| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 50.85 |
| Liaison | Sarah Williams |
| Submission Date | Feb. 8, 2017 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Whitman College
AC-10: Support for Research
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.00 / 4.00 |
Brandon
Bishop Campus Sustainability Coordinator Physical Plant |
Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct research in sustainability? :
A brief description of the student research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
Students are encouraged to pursue multidisciplinary research and degree programs. At Whitman Students can interlink a number of different academic focuses. Examples of this can be seen with our Environmental Studies program. Within this program students from Art, History, Anthropology, Economics, Political Science can fuse their traditional degree focus with Environmental Studies. This is mirrored within our research as students are encouraged to develop research that cross traditional academic boundaries. In addition to undergraduate research fair our Office of Fellowships supports student research through pursuit of national scholarships, fellowships and grants.
Does the institution have a program to encourage faculty from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct research in sustainability topics?:
A brief description of the faculty research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
No. However, we do have the Cross-Disciplinary Learning and Teaching Initiative in which groups of faculty can receive compensation for time and funds for books to develop their own cross-disciplinary topics, typically with an emphasis on teaching. Several of these have investigated topics around environmental issues if not sustainability precisely.
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?:
A brief description of the institution’s support for interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research, including any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
Our institution just revisited policies related to tenure. The institution's old policies provided recognition for interdisciplinary work in the previous tenure and promotions guidelines. The revised policy has given more attention to this policy. In addition to these policies Whitman College has a number of faculty with shared positions across the college. Cross discipline focuses are encouraged across a number of our departments such as faculty having dual roles in Environmental Studies Department and Anthropology. Recently MOU for these faculty were written to better prevent their being overburden from responsibilities of dual programs. These policies are aimed at encouraging multidisciplinary research. In addition to these actions the institution has adopted a policy recognizing emerging forms of scholarship, including digital scholarship and open access journals.
Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research, including any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
The institution currently provides an academic repository for research conducted by our faculty. In addition to this support the library supports subscriptions to a number of sustainability journals.
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.