Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 53.85
Liaison Stephen Ellis
Submission Date Oct. 7, 2021

STARS v2.2

Boston University
AC-1: Academic Courses

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 5.09 / 14.00 Stephen Ellis
Director, Data Analytics
BU Sustainability
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Part 1. Sustainability course offerings

Figures required to calculate the percentage of courses offered by the institution that are sustainability course offerings:
Undergraduate Graduate
Total number of courses offered by the institution 2,210 2,695
Number of sustainability-focused courses offered 115 57
Number of sustainability-inclusive courses offered 108 110

Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings:
7.95

Part 2. Sustainability course offerings by department

Total number of academic departments that offer courses:
202

Number of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
58

Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings:
28.71

Documentation

A copy of the institution’s inventory of its sustainability course offerings and descriptions:
Do the figures reported above cover one, two, or three academic years?:
One

A brief description of the methodology used to complete the course inventory :
All sustainability-focused (SF) courses and sustainability-inclusive courses (SI) are compiled from a list provided by the Institutional Research. A BU Sustainability intern then excludes course types that don't qualify, as indicated on this credit, then identifies SF and SI courses. A list of courses that lack clarity is vetted with the Data Manager for BU Sustainability and/or the course syllabus. Courses that are not verified are then removed from the list.

Courses offered to both undergraduate and graduate students are counted in the undergraduate category. Courses offered by multiple schools and colleges within the university are specially formatted to avoid double counting. Courses are also filtered by type to ensure the most accurate reporting possible. Directed Study, Physical Education, and Performing Arts course types are excluded from the inventory due to the highly individualized course content of these offerings.

Overall, there was greater emphasis on environmental aspect of sustainability than the socioeconomic factors when categorizing courses as SI/SF. Hence, most SF/SI courses either directly or indirectly reference environment-focused sustainability initiatives and challenges.

How were courses with multiple offerings or sections counted for the figures reported above?:
Each course was counted as a single course regardless of the number of offerings or sections

A brief description of how courses with multiple offerings or sections were counted:
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Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the sustainability course offerings is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
This represents FY2019 BU Metrics.

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.