University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
ER-15: Sustainability Research Identification

Sustainability in Research The material below is assembled for assessment purposes only as part of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s submission to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS). Sustainability is defined as the commitment to make decisions today that benefit our quality of life without compromising the long-term health of communities and citizens, biodiversity, climate, and food and water systems. Sustainability addresses needs and growth that weigh how environmentally sound, socially just, and economically viable a practice or process develops and is implemented. Within the above definition, sustainability rests upon two key assumptions: 1. Nature's capacity to deal with anthropogenic forces has limitations which must be embraced. 2. We as individuals, campuses, and local communities are not isolated, but rather, interconnected with local, national, and global human activity across social, economic, and environmental boundaries. Sustainability research: 1. Focuses on a key characteristic of sustainability (such as social equity or environmental stewardship) 2. Addresses a sustainability challenge (such as climate change or poverty) or 3. Furthers our understanding of the interconnectedness of societal and environmental challenges. Sustainability research leads toward solutions that support economic prosperity, social well-being, and ecological health.

UW-Milwaukee distributed a survey to department chairs asking to identify sustainability-related courses as well as research. Due to low response to research questions, Office of Sustainability staff analyzed two fiscal years of data from UW-Milwaukee Graduate School extramurally-funded projects and project descriptions. Numbers include the average of total tenured faculty and non-tenured faculty for the Fiscal Years 2011-2012. Sustainability-related projects were determined by project description for faculty/staff that received extramural funding for research and public service.. Department responses were also included if faculty/staff received extramural funding, but were not included in project descriptions.