Furman University
AC-10: Support for Research

Furman's broad student fellows program supports students doing sustainability research and service, as well as other campus and community-based projects. These opportunities encourage students to engage sustainability in diverse ways and develop their academic credentials along with their personal character, sense of place and responsibility.

The Shi Center supports all sustainability research on campus, thorugh funding, networking, and program support but is most intimately involved in three sustainability research programs: the Faculty Sustainability Research Program, the Food Systems and Farming Research Initiative, and Full Cost Analysis case study development.

As stated by Furman’s Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, “Furman believes that interdisciplinary research enhances the message of the liberal arts and those teachers serving as role models for students. Both interdisciplinary research and interdisciplinary course development are encouraged by the university at large as well as individual departments, and are also valued during the tenure and promotion process.” As outlined in IM policy 109.3 (https://policies.furman.edu//view.php?policy=97), only interdisciplinary minors are allowed and Furman requires at least three departments to participate in the minor. Furman does not allow single discipline minors in recognition of our belief that students should engage in interdisciplinary thinking. The university offers two interdisciplinary majors (Urban Studies, Neuroscience). All of these interdisciplinary minor and major programs incorporate courses whose content span traditional disciplinary boundaries. The university supports numerous faculty who hold joint appointments in two departments. Furman’s curricular features of faculty-led travel study courses, required freshman writing and critical thinking seminars, and experiential, two-credit May Experience courses particularly lend themselves to content beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries. Memos to faculty candidates for tenure and promotion as well as to department chairs submitting faculty evaluations explain that “evaluations of faculty performance are based on teaching effectiveness, professional activity, and institutional service.” In the context of Furman’s academic culture of liberal learning and interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration demonstrated above, faculty reviews are undoubtedly enhanced by demonstration of cross-disciplinary work, and particularly cross-disciplinary course development and teaching.

The Library also provides a sustainability research guide filled with useful databases for sustatinability research. The reserach guides facilitate student research in the field of sustainability. The Library also has a Science Librarian whose area of expertise and campus support includes sustainability.