Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 67.84
Liaison Noah Upchurch
Submission Date March 1, 2024

STARS v2.2

Catawba College
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.48 / 8.00 Noah Upchurch
Senior Sustainability Specialist
Center for the Environment
"---" 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?:
No

Which of the following best describes the sustainability learning outcomes?:
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A list of the institution level sustainability learning outcomes:
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Part 2. Program-level sustainability learning outcomes

Total number of graduates from degree programs:
779

Number of graduates from degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability:
144

A brief description of how the figure above was determined:
Information used to find the total number of degree recipients was collected from the College's Registrar. The "total number of graduates" figure provided is the summed number of graduates that can be found in the attached file.

The "number of graduates from degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability" figure was calculated as the sum of all graduates from the following majors and minors: Environment and Sustainability Major, Biology Major, the Master of Science in Sports Performance program, Ecology Minor, Geographic Information Systems and Technology Minor, Environment and Sustainability Minor, and the Biology Minor.

Some Chemistry majors complete required sustainability-focused coursework to complete the Environmental Chemistry concentration. However, the College does not track graduate data over the requisite period for concentrations within a major, so no Chemistry graduates are included in the "number of graduates from degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability" figure.

Each of the identified applicable degree programs meets at least one of the three possible requirements listed. These programs are all either sustainability-focused programs, a program that has adopted sustainability-focused learning outcomes, or a program that requires a sustainability-focused course.

Methodology: Graduates were sorted first by their first major. Graduates with identified first majors that met the criteria were recorded. These graduates were then excluded from the next step(s) to prevent double-counting if their second major or minor was another applicable program. The remaining graduates were then screened for second majors. Applicable second-major graduates (without an applicable first major) were recorded. Last, applicable minors (without applicable majors) were sorted and recorded. The summed total of these applicable program graduates is 144, as reported above.

The list of graduates and their corresponding degree programs can be found below in the attached file. Data includes graduate major and minor data from Spring 2021 through Summer 2023.

A list of degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability:
Environment & Sustainability (Sustainability-Focused Program with Sustainability-Focused Learning Outcomes and requires a Sustainability-Focused Course):

Learning Outcome #1: Students will demonstrate a satisfactory understanding of natural systems in the context of sustainable societies.

Learning Outcome #2: Students will effectively utilize a whole systems approach to examine and identify solutions for environmental challenges.

Learning Outcome #3: Students will communicate clearly and cogently in a manner appropriate to the environmental sciences.

Required Sustainability-Focused Courses:
Water & Land: Conservation and Ecology; Air, Energy, Climate Change and Development; Sustainability Science and Environmental Policy; Environmental Leadership Seminar; Environmental Education and Communication; Environmental Health and Toxicology.

Biology:
Required Sustainability-Focused Courses:
Ecology and Evolution.

Masters in Sports Management:
Required Sustainability-Focused Courses:
Sport and Sustainability

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

Percentage of students who graduate from programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability:
18.49

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the sustainability learning outcomes is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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.