research_guides Collection development policies: http://unity.libguides.com/c.php?g=602932&p=4609570#s-lg-box-14409793