| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 53.99 |
| Liaison | Amy Parrish |
| Submission Date | Feb. 19, 2025 |
Boise State University
AC-2: Undergraduate Programs
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
8.45 / 15.00 |
Amy
Parrish Sustainability Director Office of Sustainability |
2.1 Institutional sustainability learning outcomes for undergraduate students
Online resource detailing the institutional learning outcomes for undergraduate students:
Publication detailing the institutional learning outcomes for undergraduate students:
Are one or more of the institutional learning outcomes for undergraduate students sustainability-focused?:
Text of each institutional learning outcome for undergraduate students that qualifies as sustainability-focused:
Are one or more of the institutional learning outcomes for undergraduate students sustainability-supportive?:
Text of each institutional learning outcome for undergraduate students that qualifies as sustainability-supportive:
The following is from the Natural, Physical, and Applied Sciences ULO Rubric:
Apply foundational knowledge and models of a natural or physical science to analyze and/or predict phenomena.
Research, discover, and develop evidence-based reasoning and persuasive appeals for ethically influencing attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors.
Adapt spoken messages to the diverse personal, ideological, and emotional needs of individuals, groups, or contexts.
The following is from the Diversity ULO Rubric
Analyzing Social Issues: Explains clearly and thoroughly how a given social issue or set of issues (economic, political, religious, environmental, etc.) is informed by diverse identities, perspectives, and their social interactions.
Applying Knowledge of Diversity to Social Issues: Evaluates different approaches to a given social issue (or set of issues) and suggests reasoned steps to work toward a common goal by applying cultural awareness and knowledge of diversity.
The following is from the Humanities ULO Rubric
Personal development Responsibly entertains and evaluates views that differ from one's own; actively explores and navigates ambiguity and difference; asks probing questions relevant to the discipline; approaches problems imaginatively and creatively.
The following is from the Social Sciences ULO Rubric
Develop an understanding of self and the world by examining the dynamic interaction of individuals, groups, and societies as they shape and are shaped by history, culture, institutions, and ideas.
Utilize Social and Behavioral Sciences approaches, such as research methods, inquiry, or problem-solving, to examine the variety of perspectives about human experiences.
Evaluate how reasoning, history, or culture informs and guides individual, civic, or global decisions. 5. Understand and interpret similarities and differences among and between individuals, cultures, or societies across space and time.
The Reporting Tool will automatically calcuate the following figure:
2.2 Undergraduate programs with sustainability-focused learning requirements
List and description of the institution’s sustainability-focused degrees, certificates, and majors for undergraduate students:
Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies
Program Learning Outcomes
- Evaluate change—through time from past to future, within earth and human systems, and among diverse and varied cultures
- See perspectives— identify, analyze, and compare views of the environment
- Conduct research—using thoughtful questions and evidence-based arguments to characterize the significance and severity of specific environmental problems
- Communicate clearly—among stakeholders, across societies, within and beyond any one community
- Create networks—to explore skills necessary to address social needs and gain employment
- Lead and follow—as informed citizens, team-players, and scholars
The Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies is an interdisciplinary liberal arts degree that prepares students to explain and address environmental issues from multiple perspectives. While providing students with a basic foundation in natural and physical sciences, the degree focuses mainly on humanistic and social science theories and methods of integrating knowledge across these systems. The Environmental Studies major requires the completion of a core set of problem-based classes that train students to conduct research, integrate theory and practice, and apply knowledge to the development of solutions or recommended adaptations. The Environmental Studies major further includes a selection of classes from departments across campus that build expertise in human and natural systems. Students complete a two-credit experiential learning component that allows them to put into practice expertise earned in coursework. Majors participate in a capstone research experience that integrates team-based collaboration problem-solving processes. Within this framework, Environmental Studies majors have the flexibility to select electives and design areas of emphasis that meet their own academic and career goals. The Environmental Studies program provides excellent preparation for law school, graduate school, or jobs in environmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, governmental agencies, or industry.
Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science
Program Learning Outcomes
- a. Use systems thinking approaches to evaluate environmental systems, describe biophysical and socio-cultural systems, and articulate their connections.
- b. Explain how historical and contemporary factors have shaped the environment and our understanding of and experiences with it.
- c. Evaluate conceptual frameworks from multiple perspectives to analyze and understand environmental systems and identify outcomes of proposed actions.
- d. Formulate research questions and identify appropriate methodologies to answer them.
- e. Evaluate and apply appropriate quantitative tools and methods to collect and analyze environmental data and demonstrate accepted data management practices.
- f. Develop and deploy a variety of communication and engagement practices that are appropriate to the audience, relationship, and intention.
- g. Describe characteristics of effective teams and assess the value of your coursework in an interdisciplinary context.
The bachelor’s degree in environmental science (EnvSci) produces scientists that are able to solve complex and important environmental problems at the intersection of the natural and social sciences. Students receive interdisciplinary training and become skilled in the use of theory from the biological, chemical, geoscience, and social sciences to solve applied problems and contribute to sustainable economic development and environmental stewardship in Idaho, the region, and elsewhere. Students will develop understanding of complex environmental systems, the organisms that inhabit and interact in them, the social systems that structure our interactions with the environment.They will learn how to analyze and communicate scientific information, to employ data science to develop and communicate novel solutions to existing environmental challenges, and to assist with the sustainable stewardship of our economy.
Key attributes to the EnvSci program include a well-crafted core coursework structure focused on two of three natural science core course sequence options (i.e., biological sciences and/or chemistry and/or geosciences) and one social science core course sequence (i.e., economic systems or social systems or political systems), potential for certification in Data Science, a significant experiential learning requirement, career readiness training, and a flexible elective structure that will enable students to obtain additional specialized training in a field or fields of their choice. Three emphases add distinction for the degree and are tightly aligned with growth in career opportunities in environmental science. These emphases are Environmental Data Science, Applied Environmental Science, and Environmental Science Communication and Translation.
EnvSci graduates who emphasize data science will be well equipped to lead in data-driven fields. Graduates who pursue the applied environmental science emphasis receive focused training in entrepreneurship, project management, and leadership, preparing these students to be critical developers of environmentally-oriented private and public industries. EnvSci graduates emphasizing science communication and translation will practice communicating with other scientists as well as translating science to non-scientists. These skill sets are in high demand for work as professional science communicators, science policy analysts, and interpreters and implementers of science building towards best practices in private and public environmentally-oriented industries.
https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar-catalog/#/content/6536bcdad421fc001c6bb37d
Does the institution offer at least one sustainability-focused concentration or minor for undergraduate students?:
List and description of the institution’s sustainability-focused concentrations and minors for undergraduate students:
Sustainability Minor
The Sustainability Minor is a 22-23 credit interdisciplinary minor. The curricular focus of the Sustainability Minor is based on the premise that the most pressing societal sustainability challenges of the next century will require an integrated understanding of the social, environmental, and economic implications of the decisions that individual agents make.
The Sustainability Minor has been designed to prepare students to better understand how individuals, businesses, and organizations allocate resources, design policies, build processes, products and services, with the ultimate goal of moving toward and achieving sustainability. The long-term goal of the Sustainability Minor is to provide students with the tools that they need to positively transform the organizations and communities with whom they interact, in ways that seek to balance social, environmental, and economic needs and impacts. The minor consists of a focused core curriculum (10 credits); three sustainability-focused electives (9-10 credits) drawn from natural systems, economic and business sustainability, and societal sustainability areas; and a three-credit integrative sustainability culminating activity course, drawn from a broad list of disciplines.
https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar-catalog/#/content/6536bcdad421fc001c6bb363
Minor in Climate Studies
https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar-catalog/#/programs/Sk77rd4hI
Does the institution offer at least one undergraduate qualification focused on a subject other than sustainability that has a sustainability-focused learning requirement?:
List and description of the institution’s undergraduate qualifications focused on subjects other than sustainability that have sustainability-focused learning requirements:
Global Studies Program
Program Statement
The Global Studies major aims to prepare students as ethical, civically engaged citizens and members of a global community and workforce that increasingly demands an understanding of the complex, diverse, dynamic, and interconnected nature of today’s world. The Global Studies major will prepare students to work in a fluid global context in which people and businesses are on the move, where there are stark differences in people’s access to basic material goods, where there is increasing demand for natural resources and public spending, and where there is consistent contact among individuals and groups that hold different values and interests. In this major, students will learn the skills necessary to be responsive to a changing global environment as well as develop the skills to help lead change. Boise State’s Global Studies program offers a balanced core of courses in the humanities and social sciences. Coursework across multiple academic departments emphasizes critical thinking and provides several disciplinary frameworks for understanding global issues. The program also fosters the development of skills that are highly prized in the global workforce, such as cross-cultural sensitivity, analysis of historical context, ability to work in multiple languages, and rich comparative skills. Service learning, study abroad, and internships open paths to careers in government, international organizations, law, business, education, and planning.
Program Learning Outcomes
- Analyze global challenges and their local impacts utilizing interdisciplinary frameworks.
- Apply knowledge of diverse cultures to provide solutions to global issues.
- Apply research, data analysis, and public engagement skills to address global challenges locally, nationally, and internationally.
- Synthesize and evaluate different economic, social, and political pathways and forums for promoting global well-being.
- Evaluate and communicate arguments and research findings about global issues and their local impacts in a variety of formats for diverse audiences.
https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar-catalog/#/content/6536bcd9d421fc001c6bb344
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering
Program Statement
Civil engineering is critical to our modern way of life. It integrates socioeconomic, political, environmental, and technical considerations in the planning, design, and construction of infrastructure that defines our civilization.
These structures include buildings, canals, tunnels, highways, water and wastewater treatment facilities, landfills, harbors, and airports.
Civil engineers are involved in:
- Planning, designing, and constructing physical infrastructure to benefit society
- Rebuilding our nation’s deteriorating infrastructure
- Developing and implementing innovative solutions to characterize and remediate contaminated sites, water, and air
- The design of engineering treatment and disposal facilities for hazardous and solid waste and water
- Preserving and fostering sustainable development of natural resources
- Developing resilient infrastructure to limit impacts from natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, landslides, and wildfires
- Design to foster ecological restoration and rehabilitation
Program Learning Outcomes
- Students who qualify for graduation from the Civil Engineering Program will demonstrate an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics
- Students who qualify for graduation from the Civil Engineering Program will demonstrate an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors
- Students who qualify for graduation from the Civil Engineering Program will demonstrate an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences
- Students who qualify for graduation from the Civil Engineering Program will demonstrate an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts
- Students who qualify for graduation from the Civil Engineering Program will demonstrate an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives
- Students who qualify for graduation from the Civil Engineering Program will demonstrate an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions
- Students who qualify for graduation from the Civil Engineering Program will demonstrate an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.
https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar-catalog/#/content/6536bcd9d421fc001c6bb330
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
2.3 Percentage of undergraduate qualifications awarded that have sustainability-focused learning requirements
Total number of undergraduate qualifications awarded:
Number of undergraduate qualifications awarded that are sustainability-focused:
Number of undergraduate qualifications awarded that are focused on subjects other than sustainability but have sustainability-focused learning requirements:
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following three figures:
Percentage of undergraduate qualifications awarded that have sustainability-focused learning requirements:
Points earned for indicator AC 2.3:
Optional documentation
Undergraduate students must take at least 37 credits from University Foundations which includes taking 6 credits from:
University Foundations (UF)
UF100 - Foundations of Intellectual Life (3)
UF200 - Foundations of Ethics and Diversity (3)
UF200 in particular strives to promote sustainability. Ethics guide how we ought to live, and we live in a diverse society with other individuals and groups. UF 200 courses help students investigate how we practice our ethics together as engaged citizens creating an inclusive community. Although individual instructors use different examples, case studies, and course topics (or themes) to guide student exploration, each UF 200 course challenges students to inquire into key ethical ideas and values together, giving equal voice to all who are committed to the public good.
One course topic: EthDiv is focused on sustainability. "Beyond Sustainable communities take on the very difficult challenge of attempting to weigh and balance environmental health, economic security, social equity, and cultural heritage. In this course section, we will explore the critical ethical questions inherent in why we sustain, the significance of diversity in what we sustain and for whom, and the centrality of civic virtue, citizen engagement, civil discourse, discipline expertise, and intellectual humility in how we sustain."
Additional documentation for this credit:
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.