Building Sustainability Scholarship at Portland State University: War Stories and Lessons

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Building Sustainability Scholarship at Portland
State University War Stories and Lessons
April 31, 2009

• David Ervin
• Professor of Economics, Professor of
  Environmental Management, and Fellow, Center for
  Sustainable Processes and Practices
• ervin_at_pdx.edu

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A Circuitous Journey

• Early engaged scholarship at PSU
• Coordinating faculty and students with community
  partners
• Developing credibility and focus
• Building capacity
• The Miller Foundation award
• Recent engaged scholarship
• Some lessons

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PSU Motto ? Engagement

• Doctrina Urbi Serviat
• Let Knowledge Serve the City

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Early engaged scholarship at PSU

• Mt. Hood National Forest sustainability
  indicators (2000-2008)
• Forest supervisor recognized critical ecosystem
  service linkages with the Portland region
• Team of PSU faculty, grad students and USFS
  scientists collaborated on developing ecological,
  social and economic measures of sustainability.
• Real exercise in co-creating knowledge
• Findings informed Mt. Hood Forest plan and
  actions, and National Forest sustainability
  effort.

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Early engaged scholarship contd

• Mt. Hood National Forest sustainability
  indicators (2000-2008)
• Social sustainability measure of community
  resilience adopted as part of the international
  Montreal Process criteria and standards
• Economic indicators contributed to expanding
  wilderness area via recent Federal legislation
• Team developed Olallie Protocol to explain an
  integrated sustainable path discovery process,
  definitely a wicked problem.

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Building a community of sustainability scholars

• Reading Groups
• Biweekly interdisciplinary discussions of
  frontier sustainability literature, soft and hard
  science
• Faculty, students and community partners
• Formed Social Sustainability Group
• Start-up funding from Provost
• Seminar series, etc.
• Wrote anthology Understanding the Social
  Dimension of Sustainability (Routledge, 2009)

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Building a community of sustainability scholars

• Developed Graduate Certificate (2002-2008)
• Designed by campus-wide faculty team
• Core courses ecological, social, economic
  theory and community projects
• Multidisciplinary faculty/team teaching
• Cross-campus enrollment
• Working professionals enrolling as well!

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Developing credibility and focus

• Despite progress, lacked institutional
  credibility and strategic focus
• Hired external professional facilitator
• Convened about 40 select faculty, staff,
  students, and community partners
• Two days of intense deliberations
• Engagement provided ground truth
• Outcome Declaration of Support for
  Sustainability at Portland State University

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Sustainability Declaration (2005)

• Infuse sustainability into all colleges, schools
  and programs. We will be an internationally
  recognized university known for excellence in
  student learning, innovative research and
  community engagement that helps simultaneously
  achieve economic vitality, environmental health,
  strong families and communities, and stakeholder
  involvement in open processes.

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Sustainability Declaration (2005)

• Develop a sustainable physical campus that is an
  example to other institutions.
• Make Portland State University a demonstration
  model of sustainable processes and practices.
• Develop core multidisciplinary research
  competencies in key sustainability areas related
  to pressing real world problems.

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Institutionalizing the Declaration

• Series of actions to gain campus-wide commitment
  over two months
• Solicited signatures to website (700-800 endorsed
  in 1.5 months)
• Student senate unanimously approved
• Faculty senate approved by 70 to 30

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PSU Sustainability Vision
To be an internationally recognized university
known for excellence in student learning,
innovative research, and community engagement
that simultaneously advance economic vitality,
environmental health, and quality of life.
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PSU Sustainability Mission

• Serve as a leading academic laboratory for
  developing sustainable processes and practices
  using multi-disciplinary approaches in
  partnership with business, government, and other
  organizations.

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Integration as Key Sustainability
Principle Across Disciplines and with the
Community
Economy
Society
Environment
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Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices,
CSP2 (2006)

• Serves as the institutional home of academic
  sustainability programs
• Facilitate rigorous, cross-disciplinary research
  with environmental, social and economic
  components
• Locus for collaborative research and dialogue
  with academic and community participants
• Focal point for institutional support for
  building sustainability scholarship resource base
• Portal for community engagement, including the
  Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies
  (BEST) Signature Research Center

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CSP2 Initial Thrust Areas

• Green Science and Technology Development
• Integrated Water Resource Management
• Sustainable Urban Design
• Sustainable Business Models
• Intelligent Urban Transportation Systems
  

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Early CSP2 Sponsored Scholarship

• Ecoroof design and evaluation (University,
  industry, government, foundation partnership)
• Occupant productivity of green buildings
  (University, NGO, industry partnership)
• Energy efficiency in large computer systems
• Environmental effects of nanotechnology
  manufacturing processes
• Sustainable food supply chains

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Miller Foundation Grant (2008)

• 25 million challenge grant over 10 years (PSU
  must raise 2.5 million per year)
• Based on PSUs sustainability track record
• Focal areas
• Enhance the student experience
• Expand faculty excellence in research and
  teaching
• Enhance excellence in community engagement

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Example first round Miller awards

• Sustainable Water Management under Climate Change
• Green Building Research Laboratory
• Sustainable High Performance Computing
• Sustainable Transportation Roadmap
• Smart Grid Research Seminar
• Renewable Clean Petroleum Fuels

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Ecosystem service shifts from Marmot Dam removal

• Seven member faculty team from natural and social
  sciences (IGERT proposal prep)
• 15 graduate students from across campus
• Interdisciplinary projects course with theory and
  active community partner engagement
• Students worked in teams of 3-4 on specific
  issues, e.g., stakeholder involvement in dam
  removal decision process

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Ecosystem service shifts from Marmot Dam removal

• Student team projects focused on
• Biophysical conditions
• Decision process for dam removal
• Social economic framework for dam removal
• Community perceptions of process and decision
• Community perceptions -- Sigma Chi award
• Outcome Interdisciplinary template for dam
  removal analysis

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Lessons

• It takes time! Several years to engage faculty,
  students and community partners in creating a
  common language and vision.
• Recruit faculty with values of interdisciplinarity
  and collaboration
• Engage community partners early and in meaty
  roles
• Pick projects that will demonstrate early
  success winners beget more winners.

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Lessons

• Choose wicked problems that require the merging
  of tacit and explicit knowledge
• Emphasize scholarship aspects to faculty
• Stress problem solving to community
• Seek opportunities for public exposure
• Need top administrative support
• Give students meaningful roles

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Website and Reference

• http//www.pdx.edu/sustainability/
• Magis, K., J. Rice, A. Welch, N. Lankford, C.
  Shinn and D. Ervin. Local Unit Criteria and
  Indicator Development Olallie Lake Case Study
  Application Gen. Tech. Report. Portland, OR
  Dept. Of Agr., Forest Service, Pacific Northwest
  Research Station (forthcoming).