First money from Miller Grant awarded

Proposals from 19 faculty and staff teams are among the first beneficiaries of Portland State’s multi-million dollar grant from the James F. Miller Foundation, and another 41 proposals are currently under review for $35,000 in funds earmarked for student projects, according to the Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices.

Faculty awards for the 2008-09 year total $1.6 million, or about two-thirds of the first installment of the 10-year, $25 million grant.

Jennifer H. Allen, interim director for the center, said that just fewer than 100 applications were submitted following the initial call for proposals last October—a response she considers enthusiastic. Sixteen of the finalists were announced at the end of December.

A panel of 11 internal and external evaluators assisted the center in the decision-making process, with representatives from the private sector, local government agencies, the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and a sustainability director from an Ivy League university. Panelists remarked on both “the scope and standard of quality reflected in the proposals,” as well as the “potential impact of Portland State’s sustainability programs at regional, national and even international levels.”

Among other criteria, proposals were assessed for potential to generate further, external funding. This is an important consideration. PSU must find $2.5 million in additional funding in order to continue receiving its annual distribution of $2.5 million from the Miller Foundation grant.

Some projects that have been awarded grant money include PSU Carb-WON: Carbon and Water Observatory Networks for Eco-Districts, which was awarded about $187,000; Public Leadership for Sustainable Development: Building PSU and Community Partner Capacity, which got $40,000; and PSU-China Innovations in Sustainable Cities: Leveraging Support to Build PSU’s Capacity, which earned $35,000.

The center itself is a veritable beehive of activity related to the rapid influx of funding. In addition to coordinating with a number of departments on candidate searches for six faculty positions, the center itself is looking to hire a permanent director. About 40 candidates have applied for the job.

“We’re just now in the short-listing phase,” said Allen. “We hope to have on-campus interviews completed by early March.

To facilitate student involvement in promoting and implementing PSU’s sustainability agenda, the center developed a different process for submitting viable grant proposals. Called the Idea Generator, a three-stage plan was designed to help students prepare written proposals, provide them with a public forum for feedback on their ideas and allow them ample time to revise and resubmit their proposals for final approval.

Stage one was completed Friday, the day written drafts were due. Sion Zivetz, graduate assistant to the director, said 41 proposals were received by the deadline.

Stage two takes place on Thursday when the center hosts its Idea Generator Event in Smith Memorial Student Union. Student teams will have the opportunity to present their sustainability projects and receive informal feedback from the other teams as well as students, faculty, staff and administrators. The public event is open to all.

Stage three immediately follows the Idea Generator Event. Students will have until Feb. 11 to reflect and follow up on comments received at the event. A panel of evaluators will review final proposals and audience responses, and determine the amount of funding for each of the winning proposals. The center hopes to announce approved projects by Feb. 23.

All student projects must be completed by the end of spring term. A final presentation to an audience of PSU and community representatives is planned for June.