Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 48.92
Liaison Leslie North
Submission Date Aug. 15, 2012
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.1

Western Kentucky University
ER-15: Sustainability Research Identification

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution developed a definition of sustainability research?:
Yes

A copy of the institution's definition of sustainability research:

Sustainability research is research leading to innovations that support ecological vitality, social well-being and economic prosperity. It may focus on key principles of sustainability (such as finite and renewable resources and environmental justice), address sustainability challenges (such as waste reduction, food production, energy policy, internalization of externalities and climate change), or further our understanding of systems and the interconnectedness of environment, culture, and economy.


Has the institution identified its sustainability research activities and initiatives?:
Yes

A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the inventory:

TopSCHOLAR® is a digital archive as well as a new discovery path for primary research and creative works at WKU. Each deposit receives a permanent URL that you can copy into an email, vita, or elsewhere and open at the document level. Students can search the database for primary sources and also publish their capstone papers, presentations, research and honors theses under faculty sponsorship. Faculty can see what others on campus and in the Digital Commons Gateway are doing with most recent downloads and searches across the participants' databases (digitalcommons.bepress.com). Faculty also experience wider distribution of their works, whether previously published in a different version or newly published, as the repository provides worldwide open access.


Does the institution make its sustainability research inventory publicly available online?:
Yes

The website URL where the sustainability research inventory is posted (required if claiming Part 3 of the credit):
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.