Overall Rating Bronze
Overall Score 34.48
Liaison Rebecca Jones
Submission Date Feb. 9, 2022

STARS v2.2

Austin College
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.84 / 8.00 Rebecca Jones
Coordinator
Center for Environmental Studies
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Institutional sustainability learning outcomes

Has the institution adopted one or more sustainability learning outcomes that apply to the entire student body or, at minimum, to the institution's predominant student body?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the sustainability learning outcomes?:
Sustainability-supportive

A list of the institution level sustainability learning outcomes:
1) Global Diversity Requirement:
The purpose of the Global Diversity Requirement is to foster every student’s learning in an academic context of material on people and/or people groups outside of the European or post-colonial North American cultural context. Such courses focus on cultures indigenous to Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and/or Oceania. These courses are an exploration of the range of human experience including but not limited to artistic expression, religious traditions, ethical values, patterns of thought, historical events, political movements, social institutions, and/or cultural practices. While these courses may be comparative, the U.S. and Europe must not dominate the content of the class but must be weighted equally in their proportion of the course content and focus.

Possible Student Learning Outcomes for the Global Diversity Courses
The faculty teaching Global Diversity courses will promote the following student learning outcome with their pedagogy:
> Students will acquire adequate understanding of course content from and/or about at least one non-Western culture.

And at least two of the following outcomes:
> Students will examine cultures with an open mind and on their own terms.
> Students will ask complex questions about cultures, their products, and their origins.
> Students will show awareness of the links between culture and the discipline(s) of the course.

2) Systems of Power, Privilege, and Inequality Requirement
The purpose of the Systems of Power, Privilege, and Inequality Requirement is to foster every student’s learning in an academic context of material on historically marginalized people and/or people groups. Students will interrogate questions of justice, equity, and identity in relation to issues such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, socioeconomic status, and/or (dis)ability in order to provide context for critiquing institutional systems, public discourse, policies, social norms, and/or human behavior and challenge assumptions about how human society functions and this will be at least half of the course. These courses can focus on any country, region, or social group, and are not limited to any particular era past or present.

Possible Student Learning Outcomes for the Systems of Power, Privilege, and Inequality Courses
The faculty teaching Systems of Power, Privilege, and Inequality courses will promote the following student learning outcome with their pedagogy:
> Students will acquire adequate understanding of course content from and/or about at least one non-dominant group.

And at least two of the following outcomes:
> Students will examine groups with an open mind and on their own terms.
> Students will ask complex questions about social groups and categories, their products, and their origins.
> Students will show awareness of the links between social stratification and the discipline(s) of the course.

Part 2. Program-level sustainability learning outcomes

Total number of graduates from degree programs:
244

Number of graduates from degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability:
56

A brief description of how the figure above was determined:
While all Austin College degree programs require students to meet the learning outcomes outlined above (among many others), only graduates from degree programs that require one or more sustainability-focused course (as listed in AC-1) were included here in Part 2. Those degree programs are listed immediately below.

A list of degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability:
Biology; Environmental Studies; Global Science, Technology & Society; Public Health

Documentation supporting the figure reported above (upload):
Do the figures reported above cover one, two, or three academic years?:
One

Percentage of students who graduate from programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability:
22.95

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the sustainability learning outcomes is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.