| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 65.05 |
| Liaison | Konrad Schlarbaum |
| Submission Date | Feb. 15, 2021 |
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
A brief description of the student sustainability research program:
UCCS offers several scholarships to encourage student research relating to sustainability topics, with a particular emphasis on issues of diversity and inclusiveness, gender, and cultural pluralism. These include financial support and, in some cases, a requirement that research be presented in a public talk. Below are links to three web sites containing information about programs to encourage student research in sustainability:
The Dane Vogel Memorial Scholarship is available to declared Geography and Environmental Studies (GES) majors at the sophomore or higher level. This is a merit-based award; students must have a minimum overall grade point average of 3.3 for all courses taken at UCCS. The Scholarship will be for $1000, and each recipient can receive the award only once.
https://www2.uccs.edu/geography/dane-vogel-memorial-scholarship#:~:text=The%20Dane%20Vogel%20Memorial%20Scholarship%20is%20available%20to%20declared%20Geography,all%20courses%20taken%20at%20UCCS.
Jacquelyn Beyer Fellowship -The purpose of the scholarship is to encourage outstanding undergraduate and graduate women students with declared majors in Geography and Environmental Studies (GES) or in a program emphasizing women's studies or lesbian studies to make the best use of their academic experiences.
https://www2.uccs.edu/geography/jacquelyn-beyer-fellowship
Women’s and Ethnic Studies Scholarships
Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez & Janice M. Gould Scholarships
https://diversity.uccs.edu/scholarships/cesar-chavez/descriptions
Additionally, the Sustainability Office encourages and works with students on sustainability research and hands-on projects. These are typically independent study courses and have included renewable energy, STARS, website development, zero waste initiatives.
Does the institution have a program to encourage academic staff from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
A brief description of the faculty sustainability research program:
The UCCS Green Action Fund provides a maximum $5,000.00 Research Seed Grant as one of their funding opportunities. This has resulted in the funding of: Tree Ring Lab Research, Campus Sustainability Culture Survey, UCCS Open Space Soil & Revegetation Research.
https://gaf.uccs.edu/projects/projects-funded
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?:
A copy of the promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
The promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
The 2011 Campus Policy on Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure does not spell out recognition based on interdisciplinary research, but each of the departments below have clearly defined interdisciplinary research, program and course development as positive recognition towards promotion or tenure. This is a majority of the departments that offer tenure positions; this total number of departments is different from the departments that offer sustainability courses because it has the addition of the Kraemer Family Library and has the current 2021 list of departments instead of FY19.
Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research:
The librarian staff are assigned various colleges and topics of research. The Geography and Environmental Studies/Sustainability library representative purchased 254 titles in support of GES during the past three fiscal years (Jan 2018-Jan 2021). The attached document shows how many times each book was checked out along with the exhausted list. Note: The circulation stats are not reflective of total usage since many of these titles are electronic resources and are never circulated in the same way as a physical book.
Additionally, the library manages a Lib Guides website to highlight research on sustainability at http://libguides.uccs.edu/sustainability
Website URL where information about the institution’s support for sustainability research is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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.