Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 46.13
Liaison Traci Knabenshue
Submission Date March 3, 2021

STARS v2.2

West Virginia University
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Traci Knabenshue
Sustainability Direcor
Auxiliary and Business Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the student sustainability research program:

The Office of Undergraduate Research runs two programs that can be utilized for sustainability research-- the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) and the Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP). SURE is a program that recruits students interested in graduate work to apply for a paid 8-week, 40 hours per week experience in their field of interest. SURE students are often upperclassmen who may contact faculty to flesh out joining their research teams. RAP allows Federal Work Study eligible students to be introduced to research methods and work in a two-semester experience. RAP students usually have no experience with research, so they apply and the Office of Undergraduate Research matches them with faculty based on their stated interests. We reviewed abstracts from the student research symposia from Fall 2017-Spring 2020 and found that about 8% of projects were sustainability-focused.


Does the institution have a program to encourage academic staff from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the faculty sustainability research program:

WVU has multiple programs within its Energy Institute (EI) to encourage multidisciplinary research between departments. The EI does this in several different ways. Within the last three years, the group provided seed grants for research into rare earth mineral extraction from acid mine drainage, which has now resulted in a $5 million grant from the Department of Energy. The EI also makes deliberate connections for faculty looking to partner with other internal researchers to strengthen projects. The EI also contacts faculty when grant opportunities arise and show great potential for current research and helps connect faculty already working on external proposals to other faculty that can develop projects and augment research. In addition to rare earth minerals, other collaborative projects include redevelopment of abandoned mine lands for solar arrays and geothermal energy modeling as a potential energy source in Appalachia.


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?:
Yes

A copy of the promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
The promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:

The institution-wide policy discusses interdisciplinary research in a neutral fashion, and states that unite processes should determine how interdisciplinary research is evaluated.

College specific mentions of positive recognition for interdisciplinary research include:

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, Page 2: https://faculty.wvu.edu/files/d/cc9da5a1-d227-4ebb-a02c-d4b16b4bae5a/statler-guidelines-for-annual-evaluation-promotion-and-tenure-070915-final.pdf

John Chambers College of Business and Economics, Page 32: https://faculty.wvu.edu/files/d/e3fb1b65-ec9f-4dad-9362-2a2072e87048/faculty-operating-manual-12-13-2019.pdf

College of Creative Arts, Page 4: https://faculty.wvu.edu/files/d/76cb9816-c99e-4dc8-a232-91801b32598d/college-of-creative-arts-fept-document-provost-approved-11-30-2016.pdf

College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, Page 5: https://faculty.wvu.edu/files/d/1c9968a8-4673-4d31-8d36-91e8294822de/frga-with-proposed-changes-9-18-2020-final.pdf

Reed College of Media, Page 6: https://faculty.wvu.edu/files/d/47ecb5f2-d4cc-4680-a011-a62a93f3e20e/reed-college-2017-pt-updates.pdf

School of Medicine, Page 7: https://faculty.wvu.edu/files/d/17e4d930-aa71-4a70-9228-64c7bd38ae36/final-school-of-medicine-guidelines-august-30-2019.pdf

School of Pharmacy, Page 21: https://faculty.wvu.edu/files/d/8b137d59-c70b-45d5-90e0-b70d7b10d87d/pharmacy-faculty-evaluation-document-approved-provost-july-17-2019.pdf

Extension Service, Page 1: https://faculty.wvu.edu/files/d/1dd11118-d3f6-447e-9972-385a530280f9/wvu-extension-guidelines-with-appendix.pdf

Department of Public Administration, Page 10: https://faculty.wvu.edu/files/d/5338ca77-efcc-42f7-a94e-9b27214f8814/puba-final-6-10-10.pdf

Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Page 7: https://faculty.wvu.edu/files/d/722a7c92-c75f-4fae-a6c0-8c4ff6925b76/wlll-guidelines-approved-4-20-12.pdf


Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research:

WVU has an 'Art in the Libraries' exhibit series, and one recent and another planned exhibit touch on sustainability issues. The Water exhibit that ran from August 2018 – June 2019. https://exhibits.lib.wvu.edu/gallery_water.

The Food Justice in Appalachia exhibit will launch next summer: https://exhibits.lib.wvu.edu/gallery_foodjustice.


Website URL where information about the institution’s support for 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:
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