Southwestern University
AC-10: Support for Research

There are funds available on an annual basis for faculty-student collaborative research. The funds are administered by an Awards Committee and the offices of the Provost and the Dean. Faculty have been successful every year in receiving these research grants. The newly initiated Green Fund provides another opportunity for students and faculty to receive funding for sustainability research, with roughly $22,000 available each semester for all types of sustainability-related proposals.

The institution provides competitive internal grants for research in all areas, including sustainability and environmental studies. SU also received two large grants, both of which provide support for research in sustainability (Mellon Foundation, Kendeda Foundation). We've used both external and internal grants to fund research for students, staff, and faculty.

One of the primary curricular programs at Southwestern, the "Paideia" program, is a completely and intentionally focused interdisciplinary requirement for all students. Because of this not only are courses encouraged to be interdisciplinary as appropriate, but as faculty teacher-scholars, our work in and outside of the classroom is also intentionally interdisciplinary.

As far as "sustainability literacy promotion" is concerned, the library strongly encourages students to print only when necessary. We recycle paper both in bins and for use in staff offices. As an anecdote, for years the Technical Services department never printed on paper that hadn't been printed on one side already. To my knowledge, this is still common practice in that department. We also have stickers above light switches that say "conserve" and we routinely turn off lights and set sleep timers for machines when they aren't in use. E-learning Objects Focused on Sustainability In addition to the InfoGuides created in the library listed above, the library has subscription databases available for scholarly and statistical research. (We also have many print items as well!) While we have many many databases, here is a group with materials relevant to environmental articles and research: Academic Search Complete, 1975+ Biological Abstracts, 1969+ BioOne, 2000+ Environment Index, 1950+ GreenFILE LexisNexis Academic, Current Medline, 1966+ PubMed (NLM), 1950+ ScienceDirect, 1995+ SciFinder, 1900+ TOXNET (NLM), Title and date coverage vary by database WorldCat, 1000 BC to present

In addition to academic and scholarly support of environmental studies and issues, the library staff actively recycles paper, plastic, and glass. We compost in our staff lounge as well as in the library's coffee bar. We collect used Keurig cups for composting and reuse for the SU Garden. Many staff and librarians have been, or are currently, members of various campus committees and groups that promote sustainability. Some of our staff even bike or walk to work.