| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 70.92 |
| Liaison | Katie Maynard |
| Submission Date | Aug. 19, 2014 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
University of California, Santa Barbara
AC-10: Support for Research
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.00 / 4.00 |
Katie
Maynard Sustainability Coordinator Geography & Sustainability |
Does the institution have a program to encourage student sustainability research that meets the criteria for this credit?:
A brief description of the institution’s program(s) to encourage student research in sustainability:
UC Santa Barbara offers a wide array of fellowship programs, including several targeted towards sustainability. Here are two examples:
The Institute for Energy Efficiency (http://iee.ucsb.edu/programs/fellowship-program) supports graduate students across its six research groups through competitive fellowships. These awards are granted to students who demonstrate academic excellence and a commitment to effecting vital change in the field of energy efficiency. Please find more information on our fellowships programming: http://iee.ucsb.edu/programs/fellowship-program
The Bren School hosts the following fellowship programs that provide opportunities through it’s Master’s and PhD students:
Eco Entrepreneurship Fellow Program (EFF)
Latin American Fisheries Fellowship Program (LAFF)
Sustainable Water Markets Fellowship Program (Water Markets)
Please find more information about specific information regarding each of the above fellowship programs: http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/admissions/fellowship_programs.htm
The website URL where information about the student research program is available:
Does the institution have a program to encourage faculty sustainability research that meets the criteria for this credit?:
A brief description of the institution’s program(s) to encourage faculty research in sustainability:
UC Santa Barbara is committed to prioritizing the Environment as an interdisciplinary theme for our research and teaching between 2007-2025
(UCSB Strategic Academic Plan http://evc.ucsb.edu/strategic.academic.plan/).
This strategic plan is used in determining UC contributions to faculty research and in decisions regarding cost sharing on UC research projects. Cost sharing is a type of project contribution in which the University bears the costs associated with the conduct of a sponsored project that the University may otherwise charge to the extramural funds. Typically, these costs are not separately budgeted but are part of the department's operating expenses. Cost sharing can be either requested by the sponsor as a requirement of the funding agreement or can be a voluntary contribution from UCSB. From 2010 to 2013, UCSB has contributed at least $7,081,368 through cost sharing and other contributions (including some in-kind contributions of administrative costs and staffing) to sustainability related research.
In addition to this significant support, UC Santa Barbara's Academic Senate Sustainability Work Group offers a Sustainability Champion Program, which is funded in part from core campus funds and in part from an off-campus foundation. The primary goal of the “Campus Sustainability Champion” is to recognize faculty innovation and encourage ongoing research and teaching in sustainability. Faculty submit competitive proposals that promise to engage undergraduate and graduate students in sustainability issues and provide campus-wide leadership and visibility in sustainability in education and research. Awardees are selected by a committee, based on the merit of their proposals; recipients receive funding to support activities including, but not limited to, graduate and undergraduate research assistants; and all awardees will be required to lead an annual Freshman Seminar in Sustainability.
The current Campus Sustainability Champion is John Foran, professor of Sociology, whose 2013-14 project is titled "Climate Justice: The Condition for a Sustainable Future." His team of UCSB scholars, undergraduates, and graduate students interviewed young activists at the U.N. climate summit in Poland in November 2013 for a film project and an e-book. They have also done outreach in the local high schools to inspire students to attend an all-day gathering on May 10: "Re-Imagining Climate Justice: At the Crossroads of Hope and Possibility," aimed at involving young people in the global climate justice movement's quest for a just climate treaty and an equitable, democratic, and sustainable society. Their work can be seen at www.climatejusticeproject.com
http://www.sustainability.ucsb.edu/campus-sustainability-champion/
The website URL where information about the faculty research program is available:
Has the institution formally adopted policies and procedures that give positive recognition to interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research during faculty promotion and/or tenure decisions?:
A brief description or the text of the institution’s policy regarding interdisciplinary research:
The website URL where information about the treatment of interdisciplinary research is available:
Does the institution provide ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning that meets the criteria for this credit?:
A brief description of the institution's library support for sustainability research and learning:
University of California, Santa Barbara provides an array of support for sustainability research through the library including:
Research guides for a variety of sustainability-focused and related courses, such as Business Planning (http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/writ107B), Approaches to University Writing for Multilingual Students: Campus Sustainability (http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/ling12), Environmental Studies Capstone (http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/ES197), Writing about Sustainability (http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/writ105sFall2013), Writing for Environmental Studies (http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/writ109es), Conservation Ecology (http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/eemb168), and Environmental Politics and Policymaking (http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/esm241). The course guides provide a variety of information and resources, such as links to articles, databases, websites, and techniques for accessing other library resources. For example, the course guide for Business Planning (WRIT 107B) includes a section that defines sustainability and corporate sustainability management, and it provides lists of books, reference materials, online articles, and websites that discuss how corporations incorporate and manage sustainability initiatives. Another course guide, Approaches to University Writing for Multilingual Students: Campus Sustainability (LING 12), includes a reference of key terms and search phrases for students to use in order to effectively access other library resources and has a links to outside resources, such as Sustainability Science Abstracts, that can be accessed through the University's subscription. Each course guide provides different resources that are specific to the students needs when they complete research and other assignments for the course.
A collection of general Environmental Science resources (http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/envi?hs=a) such as information on Green Careers, Endangered Species, Field Guides, Environmental Science resources in the Santa Barbara area, and information on Sustainability in Higher Education are also available. (http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/docs/658/317656/sustainability13.pdf).
The UCSB Library also provides a subscription to the database, Sustainability Science Abstracts, and links to the freely accessible GreenFILE database. It has 40 current journal subscriptions in sustainable development and over 1000 in the environmental sciences.
The website URL where information about the institution's library support for sustainability is available:
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.