Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.81
Liaison Christa Rieck
Submission Date Jan. 4, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Houston
AC-9: Research and Scholarship

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 12.00 / 12.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of the institution’s faculty and/or staff that are engaged in research (headcount):
984

Number of the institution’s faculty and/or staff that are engaged in sustainability research (headcount):
148

Percentage of the institution's faculty and staff researchers that are engaged in sustainability research :
15.04

Total number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that include at least one faculty or staff member that conducts research:
54

Number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that include at least one faculty or staff member that conducts sustainability research:
44

Percentage of research-producing departments that are engaged in sustainability research:
81.48

A copy of the institution’s inventory of its sustainability research that includes names and department affiliations of faculty and staff engaged in sustainability research:
The institution’s inventory of its sustainability research that includes names and department affiliations of faculty and staff engaged in sustainability research:

See research inventory spreadsheet.


A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the research inventory (including the types of faculty and staff included as researchers):

The Office of Sustainability staff started the inventory by using the existing sustainability research list and additional sustainability keyword search.Then, the office staff searched the institution's website for additional sustainability research projects and compiled a list of possible projects for each college (based off of what was found on each department's webpage and the existing list).

Each college was contacted individually to review the possible sustainability research projects that the team identified. Specifically, the staff in the Office contacted the dean, department chairs and the already identified faculty engaged in sustainability research or curriculum. Some colleges and departments appointed a liaison to review the research list, sent back the confirmed projects and added any additional projects that the Office staff missed. Other colleges and departments had individuals contact the Office staff directly regarding their specific sustainability research projects. (Departments were also contacted about sustainability courses during this process to avoid overlap since many faculty who teach in sustainability also conduct sustainability research.)

After receiving responses from the colleges and departments, the Office of Sustainability staff compiled all of the feedback to create the complete sustainability research inventory. If a specific project was not confirmed by the dean, department chair or faculty member, the Office of Sustainability staff reviewed the project again and decided whether or not the research project could be considered sustainability research based off of the project description.

The Office staff then met with the Division of Research and decided to only include ranked faculty (rather than also including lecturers, adjunct faculty and staff) for the total researchers count. A complete list of university researchers is not readily available and almost all ranked faculty are required to conduct research. Finally, the Division of Research pulled a list of grants from the university's research database based off of a list of sustainability keywords that the Office staff suggested. All of this information was compiled to produce the final research inventory.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The number used for all researchers include all ranked faculty (Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor). The average faculty headcount for 2016 and 2017* covered is 984 via IPEDS. *Note for FY 2017 the same data was unable to be retrieved therefore the total numbers were 713 tenured + 266 tenured track + 1 annual contract.


The number used for all researchers include all ranked faculty (Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor). The average faculty headcount for 2016 and 2017* covered is 984 via IPEDS. *Note for FY 2017 the same data was unable to be retrieved therefore the total numbers were 713 tenured + 266 tenured track + 1 annual contract.

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.