University of North Carolina, Greensboro
AC-10: Support for Research

The Green Fund provides an opportunity to: • increase the awareness of sustainability in the campus community; • foster a positive and productive conversation about sustainability and the arts at UNCG and beyond; and • incorporate the creative process into efforts to confront sustainability challenges (such as sustainability education, waste reduction, energy efficiency, water conservation, climate change, etc.). Students submit proposals for financial awards. The projects are reviewed by a student committee to make the awards.

In AY 2014-2015, the Sustainability Faculty Fellows Program was instituted as a way to connect faculty members more closely to sustainability work on UNCG's campus. The Sustainability Faculty Fellows Program promotes collaboration among scholarly disciplines in order to encourage the integration of sustainability in research and teaching across the campus. The SFFs partner with the Academic Sustainability Coordinator (ASC) to further academic sustainability in the areas of Leadership/Outreach, Teaching, and Research. SFFs work on clearly specified projects that may include, but are not limited to: 1) co- or extra-curricular campus programs, 2) curriculum activities (including team-taught and individual courses), and 3) research projects or collaborations. The SFF can be a 1- or 2-year position renewable through re-application. SFFs may be either tenured, tenure-track, or full-time non-ladder faculty. SFF’s are remunerated on an ad hoc basis in consultation with the faculty member’s department head and dean; remuneration (up to $3500) may include a course release, research/travel funding, graduate assistant support, or other agreed upon resources.

As per the "UNIVERSITY-WIDE EVALUATION GUIDELINES FOR PROMOTIONS AND TENURE," UNCG states that "The evaluation of research and creative activities shall consider contributions to the field or discipline, including interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and collaborative work, the quality of the work, and its significance or impact" (p. 7). Further, "Professional, interdisciplinary, and community-related service will be given consideration as part of promotion and tenure review based on their importance to the discipline or profession and the mission of the University." Further, individual departments may provide more specific valuation of interdisciplinarity. (In addition, the Provost's Office provides a document to guide the administration of, including tenure and promotion of faculty within, interdisciplinary programs; the website URL is in the notes field for this credit.)

The UNCG Library has a Green Library Group, and there are at least two dedicated course research pages (publicly available) for sustainability resources: http://uncg.libguides.com/ENV110 and http://uncg.libguides.com/env