Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 60.54
Liaison Jane Stewart
Submission Date March 1, 2024

STARS v2.2

Washington and Lee University
AC-9: Research and Scholarship

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 11.79 / 12.00 Jane Stewart
Energy Specialist
Treasurer's office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Sustainability research

Total number of employees that conduct research:
263

Number of employees engaged in sustainability research:
51

Percentage of employees that conduct research that are engaged in sustainability research:
19.39

Part 2. Sustainability research by department

Total number of academic departments that include at least one employee who conducts research:
29

Number of academic departments that include at least one employee who conducts sustainability research:
21

Percentage of departments that conduct research that are engaged in sustainability research:
72.41

Research Inventory 

A copy of the inventory of the institution’s sustainability research (upload):
Inventory of the institution’s sustainability research:
Please see uploaded inventory.

A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the research inventory:
1. A survey was sent to all department and program heads requesting information about sustainability courses offered by the department/program and sustainability related research conducted by faculty within the department.
2. A second survey requesting the same information as above was advertised directly to faculty members at University Faculty Meetings, through the daily email notices system "Campus Notices" and through direct outreach by members of the Faculty Engagement subcommittee of the University Sustainability Committee.
3. The Director of Sustainability and Sustainability Office Interns reviewed all Faculty Profiles on departmental websites and identified faculty whose research appeared sustainability-related but who had not responded to general outreach. The Director of Sustainability then sent a personal email to each of these individuals sharing information about 1) the STARS report and related sustainability research inventory 2) how AASHE defines sustainability, and how Sustainable Development Goals can be useful references. The email then asked each recipient to confirm if their research is in fact appropriately categorized as sustainability-related and if they wished to be included in the inventory. Those who did not affirmatively respond have not been included.
This process was intentionally personal. In addition to gathering accurate information for the inventory, it created a great opportunity for conversation between the Office of Sustainability and scholars engaged in sustainability work on campus, increasing engagement and awareness in both directions. We will use the inventory developed for this STARS report as an internal resource for W&L faculty who are looking to make on-campus connections for collaboration and co-teaching. It will be added as a page to the Sustainability Office website in the coming months.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability research is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Interdisciplinary programs for which faculty are already assigned to a different "home" department (Africana Studies; Latin American and Caribbean Studies; Law, Justice and Society; Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies), the Department of Music and the Department of Physical Education and Athletics are not included in the count of departments in which at least one employee conducts research.

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.