Suzanne Hansen
4.00 / 4.00 Suzanne Savanick Hansen
Macalester Sustainbility Office
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:
The Library publish all Senior Honors Projects to the Macalester Digital Commons, making them available and open access; some of these Honors Projects have been downloaded in excess of 18,776 times.
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:
A foundation has supported faculty-student research on sustainability issues.
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:
In addition to the "typical" evidence of scholarly excellence (e.g. number and significance of refereed articles and books and publicly performed artistic works), non-traditional scholarship that interdisciplinary scholars often produce, such as "publicly disseminated reports from action research and/or service-learning projects" and "technical reports from consulting projects" are recognized as credible evidence of excellence. In addition, Macalester focuses on "the quality of the activity and involvement" rather than on simple quantitative measures of scholarship supports interdisciplinary work.
Source: Citation: Hornbach, D. (2011) Macalester College; A Cross-Cutting Case Study, in Pfirman et al, Interdisciplinary Hiring and Career Development: Guidance for Individuals and Institutions, National Council for Science and the Environment. Edited by Helen Warren, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at Macalester College.
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:
In terms of research support, the Library makes databases available that provide information on sustainability issues. As an ongoing and growing project, the Library houses the Sustainability Office's data in their Digital Commons. This provides faculty, staff, and students access to freely and openly accessible Sustainability data with which individuals can conduct research. Individuals may use the materials located in the repository (http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/sustainability/).
On campus, the library also supports sustainability programming. This includes a focus on reducing the amount of paper used in printing and through book club selections which focus on sustainability issues.
Additional information on our programs and services will be found on our website page listed below.
https://www.macalester.edu/sustainability/data-reports/studentresources/studentprojects/