California State University, Chico
AC-1: Academic Courses

The classes on CSU, Chico's Green Course List 2020-21 were identified by the department chairs and course instructors based on course descriptions, course content, and the Sustainability Learning Outcomes (listed below). Courses with sustainability content were submitted to the Campus Sustainability Committee's Curriculum Subcommittee and assessed according to the Sustainability Learning Outcomes. The committee categorized the courses as either Sustainability-Focused and Sustainability-Related Courses based on the following criteria: If a course met 1 of the 12 Sustainability Learning Outcomes it was classified as a Sustainability-Related Course; if a course met 3 or more of the 12 SLO's it was classified as a Sustainability-Focused Course.

The Sustainability Learning Outcomes are:
1. Explore what sustainability is and can be in social and economic systems.
2. Explain how sustainability relates to their own lives, and how their individual actions have an impact on all dimensions, locally, regionally, and globally.
3. Recognize the physical and biological attributes, basic functioning, and limits of planetary ecosystems.
4. Understand the dynamics between environmental, economic, and social systems and debate the basic principles of environmental ethics
5. Appreciate that sustainable economic and social systems are dependent on ecosystem goods and services.
6. Realize that humans are integral parts of the natural world and are not separate from it.
7. Examine how a vital society can maintain healthy ecosystems and create strong and just economic systems.
8. Investigate how our relationship to the natural world has been shaped historically, politically, culturally and economically.
9. Comprehend and examine the controversies surrounding questions of values and ethics as they relate to creating a sustainable future.
10. To understand the role of technology in moving towards a sustainable future.
11. Understand how religious, philosophical, literary, and cultural traditions and texts could affect our perception of sustainability, and vice-versa.
12. Practice a variety of forms of communication in order to understand its role in shaping beliefs and actions on sustainability issues.

Courses with key words that aligned with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (e.g. health, equity, diversity and inclusion, gender equality) were also included. Key words used were identified in the Excel file. (https://www.aashe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/un_sdgs_and_targets.pdf)

All courses that are identified as Sustainability-Focused received a "green oak leaf" designation in the official Course Catalog for 2020-21 (easily identified with an oak leaf).

Total number of courses offered by the institution was collected by searching for the total number of courses listed in the official Course Catalog for 2020-21: http://catalog.csuchico.edu/viewer/search/courses.aspx?cycle=17&subject=all&keywords=&psize=00

This number includes both undergraduate and graduate courses. To identify just the graduate courses, we searched the Course Catalog using the keyword "graduate", which gave us the number of all graduate courses offered during 2020-21. We subtracted this number from the total number of courses in the Course Catalog to find the number of Undergraduate Courses.

The number of courses represent the total number listed in the catalog http://catalog.csuchico.edu/viewer/search/courses.aspx?cycle=17&subject=all&keywords=&psize=00
(3332 undergraduate classes and 217 graduate classes offered in 2020-21)

The most recent University Catalog (2018-19) identifies "Sustainability Focused" courses with "Green Leaf " status. These course emphasis a minimum of three of Sustainability Student Learning Outcomes and specifically identified those SLO's in the course syllabus. The syllabi are reviewed and validated by the Research and Education Subcommittee of the Campus Sustainability Committee.

The courses identified as "Related Courses" were determined by a 15 key search terms from our Sustainability SLO's used to search the university catalog (sustainability, environmental, social justice, human, economics, ecology, equity, equality, climate, food, energy, water, urban design, and transportation). These courses were cross referenced to eliminate duplications, and reviewed for relevance to sustainability.

Courses with key words that aligned with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (e.g. health, equity, diversity and inclusion, gender equality) were also included. Key words used were identified in the Excel file. (https://www.aashe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/un_sdgs_and_targets.pdf)

We selected key words using this document for guidance:
https://stars.aashe.org/resources-support/help-center/academics/academic-courses/