Transdisciplinary Scholarship: Integrating Boyer’s Model of Scholarship with Transdisciplinary...

Greg CroninTransdisciplinary Scholarship: Integrating Boyer’s Model of Scholarship with Transdisciplinary Research 14

Transdisciplinary Scholarship:Integrating Boyer’s Model ofScholarship with TransdisciplinaryResearchGreg Cronin, Department of Integrative Biology, CB# 171, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO 80217, USA,Email: [email protected]

Arecent article by Jahn et al. provided an excel-lent overview of transdisciplinarity, provideda framework for transdisciplinary research,

and discussed challenges of transdisciplinarity.Some of these challenges are lessened if conceptsof scholarship promoted by Earnest Boyer areincorporated into theframework of transdisciplinaryresearch. This merger of transdisciplinary researchwith Boyer’s model of scholarship can be calledtransdisciplinary scholarship’. The goals of the cur-rent manuscript are to (1) provide a brief overviewof Boyer’s Model of Scholarship, (2) integrate theJahn et al. description of transdisciplinarity withBoyer’s Model of Scholarship, and (3) offer astrategy to address the major cognitive challengethat integration presents to transdisciplinarity. (4) Iprovide an example of trandisciplinary scholarshipthat I am conducting in Haiti. Finally, (5) the Jahnet al. definition of transdisciplinarity is tweaked by1 word.

Keywords: Boyer model of scholarship, Haiti,transdisciplinary scholarship, vetiver grass.

1 Boyer Model of Scholarship

Ernest Boyer articulated the work that faculty doat research universities, and encouraged universityadministrators to adapt policies that encourage thekinds of scholarship that today’s universities andsociety value [1, 2] (Boyer 1990, 1996). Traditionally,research universities expected faculty to perform re-search, teaching, and service. Boyer recognized thatfaculty are asked to perform a lot of scholarly activ-ities that are not encompassed under the heading‘research’. Boyer advocated for the recognition of dif-ferent kinds of scholarship, including the scholarshipof discovery, scholarship of application, scholarship ofintegration, scholarship of engagement, and scholar-ship of teaching. Briefly, the scholarship of discoveryis what is commonly referred to as ‘research’. Discov-ery is data-driven, involves the scientific-method, andoften takes place in labs. Discovery generates newknowledge, so transdisciplinary “research” certainlyinvolves discovery. The scholarship of applicationinvolves using discoveries to improve products or ser-vices and address societal problems. Translationalsciences practice application. In medical sciences,the phrase ‘bench to bedside’ refers to applicationand translation. Unlike transdisciplinarity, applica-

Transdisciplinary Journal of Engineering & ScienceISSN: 1949-0569 online, c©2014 TheATLAS

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tion is not necessarily interdisciplinary, nor does itnecessarily involve the public. The scholarship ofintegration is placing ones research in the context ofrelated fields. Integration has led to the increasedfocus on interdisciplinary studies over the past threedecades. The scholarship of engagement involvesbringing ones science to the public. The state of sci-ence literacy in America suggests that scientists mustdo a better job of engaging the public. For example,evolution is a central tenet of biology, yet only 32%of Americans agree that living things have evolvedover time due to natural processes [3] (Pew ResearchCenter 2009). Transdisciplinarity takes engagementone step further by dialoguing with the communityand incorporating knowledge gained from the publicinto the transdisciplinary framework. The scholar-ship of teaching goes beyond the traditional view ofteaching through lecture. Teaching involves apply-ing the scientific method to teaching and learning.It involves discovery, application, integration, andengagement. There is a lot of overlap among the dif-ferent categories identified by Boyer. Compared withthe term ‘research’, the Boyer Model of Scholarshipbetter describes the activities that university facultyparticipate in today, and also better describes activ-ities that facilitate transdisciplinary scholarship.

1.1 Research vs. Scholarship

Contrary to what some researchers believe, propo-nents of Boyer’s Model of Scholarship do not want toreplace research with scholarship. Rather, Boyer’smodel recognizes both research and non-research ac-tivities with the understanding that application, inte-gration, engagement, and teaching complement dis-coveries. Distinctions among these terms to describescholarship extend beyond semantics. At researchuniversities, it is often new scientific discoveries thatare most rewarded. The fact that these institutionsare called ‘research universities’ illustrates the em-phasis placed on discovery, although faculty dutiesat these institutions are expanding to include otherkinds of scholarship. More institutions, including myown, are reassessing reward systems in order to com-pensate the other kinds of scholarship. A simple wayto encourage recognition of other kinds of activitiesthat Boyer’s Model and transdisciplinarity requireis to replace the word “research” with “scholarship”,or “researcher” with “scholar”, in conversation orwhen reading literature. The only time I use theword “research” is when I am referring specifically

to the scholarship of discovery. For me as a naturalresearch scientist, the practice of saying “scholarship”felt forced and awkward initially, but with practice,it became very natural. Following this personal prac-tice, I replaced “research” with “scholarship” as Iread [4] Jahn et al., and in doing so, recognized thatthe challenges to transdisciplinarity that the authorsidentified are lessened if Boyer’s Model of Schol-arship is integrated with Jahn et al.’s ConceptualModel of Transdisciplinarity. By integrating Boyer’sModel with transdisciplinarity, the advances madeto recognize and reward other forms of scholarshipin academia could be realized for transdisciplinaryactivities.

Boyer’s model of scholarship in no way reducesthe importance of traditional research. Rather, itadds value to research (i.e., the scholarship of discov-ery) by making the research relevant to addressingsocietal problems, including ‘wicked problems’ [5](Radcliffe 2006). The success of research is evidencedby the fact that science has already discovered muchof the knowledge necessary to solve many of theworld’s ‘wicked problems’. What is now needed isfor advances in application, translation, integration,engagement, teaching, and transdisciplinary schol-arship to use existing discoveries to solve complexproblems [6] (Diamond 1992). Transdisciplinaritycalls for academics to partner with the public, and forexchanges of information, technology, ideas, and im-plementation to occur in both directions of the part-nership. Advances in the scholarship of engagementwould facilitate these transdisciplinary exchanges.

1.2 Climate change: Do We Need MoreDiscoveries, or TransdisciplinaryScholarship?

The wicked problem of climate change illustrates therelationships among these different kinds of scholar-ship. Science and technology have discovered howto convert sunshine, water and air currents, tides,waves, geothermal heat, and nearly any renewableorganic molecule into electricity. Despite having ‘dis-covered’ how to sustainably meet our energy needs,human society continues to rely on non-sustainableclimate-changing fossil fuels for energy. What is nowneeded is using engagement, application, translation,economics, policy, business, marketing, arts, engi-neering, manufacturing, and education to encouragethe broad implementation of existing technology intosociety. For example, the photovoltaic panels on my


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roof meet 97% of my homes electrical demand andpower my electric car. The low proportion (less than2% from personal observations) of solar-poweredhomes in my community is not a geographic (e.g.,Colorado gets about 300 days of sunshine annually)or technological problem, but is a problem withimplementation that transdisciplinary scholarshipcould address.

2 Lessons Learned fromTransdisciplinary Work in Haiti

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck nearLeogane, Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010 devastated thecapital city of Port au Prince, killed an estimated220,000 people (2.4% of the country’s population;including 25% of civil servants in Port au Prince),injured 300,000, and displaced at least 1.5 millionmore [7] (DEC 2012). Haiti is often called the poor-est country in the western hemisphere, which is thecase in economic terms, and the earthquake leftHaitians with a difficult task of rebuilding. Haitialso has the most degraded ecosystems in the west-ern hemisphere [8] (YCELP et al. 2005). A historythat includes genocide, centuries of slavery, politi-cal corruption, exploitation, disease, occupation, ahuge debt from the negotiated indemnity paymentHaitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer made to France,deforestation, and natural disasters has created asetting with multiple challenges [9] (Dubois 2012).All of these challenges make the creation of a thriv-ing, sustainable society in Haiti a ‘wicked problem’,requiring post-normal science and scholarly-societalpartnership [10] (Frame and Brown 2008).

Recent work that I have conducted near Port auPrince, Haiti illustrates the need for transdisciplinaryscholarship, and some of the institutional and soci-etal barriers to this type of scholarship. Within twodays of the earthquake, CU Denver banned all travelto Haiti by faculty, students, and staff. Despite thetravel ban, I began making plans to travel to Portau Prince in order to provide relief aid. After somepeople, myself included, criticized the travel ban, theuniversity announced that faculty and staff couldtravel to Haiti on vacation or during leave. The banon student travel officially remains, though these aresome flexibility given a CU Denver course was taughtin Haiti in Jan. 2013. I have traveled to Haiti fourtimes since the earthquake during breaks, withoutany support or hindrance from the university. Being

in Haiti for only a few weeks a year has hinderedprogress, but I am currently negotiating with myDepartment Chair and Dean to arrange my scheduleto include extended stays in Haiti as there seemsto be growing acceptance of this transdisciplinaryscholarship.

International awareness of the wicked problems inHaiti was greatly increased following the devastatingearthquake. CBS News determined that nearly $15billion were donated. About half of American house-holds donated to Haiti earthquake relief, and 60% fol-lowed the story “very closely” [11] (Pew 2010). Fourdays after the earthquake, my band and other localmusicians raised over $1,000 with a benefit concertthat was used to provide immediate aid. I arrived inHaiti in June 2010, where I determined from casualobservation (i.e., no scientific measurements weremade) some of the most degraded ecosystems thatI had ever witnessed. The ground had little to novegetation and very little organic matter. Researchstudies to measure ecosystem health, soil processes,or community structure-function relationships (i.e.,scholarship of discovery) were a low priority becausethe science of ecology had long-established that veg-etation is important for ecosystem health. Whatwas more immediately important were other formsof scholarship, such as applying ecological knowl-edge to getting vegetation established on the bareearth and engaging the community to continue theproject after I returned to the US. Restoring ecosys-tem services will be an important part of creating asustainable society in Haiti. The project was trans-disciplinary because it relied heavily on knowledgeand feedback from the local community. In fact,success depended more on community input thanit did on academic input. This transdisciplinaryscholarship was also done on a shoestring budget.

2.1 Transdisciplinary Approach toRevegetating Bare Soil

Haitians living in IDP (internally displaced persons)camps were in survival mode, and might not havehad the luxury to contemplate and appreciatethe importance of ecosystem services. However,engaging members of this society would be crucialfor the success of ecosystem restoration projects.I used a strategy of providing immediate benefitto the community, educating the communityabout the importance of vegetation, and engagingthe community through music. Vetiver grass,


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Chrysopogon zizanioides, has properties that Ithought would make it a good candidate to plantin the IDP camp [12] (Greenfield 2008). However,I did not know where to find the plant or howto propagate it. I did not have a plan for thisproject, but rather did it on the fly, and adaptedas opportunities arose or barriers were encountered.Local community members showed me where asource of vetiver grass could be found, and anagricultural expert in the camp taught our teamhow to harvest and transplant vetiver. Vetiver grassdoes not propagate well by seed, so labor-intensivetransplanting of culms was required. Having atranslator was crucial for the success, as I do notspeak Kreyol and the agricultural expert and themajority of our work crew did not speak English. Ihad no budget for the labor-intensive project, butlocal community members introduced me to thestaff of Catholic Relief Services who provided toolsand labor through their pay-for-work program. Thelocal community became increasingly interested inthe project as they learned about the economicpotential of vetiver in terms of ecosystem servicesand marketable products. Blades of vetiver canbe used as fuel, roofing material, and crafts androot oils are medicinal and valuable in the perfumeindustry. They also appreciated that the plant wasmaking their camp look better, and the vegetationcould provide some ecosystem services such assoil stabilization, aquifer recharge, and watershedprotection. The community buy-in for the projectresulted in the creation of a camp vetiver committeethat continued to transplant vetiver grass after Ireturned to the US. J/P HRO who managed thecamp asked that I make a short documentary aboutthe project to be used in promotional material [13](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnigmTVIbtk).

The vetiver grass established very well in lowtraffic areas, but did not survive well where it wastrampled. On return trips, I witnessed the vetivergrass benefiting the community in unforeseen ways.Some people planted edible vegetation such as squashamong the vetiver, with vines growing up the vetiveras a trellis. People would spread wet laundry overclumps of vetiver to dry. The land owner wouldplant vetiver as families were moved out of the campto prevent other people from occupying the vacatedspace [14] (O’Toole 2012). Some of the vetiver wascropped close to the ground, but I could not deter-mine if this was due to it being cut by people or

eaten by goats, cows, or pigs. 2.5 years later, thecamp has a smaller human population as familiesrelocate, but the vetiver grass remains growing well.Therefore, vetiver can be a valuable, renewable, sus-tainable crop that can restore ecosystem serviceswhen managed properly. However, in the absence ofland-tenure and good management practices, vetiveris often poached and its roots are rinsed in streams.This practice disturbs soils, encourages erosion, andincreases sedimentation in streams.

My engagement with community members provedto be very important. I sensed that there was ini-tial skepticism about what I was doing and/or myintentions during early meetings, just as Jahn et al.had noted. Persistence, hard manual labor, socialinteraction with the community through music andathletics, and sincere caring resulted in me beingaccepted into the community. In evenings, I wouldtake a guitar into camp and play with the commu-nity. Local musicians would join me and peoplewould sing and dance. Music is very important inHaitian culture, and musicians are held in high re-gard. When local musicians became my friends, Igained credibility among other community members.When working in other cultures, even if language bar-riers exist, it helps to engage the community throughcommon interests. Music is but one example of aninterest shared by all people regardless of culture.Good food, clean water, aesthetically-pleasing set-tings, dance, love of children, spirituality, and playare a few examples of other activities shared acrosscultures. During subsequent trips to Haiti, I livedin the IDP camp with Haitians rather than amongother expatriates. This made a large impression oncommunity members as demonstrated by the agri-cultural expert who assisted in the vetiver plantingproject. He stated through a translator that “I oncethought white men did not love Haiti, but now Iknow that is not true because you lived like us.”

My efforts in Haiti are embryonic, and are follow-ing a loose plan to partner with as many experts,leaders, community members, and friends who sharea common vision of empowering Haitians to rebuilda thriving, sustainable society. I was well into theseefforts before I realized that what I was doing fellunder the category of transdisciplinary scholarship.The observations reported here are early, and willbe updated in the future.

As with many academic units, my department hasa traditional rewards system that focuses on publica-


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tions, and did not have a mechanism to reward thetransdisciplinary scholarship described here. Ratherthan incorporate the transdisciplinary scholarshipinto the existing roles and rewards of faculty, I wasdirected to start a non-profit to work in Haiti. Ifounded “Yon Sel Lanmou” in summer 2012 to for-malize my efforts in Haiti. Ecosystem restorationand environmental justice are two foci of Yon SelLanmou, whose overall mission is to use love to cre-ate a thriving, sustainable society in Haiti. Theplayers involved in these efforts include the seven di-rectors of Yon Sel Lanmou (four are fluent in Kreyol,two are Haitian, one is an American who has livedin Haiti since 1985, and one is an American who wasraised in Haiti, but now lives in Denver), agricultur-alists, teachers, students, musicians, foresters, landowners, the Ministry of the Environment, volunteers,businessmen, politicians, artists, health-care workers,humanitarians, and scientists.

2.2 The Role of Arts in TransdisciplinaryScholarship: STEM to STEAM

My experiences in Haiti have reinforced the impor-tance of the current movement to transform theSTEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering,Mathematics) into the STEAM disciplines (STEM +Arts). The arts can play a crucial role in transdisci-plinary scholarship. Video has been used to educateothers about the vetiver project and music helpedme connect with the community. I was originallyinspired to volunteer in Haiti because of a scene inSpike Lee’s documentary “When the Levees Broke”that showed Sean Penn rescuing victims of Katrina.Mr. Penn was not acting in this movie; he was justa celebrity with a boat, saving lives. I probablywould not have traveled to Haiti if I had not seenMr. Lees documentary. I was fortunate to work withSean Penn’s non-profit during my first two trips toHaiti. Mr. Penn is now an Ambassador in Haiti, asis film-maker Alison Thompson, who is Ambassadorto the Ministry of the Environment. Yon Sel Lan-mou is working with Ambassador Thompson andthe “Billion Tree Initiative” to reforest large partsof Haiti. We all share the use the arts to engagethe community and inspire change. The Directorsof Yon Sel Lanmou include a film-maker and fourmusicians. In fact, Yon Sel Lanmou, which means“One Love” in Kreyol , is the first Kreyol phrase thatI learned while singing with community members.Yon Sel Lanmou has hosted concerts to raise aware-

ness and funds for projects in Haiti. We hosted aHaitian band that toured the US in Fall 2012, whichbrought people interested in Haiti together. Myband, other Denver bands, and the Haitian band “2Roots” performed at the 3rd Annual Haiti Benefitconcert in Denver. Concerts and events resulted innetworking among scientists, health professionals,academics, artists, politicians, administrators, phi-lanthropists, educators, businesses, and non-profitsthat are already generating partnerships.

I was recording rappers in camp shortly af-ter the cholera epidemic began. They wantedto make a song to serve as a public service an-nouncement about preventing the spread of cholera.Yon Sel Lanmou made a music video to the songthat promotes hand washing, drinking and cook-ing with clean water, properly disposing of waste,and seeking medical attention when symptomsoccur [15] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K2aVYKLZxQ ). I don’t consider these kinds ofactivities as research because no new knowledgeis generated. However, it is scholarly, transdisci-plinary, and contributes to creating a sustainablesociety. In Jan. 2013 I asked a public health expertin Haiti why the cholera situation had improved. Heresponded that it was because of education abouthand-washing, drinking clean water, cooking withclean water, and proper waste disposal. Yon SelLanmou is partnering with other artistic groups, in-cluding YouthOnRecord.org and Playing for Change.Many leaders among the groups that we work withare artists. Haiti’s current President Michel JosephMartelly was a popular Kompa singer.

Being knowledgeable, adaptive, opportunis-tic, credible, authentic, reliable, ethical, non-judgemental, caring, and kind has served me wellin Haiti to date. These traits would likely translatewell to other settings. I have at times been naıve,generous, gullible, and stubborn: these traits haveserved me well in some situations, and have beenhandicaps in other situations. Good translators arecrucial for the success of transdisciplinary projects.I know I would be more effective if I spoke Kreyol,but progress towards becoming fluent in the locallanguage is slow. The work in Haiti has been themost challenging of my career, but it has also beenthe most stimulating and rewarding.


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3 The Term “Scholarship” vs.“Research”

If one considers transdisciplinarity as a scholarlyapproach (sensu Boyer) rather than a research ap-proach, then unnecessary barriers between the natu-ral sciences, social sciences, and society are lessened.As “researchers” become “scholars”, the difficultiesof integration identified by Jahn et al. will lessenas scientists practice the scholarship of integration.The general definition of transdisciplinarity providedby Jahn et al. can be easily integrated with Boyer’sModel of scholarship by changing one word. Theirdefinition becomes: “Transdisciplinarity is a crit-ical and self-reflexive scholarly approach that re-lates societal with scientific problems; it producesnew knowledge by integrating different scientific andextra-scientific insights; its aim is to contribute toboth societal and scientific progress; integration isthe cognitive operation of establishing a novel, hith-erto non-existent connection between the distinctepistemic, social-organizational, and communicativeentities that make up the given problem context.” Iencourage others to read the overview of Jahn et al.,and to replace “research” with “scholarship” as youdo so. Integrating a broader definition of scholarshipwith transdisciplinary research can help researchers,non-researchers, natural scientists, social scientists,community leaders, community members, and otherstakeholders work together more effectively.

Acknowledgements

I thank family, friends, band mates, and colleagueswho support my efforts to practice transdisciplinaryscholarship in Haiti. A special thanks is extended tomy Haitian partners whose talent, dedication, andperseverance are constant inspirations to tacklingthe “wicked problems” of Haiti.

References

[1] Boyer, E.L., 1990. Scholarship Reconsidered: Priori-ties of the Professoriate, The Carnegie Foundationfor the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton, NJ.

[2] Boyer, E.L., 1996. The Scholarship of Engagement.Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sci-ences , 49, pp. 18-33.

[3] The Pew Research Center, 2009. Scientific achieve-ments less prominent that a decade ago. Publicpraises science; Scientists fault public, media. Wash-ington, D.C., pp. 98.

[4] Jahn, T, Bergmann, M., and Keil, F. 2012. Transdis-ciplinarity: Between mainstreaming and marginal-ization., Ecological Economics 79, pp. 1-10.

[5] Radcliffe, D.F. 2006. Shaping the discipline of engi-neering education. Journal of Engineering Education,95, pp. 263-264.

[6] Diamond, J. 1992. The Third Chimpanzee. Harper-Collins Publishers, New York.

[7] Disasters Emergency Committee, 2012.http://www.dec.org.uk/haiti-earthquake-facts-and-figures, accessed: July 24, 2013.

[8] Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy(YCELP)/Yale University, Center for Inter-national Earth Science Information Network(CIESIN)/Columbia University, and WorldEconomic Forum, and Joint Research Centre(JRC)/European Commission. 2005. 2005 Environ-mental Sustainability Index (ESI), Yale Centerfor Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP)/YaleUniversity.

[9] Dubois, L. 2012. Haiti: The Aftershocks of History.Metropolitan Books, New York. p. 448.

[10] Frame, B., Brown, J., 2008. Developing post-normaltechnologies for sustainability. Ecological Economics65, pp. 225–241.

[11] The Pew Research Center, 2010. Nearly Half HaveDonated or Plan to Give: Haiti Dominates PublicsConsciousness. Washington, D.C., p. 27.

[12] Greenfield, J.C., 2008. The vetiver system for soiland water conservation. The Vetiver Network Inter-national, p. 74.

[13] Cronin, G. 2010. Vetiver Project: Restoring Ecosys-tem Services. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnigmTVIbtk, accessed: July 24, 2013.

[14] O’Toole, D. 2012. Control Erosionby Planting Vetiver–Work Project inPetionville IDP Camp, Haiti Reconstruction.http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/page/control-erosion-by-planting, accessed: July 24, 2013.

[15] Cronin, G., Dorismond, J., Nerath, J., Hef-fernan, K., Bluntschli, L. 2012. Go AwayCholera! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K2aVYKLZxQ, accessed: July 24, 2013.


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About the Author

Dr. Greg Cronin is an Associate Professor of Sustain-

ability and an Applied Ecologist in the Department of

Integrative Biology at the University of Colorado Denver.

He is the Founder/President of the 501(c)3 non-profit Yon

Sel Lanmou (“One Love” in Haitian Kreyol) that works

to empower Haitians to create a thriving, sustainable

society. Greg is also a music student at CU Denver and

plays bass and ukulele for the Denver band Mute Man’s

Microphone.


Vol. 5, pp. 14-20, (December, 2014)

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