During the first year of the program, I set several goals for myself that have remained with me throughout my time in the program:
Exposure to and familiarity with the literature on sustainability in higher education is one goal on which I continue to make very methodical progress. It has been a highlight of the journey, and I still have quite a ways to go. I desire to be very thorough on this goal. When I have completed my dissertation, I want to be able to say that I have left no stone unturned in my quest to uncover all that has been written about sustainability in higher education. Because the field is relatively new, the literature is somewhat limited, but this allows for the possibility of a very thorough review. To date I have read all 289 articles published in the one peer-reviewed scholarly journal for the field – The International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. The references in these articles have so far yielded another 93 articles from other academic journals. What remains to be accomplished in this goal, and which will appear in chapter 2 of the dissertation, is the addition of 30-35 books and reports, and the 11 doctoral dissertations that have been written on the topic. Early findings in this goal show that the scholarship of sustainability in higher education has engaged in only limited rigorous research studies, and is particularly lacking in quantitative research that helps explain or predict progress towards sustainability at institutions of higher education. There is an over-reliance on case study methodology, and these studies are particularly lacking in documentation of methods and theoretical frameworks. The literature is weighted too heavily towards the environmental component of sustainability, often to the exclusion of the social and economic aspects important to a holistic approach. Finally, the most glaring gap in the scholarship is the absence of research focused on what can be learned from the experience of a whole new crop of professionals that has sprung up in recent years – the sustainability officers, directors, managers and coordinators who are now charged with the responsibility of advancing sustainability in higher education. My own research will especially be focused on this lattermost gap in the scholarship.
Explore and utilize research methods with which I am unfamiliar or uncomfortable
The Case Study Analysis was especially helpful for this goal as I chose to do in-depth interviews of sustainability practitioners. They were largely unstructured and open, but I found I had a good ability to ask good follow-up questions that furthered the interview and yielded rich data. I had never conducted interviews for research and I found it to be a rewarding experience. I plan to incorporate this method as one component of my dissertation research. My own prior research experience had been the creation of various kinds of largely quantitative survey instruments mostly for the purpose of program evaluation and assessing client satisfaction with area non-profit agencies, although technically the instruments were mixed because they always collected some qualitative comments to enhance the quantitative findings. 